Utilitarianism & Shopenhauer on Abortion

PHI 1030

Nancy L. Brown, Ph. D.

April 14, 2008

Abortion

Jane is a twenty year-old unmarried college student that found herself unexpectedly pregnant. While considering her options, she visits Arthur and John. Arthur is a well known philosopher specializing in the Schopenhauer philosophy. John on the other hand is a well known Utilitarian author. While Jane spends a couple days visiting these two philosophers, I went with her to document her journey.

Jane first went to visit John, the Utilitarian author. After explaining that she was pregnant and considering the option of abortion, (we are going to assume in this fictional situation that abortion is legal) John started explaining the philosophy to her. The first thing he told Jane was that as a Utilitarian, she should only be concerned with pleasure and with pain. She would need to weigh her options based on the goal of the Utilitarian’s, greatest happiness for the greatest number associated with either having the abortion or not having the abortion. He said “something is only right when it results in the greatest happiness for greatest number of people.” He went on further to explain that by the wanting the greatest happiness, she must consider the pleasures associated with the senses such as wealth, skill, friendship, good name, good will, relief, imagination and memory.

He told Jane that if she didn’t have the abortion she might face a lot of unhappiness while raising the child. In regards to the sense of wealth, he asked if she was ready to be a mother financially. She expressed to him that she was in no financial situation to support a child. He told her that she would find pleasure in the money she would save if she had the abortion. He reminded her that raising a child is very expensive with doctor visits, diapers, food and clothes etc. He told her that she could potentially lose friendships too if she had the baby. He explained that since she was only twenty years old, most of her friends would want to be going out and dating; she would lose her friends because she would have to be at home watching the baby. Not to mention that no boy would ever want to date her if she had a child. He then told her to think about the pain associated with birth itself. He said that giving birth was one of the most painful things she could put herself through. Again, not to mention the pain of the headaches a young child can bring. “Babies are always crying and whining and it is very hard to keep them happy.” He said in regards to your reputation, (good name) it could go either way. He said that since abortion is legal, many people wouldn’t think badly of her because she is just looking out for herself financially, emotionally and physically. However there were those that disagreed with it. Nevertheless he said that if she had the baby, people might think badly of her because she is so young and unmarried.

“Just as we know of the earth only the surface, not the great, solid masses of the interior, so we know empirically of things and the world nothing at all except their appearances.” (On the Antithesis of Thing In Itself and Appearance, pg 55 #2)

He then told Jane that by having the abortion, she would get pleasure from the relief of fear that parents have when they raise children. He told her that the world is such a violent place, she would constantly be fearful for her child with all the dangers he or she would face. He also reminded her of how over populated the community was. He said that if more people had abortions, then it would be easier to find parking spots, less traffic, and even a better likelihood of winning the lottery.

He then started talking about the alternatives to abortion. He said “of course condoms are a form of birth control, but nobody likes wearing condoms Jane, I don’t blame you for not using one.” Yet he explained that birth control was really the only alternative to abortions (in regards to birth control). “In this case,” he said, “we should use the hedonistic calculator to help determine the greatest pleasure for the greatest number.” John told Jane she would need to consider the impact on the community and others involved. He told her that together they were going to rate intensity, duration, certainty, speed, fruitfulness, and purity of abortion and condoms. First he talked about intensity. “If having this baby will send you and your family into poverty, it would be a very financially intense situation.” He did tell her that physically the abortion wouldn’t be very intense because it lasted just a few minutes and from what he understood, it was virtually painless. He did warn her however that if she felt any kind of remorse or regret after the abortion, it would be emotionally intense for potentially the rest of her life; so he rated intensity a six. He then went on to rate the intensity of using birth control, (only using the condom example). He said that condoms weren’t intense at all. He rated the intensity of using condoms a one. “Though they aren’t as pleasurable as not having one, there is no intense feeling associated with using a condom.” In regards to duration, he rated the abortion a five. He said, “I give it a five because while the duration of the procedure is very short, there is no saying that the memory or emotional stress involved would be short lived; it could go either way depending on how you deal with your emotions Jane.” The duration of using the condom is also short lived, rated at about a two he thought. “Condoms may take an unfortunate minute of your time to put on, but in the end, you dispose of it and never have to deal with it again.” He said that in regards to certainty, abortion gets a ten. A ten for the simple fact that once the fetus is terminated, the certainty of not being pregnant would be guaranteed. Condoms would receive a rating of about seven, he told her. “Condoms aren’t 100% effective 100% of the time.” He told her that she could never be fully certain that the condom didn’t have a hole in it. He also warned that if the condom broke, she was likely to be in the same position she was in then; pregnant. Speed relative to having the abortion would be a nine because again, the procedure is very short. “The only part that would take a long time Jane was physically driving to the clinic and walking inside to wait for your appointment.” Speed relative to using birth