Responding to Molefe's Anti-abortionism
In his recent book, An African Ethics of Personhood and Bioethics: A Reflection on Abortion and Euthanasia (2020), South African philosopher Motsamai Molefe argues for the impermissibility of abortion on the grounds that a foetus possesses the potential for dignity, which he argues amounts to the po...
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| Veröffentlicht in: | Theoria (Pietermaritzburg) Jg. 72; H. 184; S. 43 - 62 |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
| Sprache: | Englisch |
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01.09.2025
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| Abstract | In his recent book, An African Ethics of Personhood and Bioethics: A Reflection on Abortion and Euthanasia (2020), South African philosopher Motsamai Molefe argues for the impermissibility of abortion on the grounds that a foetus possesses the potential for dignity, which he argues amounts to the potential to develop the African virtues. However, we argue, firstly, that his account of the supposed wrongfulness of abortion is inconsistent with his later account of the supposed permissibility of euthanasia; we argue that his account succumbs to the well-known objections to the potentiality principle from as long ago as the 1970s; and, finally, we argue that his account is indeterminate in so far as it does not conclusively entail the immorality of abortion in the first place. Altogether, this amounts to a decisive rejection of Molefe's anti-abortionism. |
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| AbstractList | In his recent book, An African Ethics of Personhood and Bioethics: A Reflection on Abortion and Euthanasia (2020), South African philosopher Motsamai Molefe argues for the impermissibility of abortion on the grounds that a foetus possesses the potential for dignity, which he argues amounts to the potential to develop the African virtues. However, we argue, firstly, that his account of the supposed wrongfulness of abortion is inconsistent with his later account of the supposed permissibility of euthanasia; we argue that his account succumbs to the well-known objections to the potentiality principle from as long ago as the 1970s; and, finally, we argue that his account is indeterminate in so far as it does not conclusively entail the immorality of abortion in the first place. Altogether, this amounts to a decisive rejection of Molefe's anti-abortionism. |
| Author | Alhadeff, Brooke Lerm, Jessica |
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| References | Wiredu, K. (bib27) 2009; 40 Johnson, R. N. (bib10) 2003; 113 Gyekye, K. (bib5) 1992 Oyowe, O. A. (bib20) 2022 Wiredu, K. (bib25) 1980 Donnelly, J. (bib4) 2009 Tutu, D. (bib23) 1999 Ncayiyana, D. (bib18) 2012; 102 Ikuenobe, P. (bib9) 2017; 45 Wiredu, K. (bib26) 1996 McAleer, S. (bib13) 2010; 4 Darwall, S. (bib3) 1977; 88 Menkiti, I. (bib15) 2004 Oyowe, O. A. (bib19) 2018; 34 Tooley, M. (bib22) 1972; 2 Kuhse, H. (bib12) 1993 Menkiti, I. (bib14) 1984 Parfit, D. (bib21) 1984 Hursthouse, R. (bib7) 1991; 20 Warren, M. A. (bib24) 1973; 57 Behrens, K. (bib1) 2013; 25 Gyekye, K. (bib6) 2010 Bujo, B. (bib2) 2001 Metz, T. (bib16) 2012; 13 Horsthemke, K. (bib8) 2018; 7 Kant, I. (bib11) 2015 Molefe, M. (bib17) 2020 |
| References_xml | – start-page: 101 year: 1992 ident: bib5 article-title: Person and Community in African Thought – volume: 45 start-page: 437 issue: 3 year: 2017 ident: bib9 article-title: The Communal Basis for Moral Dignity: An African Perspective – start-page: 171 year: 1984 ident: bib14 article-title: Person and Community in African Traditional Thought – start-page: 324 year: 2004 ident: bib15 article-title: On the Normative Conception of a Person – volume: 57 start-page: 43 issue: 1 year: 1973 ident: bib24 article-title: On the Moral and Legal Status of Abortion – volume: 102 start-page: 334 year: 2012 ident: bib18 article-title: Euthanasia – No Dignity in Death in the Absence of an Ethos of Respect for Human Life – volume: 20 start-page: 223 issue: 3 year: 1991 ident: bib7 article-title: Abortion and Virtue Theory – year: 2022 ident: bib20 – volume: 34 start-page: 783 year: 2018 ident: bib19 article-title: Personhood and Strong Normative Constraints – year: 1980 ident: bib25 – volume: 113 start-page: 810 issue: 4 year: 2003 ident: bib10 article-title: Virtue and Right – volume: 2 start-page: 37 issue: 1 year: 1972 ident: bib22 article-title: Abortion and Infanticide – volume: 4 start-page: 1 issue: 3 year: 2010 ident: bib13 article-title: Four Solutions to the Alleged Incompleteness of Virtue Ethics – year: 1984 ident: bib21 – volume: 88 start-page: 36 issue: 1 year: 1977 ident: bib3 article-title: Two Kinds of Respect – volume: 40 start-page: 8 issue: 1 year: 2009 ident: bib27 article-title: An Oral Philosophy of Personhood: Comments on Philosophy and Orality – volume: 25 start-page: 103 issue: 1–2 year: 2013 ident: bib1 article-title: Two “Normative” Conceptions of Personhood – year: 2020 ident: bib17 – year: 2001 ident: bib2 – year: 2009 ident: bib4 – year: 2010 ident: bib6 article-title: African Ethics – year: 2015 ident: bib11 – volume: 7 start-page: 60 year: 2018 ident: bib8 – year: 1996 ident: bib26 – volume: 13 start-page: 99 issue: 2 year: 2012 ident: bib16 article-title: Ethics in Aristotle and in Africa: Some Points of Contrast – year: 1999 ident: bib23 – start-page: 294 year: 1993 ident: bib12 article-title: Euthanasia |
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