The “a fetus is a person” attempt to frame the abortion debate actually seems like it would weaken the norm against killing innocents. Most people agree with the rule that it’s generally wrong to kill an innocent person, which is a relatively clear bright-line rule. If pro-abortion people can just say “well, a human fetus doesn’t count as a person so the rule doesn’t apply there” then the rule against killing a person remains relatively clear and simple for them. But if they have to count a human fetus as a “person” then the rule against killing a person becomes messy and complicated for them—they have to say “well, it’s often wrong to kill a person, but there are various exceptions and factors to weigh.”
Anti-abortion people might like having the abortion debate take place on those grounds, with a human fetus counting as a “person” by definition, because of the rhetorical advantage it gives them within that particular debate. But for the broader goal of establishing shared support for the “sanctity of life” it is counterproductive to cast the abortion debate in those terms. If you use a dictionary to remove the flexibility/disagreement in defining the domain where the rule applies, then that flexibility/disagreement gets shifted into the content of the rule.
It might be worth noting that abortion proponents cluster with death penalty supporters, gun ownership advocates, and generally have a poor record on human rights for e.g. GLBT people. I’m not convinced that they hold the sanctity of life to be equally important for all people generally.
One person’s modus ponens is another’s modus tollens.
I think it’s pretty obvious that evand mean “abortion opponents,” not “abortion proponents.” Make that correction and the rest of the comment is accurate.
Abortion was probably not the best example, “racism is wrong” is a clearer norm that depends on words. I agree with you, as I said later on:
Schelling fences probably play a bigger role for “justifiable killing” (like self-defense, the death penalty, euthanasia), where having a strong norm against killing in general discourages revenge killings (anti-abortion seem to be trying to hijack that norm to cover a case that doesn’t fall under “killing” nearly as naturally).
For racism, you get the same problem you mention, with people trying to add more things under the “racist” umbrella (such as affirmative action, or opposition to affirmative action), at the risk of weakening the norm.
The “a fetus is a person” attempt to frame the abortion debate actually seems like it would weaken the norm against killing innocents. Most people agree with the rule that it’s generally wrong to kill an innocent person, which is a relatively clear bright-line rule. If pro-abortion people can just say “well, a human fetus doesn’t count as a person so the rule doesn’t apply there” then the rule against killing a person remains relatively clear and simple for them. But if they have to count a human fetus as a “person” then the rule against killing a person becomes messy and complicated for them—they have to say “well, it’s often wrong to kill a person, but there are various exceptions and factors to weigh.”
Anti-abortion people might like having the abortion debate take place on those grounds, with a human fetus counting as a “person” by definition, because of the rhetorical advantage it gives them within that particular debate. But for the broader goal of establishing shared support for the “sanctity of life” it is counterproductive to cast the abortion debate in those terms. If you use a dictionary to remove the flexibility/disagreement in defining the domain where the rule applies, then that flexibility/disagreement gets shifted into the content of the rule.
It might be worth noting that abortion proponents cluster with death penalty supporters, gun ownership advocates, and generally have a poor record on human rights for e.g. GLBT people. I’m not convinced that they hold the sanctity of life to be equally important for all people generally.
One person’s modus ponens is another’s modus tollens.
It would be if it were true.
Those three groups do not tend to cluster, nor do they have the record on human rights that you ascribe to them.
I think it’s pretty obvious that evand mean “abortion opponents,” not “abortion proponents.” Make that correction and the rest of the comment is accurate.
Abortion was probably not the best example, “racism is wrong” is a clearer norm that depends on words. I agree with you, as I said later on:
For racism, you get the same problem you mention, with people trying to add more things under the “racist” umbrella (such as affirmative action, or opposition to affirmative action), at the risk of weakening the norm.