Take Home Essay Questions
1. Early in the article, Noonan states that “Before an age of some many months, the fetus is not viable, that is, it cannot be removed from the mother’s womb and live apart from her. To that extent , the life of fetus is absolutely dependent on the life of the mother. This dependence is made the basis of denying recognition to its humanity.” (Noonan 353). That is to say, Noonan is using the definition “viable” to argue that because fetuses depend on the mother, it follows that the dependence between fetus and mother protects the fetus's right to be human. The authors argument is from definition since his conclusion, stems from the definition of the word viable. Based on this information, it can be said that Noonan’s argument is deductive since, an argument from definition, is one of the forms of a deductive argument. Noonan’s argument is valid …show more content…
Mary Warren’s five qualities that create the idea of personhood are presented as sufficient conditions. On the basis of Warren’s statement, “(1) and (2) alone may be sufficient for personhood,” the author explicitly states that her traits are “sufficient” conditions for personhood (Warren 5). This is because people do not have to follow Warren’s specific traits but are allowed to use any variation of these traits. Solely based on argument structures, being a person is a necessary condition to having these traits and by process of elimination, the five qualities must be sufficient conditions. The way Warren uses these criteria imply that her argument is deductive. Since her statement, “Now if (1)-(5) are indeed the primary criteria of personhood, then it is clear that genetic humanity is neither necessary nor sufficient for establishing that an entity is a person... and a fetus is a human which is not yet a person, and which therefore cannot coherently be said to have full moral rights,” has the general form a hypothetical syllogism, then it follows that it’s a deductive argument (Warren