A Crisis of Logic & Ethics

A Crisis of Logic & Ethics

I am an old guy, which means I was raised and schooled back in the day when we had to read, discuss and justify our logical process and conclusion. I ended up with all the credentials of a classis philosopher, but found out that it doesn’t matter today. Everyone with a Facebook subscription and the ability to Tweet, is a philosopher, though without credentials. But they can talk cool, take a position and vote.

I asked a young person why they were “pro-choice?” They responded that they were for women having a choice in how they lived their lives. OK, then I asked if all their friends were “pro-choice.” They affirmed that they were. No one is against freedom and the right to make their own decisions.

Then I asked them if they thought that Charles Manson had the right to make his choices and to ravage the land and kill people? Now, the push back did not fit the logic. “No,” they affirmed. Some choices infringe on other people’s rights and are therefore not moral or ethical. So, I backed down on the level of severity and asked, what about running through a stop sign, or drunk driving or another public safety ordinance? Again, they affirmed, “NO,” we do not have that level of choice.

So we moved back up the ladder of ethical and logical consequences… Could you go out and drive drunk or run through a stop sign or… They affirmed that no, they were not against the laws of the land and they would not do that. Then I asked, “But you could remove a baby from the womb and kill it?” They were horrified. No, they could not do that. So, I asked, “But you could stand there and watch someone else do it?” They were then stammering. Trapped!

Then I emphasized the point that they were parroting a position because it was popular and everyone else was for pro-choice, but in the end, they could not do it. And why not, I asked? If there is nothing wrong with it, why would you not participate? Again, stammering.

Follow-up – Can you kill a living human being? If not why not? And if you can, but only when it is an unborn baby, at what time, at what point, by what means? Again, they were stuck. They could not do it and would not stand by and watch someone else do it? But no, they would not even agree to that. They could not watch, they could not participate. This act was so terrible to imagine that they were sickened at the prospects.

I suspect that there are many who parrot their position as pro-choice, but they could not kill the baby. As long as it is done under the cover of secrecy and out of sight, it fits the cool and nice sounding terminology – pro-freedom, pro-choice, pro-liberty.

We started out easy and slow, with just a simple pregnancy termination after a few months and now we have seen the fruit of the logic as it moved along up the branch of the tree. We have come to full term in our logic and for the child. Maybe we will ultimately bring into reality my Mom’s old phrase, “I brought you into this world and I can take you out.” But she said it in jest. Today, it is not an aimless threat.