понедельник, 18 февраля 2013
Where do we draw the line? читать дальшеHow many times have you been in a discussion in which somebody says 'We have to decide where to draw the line'? For instance, most people seem to accept that in general
terms women should be permitted abortions during the earliest stages of pregnancy but not during the very late stages.
'Where you draw the line', though, is hotly debated - and of course some people wish to draw it at one extreme or the other.
There are similar debates about exactly when a developing embryo becomes a person, with legal and moral rights. Is it at conception? When the brain first forms? At birth? Or was it always a potential person, even when it 'existed' as one egg and one sperm?The 'draw a line' philosophy offers a substantial political advantage to people with hidden agendas.
The method for getting what you want is first to draw the line somewhere that nobody would object to, and then gradually move it to where you really want it, arguing continuity all the way.
For example, having agreed that killing a child is murder, the line labelled 'murder' is then slid back to the instant of conception; having agreed that people should be allowed to
read whichever newspaper they like, you end up supporting the right to put the recipe for nerve gas on the Internet.(c)