Ethics and Science Presentation

"Ethics in Science, Ethics and Everyday Life" - a lunch and learn discussion, at GSU

Thinking Critically About Abortion

New!

Thinking Critically About Abortion:

Why Most Abortions Aren’t Wrong & 
Why All Abortions Should Be Legal

by Nathan Nobis & Kristina Grob, Open Philosophy Press

An Open Educational Resource

Freely available at www.AbortionArguments.com 

This book introduces readers to the many arguments and controversies concerning abortion. While it argues for ethical and legal positions on the issues, it focuses on how to think about the issues, not just what to think about them. It is an ideal resource to improve your understanding of what people think, why they think that and whether their (and your) arguments are good or bad, and why. It's ideal for classroom use, discussion groups, organizational learning, and personal reading.  

This open educational resource is freely available in PDF, full text, Google Doc, ePub, Mobi, and other formats. 

It's also a $5.38 paperback, which can be ordered and shipped to anyone who would benefit from it: governmental representatives and other elected officials, organizational leaders and community activists, thought leaders and influencers, leaders of religious organizations, friends and family and anyone else who would benefit from a thorough assessment of arguments on all sides of the abortion debates. (Why $5.38? This is currently the lowest price Amazon would allow). It's also a Kindle book for $.99 (or free), which can be shared and sent also.

The book is by two philosophy professors with extensive teaching and research experience on abortion and related issues: Nathan Nobis, Ph.D. at Morehouse College, Atlanta, GA and Kristina Grob, Ph.D. at the University of South Carolina Sumter. 

About this Book

From the Preface 

To many people, abortion is an issue for which discussions and debates are frustrating and fruitless: it seems like no progress will ever be made towards any understanding, much less resolution or even compromise. 

Judgments like these, however, are premature because some basic techniques from critical thinking, such as carefully defining words and testing definitions, stating the full structure of arguments so each step of the reasoning can be examined, and comparing the strengths and weaknesses of different explanations can help us make progress towards these goals.

When emotions run high, we sometimes need to step back and use a passion for calm, cool, critical thinking. This helps us better understand the positions and arguments of people who see things differently from us, as well as our own positions and arguments. And we can use critical thinking skills help to try to figure out which positions are best, in terms of being supported by good arguments: after all, we might have much to learn from other people, sometimes that our own views should change, for the better.

Here we use basic critical thinking skills to argue that abortion is typically not morally wrong. We begin with less morally-controversial claims: adults, children and babies are wrong to kill and wrong to kill, fundamentally, because they, we, are conscious, aware and have feelings. We argue that since early fetuses entirely lack these characteristics, they are not inherently wrong to kill and so most abortions are not morally wrong, since most abortions are done early in pregnancy, before consciousness and feeling develop in the fetus.

Furthermore, since the right to life is not the right to someone else’s body, fetuses might not have the right to the pregnant woman’s body—which she has the right to—and so she has the right to not allow the fetus use of her body. This further justifies abortion, at least until technology allows for the removal of fetuses to other wombs. Since morally permissible actions should be legal, abortions should be legal: it is an injustice to criminalize actions that are not wrong.

In the course of arguing for these claims, we:

1. discuss how to best define abortion;
2. dismiss many common “question-begging” arguments that merely assume their conclusions, instead of giving genuine reasons for them;
3. refute some often-heard “everyday arguments” about abortion, on all sides;
4. explain why the most influential philosophical arguments against abortion are unsuccessful;
5. provide some positive arguments that at least early abortions are not wrong;
6. briefly discuss the ethics and legality of later abortions, and more.

This essay is not a “how to win an argument” piece or a tract or any kind of apologetics. It is not designed to help anyone “win” debates: everybody “wins” on this issue when we calmly and respectfully engage arguments with care, charity, honesty and humility. This book is merely a reasoned, systematic introduction to the issues that we hope models these skills and virtues. Its discussion should not be taken as absolute “proof” of anything: much more needs to be understood and carefully discussed—always.

Advanced Praise

"A lucid and engaging introduction to the ethics of abortion. Nobis and Grob are refreshingly fair and balanced in their treatment of a hotly contested issue. They seek to find the best arguments, not arguments that fit any particular agenda. For such a short book, the text is remarkably comprehensive: they define key terms such as ‘murder and ‘baby,’ assess everyday arguments about abortion, discuss the science of fetal development, and rigorously engage the most important philosophical arguments. I have taught many class sessions on abortion; no text I’ve used is nearly as useful as this one. Highly recommended!"

—Rebecca Tuvel, Rhodes College

"It's hard to think clearly about abortion. This book helps. It provides a great set of tools for talking about this thorny issue, and most importantly, it explains exactly what goes wrong in many common arguments. All this is essential: we need it if we're going to do better. So even if you disagree with the conclusions that the authors reach, you'll learn a great deal by reading this accessible and thoughtful volume."

—Bob Fischer, Texas State University

"This book takes on and takes seriously many of the common arguments and appeals that one so frequently hears on the issue of abortion. It provides fair and balanced analyses that are concise and varied. It is an easy to read yet rigorous exploration of key concepts and assumptions present in both popular and philosophical discourse. It's an excellent introduction for anyone who wishes to better reflect critically on the practice of abortion." 

—Chelsea Haramia, Spring Hill College

"A concise, fair, and thorough introduction to the arguments from all sides in the debate about abortion. Required reading for anyone wanting to engage the topic seriously."

—Noah Levin, Golden West College

Why Writing Better Will Make You a Better Person

New, in the Chronicle of Higher Education,

"Why Writing Better Will Make You a Better Person" By Bob Fischer and Nathan Nobis JUNE 04, 2019

Also here, without advertisements. 

Open Access (OER) Ethics Textbook

Here's a new open-access ethics textbook with three essays by, me and me and a co-author, in it.

• "Euthanasia, or Mercy Killing" by Nathan Nobis 
• “Common Arguments about Abortion” and “Better (Philosophical) Arguments about Abortion,” by Nathan Nobis and Kristina Grob, [both chapters]. 

UNIT ONE: INTRODUCTION TO CONTEMPORARY ETHICS: TECHNOLOGY, AFFIRMATIVE ACTION, AND IMMIGRATION
1 The “Trolley Problem” and Self-Driving Cars: Your Car’s Moral Settings (Noah Levin)
2 What is Ethics and What Makes Something a Problem for Morality? (David Svolba)
3 Letter from the Birmingham City Jail (Martin Luther King, Jr)
4 A Defense of Affirmative Action (Noah Levin)
5 The Moral Issues of Immigration (B.M. Wooldridge)
6 The Ethics of our Digital Selves (Noah Levin)

UNIT TWO: TORTURE, DEATH, AND THE “GREATER GOOD”
7 The Ethics of Torture (Martine Berenpas)
8 What Moral Obligations do we have (or not have) to Impoverished Peoples? (B.M. Wooldridge)
9 Euthanasia, or Mercy Killing (Nathan Nobis)
10 An Argument Against Capital Punishment (Noah Levin)
11 Common Arguments about Abortion (Nathan Nobis & Kristina Grob)
12 Better (Philosophical) Arguments about Abortion (Nathan Nobis & Kristina Grob)

UNIT THREE: PERSONS, AUTONOMY, THE ENVIRONMENT, AND RIGHTS
13 Animal Rights (Eduardo Salazar)
14 John Rawls and the “Veil of Ignorance” (Ben Davies)
15 Environmental Ethics: Climate Change (Jonathan Spelman)
16 Rape, Date Rape, and the “Affirmative Consent” Law in California (Noah Levin)
17 The Ethics of Pornography: Deliberating on a Modern Harm (Eduardo Salazar)
18 The Social Contract (Thomas Hobbes)

UNIT FOUR: HAPPINESS
19 Is Pleasure all that Matters? Thoughts on the “Experience Machine” (Prabhpal Singh)
20 Utilitarianism (J.S. Mill)
21 Utilitarianism: Pros and Cons (B.M. Wooldridge)
22 Existentialism, Genetic Engineering, and the Meaning of Life: The Fifths (Noah Levin)
23 The Solitude of the Self (Elizabeth Cady Stanton)
24 Game Theory, the Nash Equilibrium, and the Prisoner’s Dilemma (Douglas E. Hill)

UNIT FIVE: RELIGION, LAW, AND ABSOLUTE MORALITY
25 The Myth of Gyges and The Crito (Plato)
26 God, Morality, and Religion (Kristin Seemuth Whaley)
27 The Categorical Imperative (Immanuel Kant)
28 The Virtues (Aristotle)
29 Beyond Good and Evil (Friedrich Nietzsche)
30 Other Moral Theories: Subjectivism, Relativism, Emotivism, Intuitionism, etc. (Jan F. Jacko)

https://www.ngefarpress.com/2019/05/introduction-to-ethics-open-educational.html  

Summer Morehouse Classes

Syllabus

Intro to Philosophical Ethics - 42527 - HPHI 302G - 01
Associated Term: Summer 2019 Levels: Undergraduate Morehouse College Campus Lecture Schedule Type 3.000 Credits View Catalog Entry Bookstore(change me) Scheduled Meeting Times Type Time Days Where Date Range Schedule Type Instructors Class 10:30 am - 11:50 am MTWRF Sale Hall 110 Jun 04, 2019 - Jul 05, 2019 Lecture Nathan M. Nobis (P)
Intro to Phil Ethics-Online - 42664 - HPHI 302G - 2
Associated Term: Summer 2019 Levels: Undergraduate Morehouse College Campus Lecture Schedule Type 3.000 Credits View Catalog Entry Bookstore(change me) Scheduled Meeting Times Type Time Days Where Date Range Schedule Type Instructors Class TBA MTWRF TBA Jun 04, 2019 - Jul 12, 2019 Lecture Nathan M. Nobis (P)

Reviews of Christine Korsgaard’s Fellow Creatures: Our Obligations to Other Animals

Reviews of Christine Korsgaard’s Fellow Creatures: Our Obligations to Other Animals at 850 words, 2050 words and 2800 words.
Two of the three versions are forthcoming.

Absolute Poverty

Here is a PowerPoint I made for teaching purposes many, many years ago on the topic of absolute poverty. Some more recent resources are here, but I still find this presentation useful.

Response to "Nathan Nobis' Summary of Pro-Choice Arguments"

Someone wrote a response to my 1000-Word Philosophy essay on abortion, entitled "Nathan Nobis' Summary of Pro-Choice Arguments." I wrote brief a reply and twice posted it on their blog, but it twice "disappeared" (. . but it might have returned, so I really don't know whether it's posted or not), so I post this reply here since I did take the time to write it up. 

See below the fold, please. 

Summer Ethics class

Intro to Philosophical Ethics - 42527 - HPHI 302G - 01
Associated Term: Summer 2019 Registration Dates: Apr 01, 2019 to Jul 06, 2019 Levels: Undergraduate Morehouse College Campus Lecture Schedule Type 3.000 Credits View Catalog Entry Bookstore(change me) Scheduled Meeting Times Type Time Days Where Date Range Schedule Type Instructors Class 10:30 am - 11:50 am MTWRF Sale Hall 106 Jun 04, 2019 - Jul 05, 2019 Lecture Nathan M. Nobis (P)

Integrity and Eating

For an integrity in higher education conference.



Link here.

A Letter to the Editor on Abortion

A letter to the editor: "Dear Decaturish - Thinking Critically About Abortion"

Two additional readings on the issues:

• An overview of many of the arguments: "Ethics and Abortion" at 1000-Word Philosophy: An Introductory Anthology. 
• An argumentative chapter for a forthcoming Oxford University Press textbook: "Early and Later Abortions: Ethics and Law" 

VEGANISM: Arguments, Concerns & Objections

Notes for a presentation for a university's vegan organization:

VEGANISM: Arguments, Concerns & Objections

Question-Begging Arguments on Abortion

Many arguments about abortion are bad. Sometimes this is because they “beg the question,” or assume the argument’s conclusion as a premise. Question-begging arguments against abortion assume that abortion is wrong or that fetuses are wrong to kill; question-begging arguments in favor of abortion assume that abortions are not wrong or that fetuses are not wrong to kill. This is circular reasoning and must always be dismissed.

1000-Word Philosophy

My essays at 1000-Word Philosophy: An Introductory Anthology:

• Euthanasia, or Mercy Killing  
• Responding to Morally Flawed Historical Philosophers and Philosophies (with Victor Fabian Abundez-Guerra)
• Ethics and “Extra Credit”  
• The Ethics of Abortion  

New writings

Here are some new things by me and writings in progress, although I feel like I'm missing something:

• A paper on euthanasia, in a variety of lengths (4000-ish words; 2500-ish words).
• A 1000-word version, Euthanasia, or Mercy Killing at 1000-Word Philosophy: An Introductory Anthology.
• Something reflective on philosophy of religion. 
• I was asked to write something introductory on abortion, again.
• Why animal ethicists should serve on IACUCs, since animal experimentation might be morally wrong and they may have special skills in identifying this and explaining why this is so, and a personal moral dilemma for such ethicists. 
• Something on activism and philosophy. 

Free OER (Open Educational Resource) Textbooks in Philosophy

I recent saw these two calls for contributions to two Free OER (Open Educational Resource) Textbooks in Philosophy in development in (1) Ethics and (2) Philosophy of Religion. 

Spring 2019 Courses

Introduction to Philosophical Ethics

Aesthetics and Philosophy of Art

Philosophy of Religion

An Argument for “Passive” and “Active” Mercy Killing, or Euthanasia

An Argument for “Passive” and “Active” Mercy Killing, or Euthanasia

Nathan Nobis, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Morehouse College, Atlanta, GA

nathan.nobis@gmail.com www.NathanNobis.com

Written for this open-access ethics textbook.

Draft 2/7/19; Current: 3577 words; can easily be cut down to the sought 2500.

1. Introduction 1

2. Definitions 2

3. An Argument for Passive Euthanasia 5

4. An Argument for Active Euthanasia 7

5. Objections: Potentially Relevant Differences Between Active and Passive Euthanasia 7

6. Conclusions 10 

Aesthetics

I am teaching an "Aesthetics & Philosophy of Art" class this spring. Here are is an in-progress set of resources:

“What norms or values define excellent philosophy of religion?”

“What norms or values define excellent philosophy of religion?”

Final version here: http://philosophyofreligion.org/?p=525361

Here as a Google Doc.

“Excellent philosophy of religion” is, unsurprisingly, excellent philosophy, about religion.

But what’s excellent philosophy and what are the norms and values associated with it? And what are the philosophical aspects of religion, whatever religions are?

To begin answering these questions, I suggest that philosophy of religion that emphasizes at least these features tends to be more excellent: (1)  experiential, (2) integrated, (3) truthful and fair, and (4) done from a sense of wonder.