Immanuel Kant Philosophy: Abortion. Social Sciences. Research Paper

Immanuel Kant Philosophy: Abortion
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Immanuel Kant Philosophy: Abortion
Abortion has been a highly controversial topic in contemporary society. It is an act that occurs on a day to day basis. It is wrong to terminate a pregnancy before birth, meaning abortion creates unfair death. From Immanuel Kant's ethics, the categorical imperative designates that what should be done ought to be based upon pure reason and not individual desires. From Kant's philosophy, the moral law has no exception. Every action is only controlled by logic. Therefore, it is credible that we regard Immanuel Kant's philosophy as pro-life. Immanuel Kant never really probed into abortion, but we can still make declarations using his rules and moral claims. Human life should be regarded, and as a fetus has life; it should be thought of as a human, making abortion murder. However, why should a fetus be considered human for, unlike a child, a fetus does not have, but is developing the physical bases of agency of humanness? Also, fetuses do not display budding agency but only stimulus-response behavior and cognizance. The fetus moves, breaths, and can be discussed as a human, for it has the potential to be human. As Kant says, every human has a future, and the embryo has a future in life. In a Kantian approach, this paper, therefore, analyzes the viewpoints on abortion as a requirement for the threats posed by a pregnancy towards a person's life.
Immanuel Kant's ethics ought to characterize fetuses and abortion as morally meaningful, and he indicates that selfish ends or external reasons should not determine a person's decision to act. Kant believes that people have value and must never be treated as instruments (Allison, n.p). The source of moral significance for an unborn child is its attachment to the pregnant mother or her family through love. It could be unrealistic for someone to claim they love the embryo, other than wanting it, caring for it, or even being happy about it. It is even more improbable to consider how others feel about it, apart from maybe the spouse, is related to love for this fetus. A fetus is something perceived and conceptual, and the true feeling would be revealed after when one performs an abortion.
The expectant mother has a duty to show interest in her animalistic nature's proper functioning by conserving and advancing her morally useful thoughts. Abortion, therefore, threatens the woman to act against her moral commitment, making it ethically questionable. This thought gives a fetus a presumed moral significance concerning the pregnant woman. Kant intimates that human beings have duties to themselves and others, which requires them to protect and intensify feelings of kindness, love, and sympathy to others and their children (Allison, n.p). Such emotions expedite the accomplishment of the duty to enhance other people's happiness. Parental love is imperative, and parents are morally bound to offer their children love with regard to how dependent the children are on this affection. People have a duty to cultivate positive feelings towards others and avoid vices like jealousy and malice towards others. Since the specification to cultivate these feelings, among others, is according to people's nature to perfec...