Abortion And Infanticide By Michael Tooley

Abortion has always been one of the most controversial topics throughout the world. Michael Tooley wrote an article called “Abortion and Infanticide” which consisted of his arguments on the topic. Premise one states that “rights secure for individuals things that we desire.” In this premise, Tooley is arguing that if you desire to have something, then others cannot step in and remove that something from you. For example, if I wanted to have an abortion, Tooley argues that nobody should be able to step in and deprive me from wanting to have that abortion. Premise two states that “only subjects of experiences and other mental states are capable of having desires, and therefore of having rights.” In this premise, Tooley is arguing that only human

Premise three states that “the right to life is associated with a desire to continue to live as a continuing subject of experiences and other mental states.” This argument is saying that you want to live, but not only just to live, but to live out experiences. Premise four states that in “in order to desire something, we must have a concept of that thing.” This argument is saying that if you want something in the world, you must have an understanding of what that thing is. Since unborn human beings are not yet necessarily able to have an understanding of what something is, they should not be able to have wants, like wanting to live. Premise five states that “therefore in order to desire that you continue to live as a subject of experiences and other mental states, you must have a concept of yourself as a subject of experiences, who can continue to live as such.” This premise is saying that a person must be self-conscious in order to desire that you want to live. Self-consciousness is knowing that you

Premise 7 states that “Tooley says that we do not know exactly when self-consciousness is acquired, but it is sometime well into the first year of an infant’s life. We can err on the side of caution by assuming it is at the end of the first week after birth.” Tooley thinks that you know and realize that you are in existence within the first year of your life. This is different from consciousness, where consciousness is knowing that you have the ability to have your own