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In 1971 the philosopher Judith Jarvis Thomson imagined waking up connected to an unconscious violinist. Strangers kidnapped you because your kidneys can filter his blood, and you must stay connected for nine months. Thomson grants that he has a right to life, then asks: does that give him a right to use your body without your consent?

Judith Jarvis Thomson

Philosophy

The story behind the card

Judith Jarvis Thomson (1929–2020) was an American philosopher at MIT. The violinist appears in her 1971 essay 'A Defense of Abortion'. For the sake of argument she granted that a fetus has a right to life, then argued that this alone does not oblige anyone to let their body be used to keep another person alive. The essay became one of the most reprinted in modern philosophy, and how far the analogy fits pregnancy is still debated on both sides.

Türkçe oku
Filozof Judith Jarvis Thomson 1971'de şöyle bir durum kurdu: Uyandığında kendini baygın bir kemancıya bağlı buluyorsun. Seni kaçıranlar, böbreklerin onun kanını temizleyebildiği için dokuz ay bağlı kalman gerektiğini söylüyor. Thomson kemancının yaşama hakkını kabul eder, sonra sorar: Bu hak, ona senin rızan olmadan bedenini kullanma hakkı da verir mi?

Judith Jarvis Thomson (1929–2020), MIT'de çalışmış Amerikalı bir filozoftu. Kemancı örneği, 1971'de yayımladığı “Kürtajın Savunusu” (A Defense of Abortion) adlı makalesinde geçer. Thomson, tartışmayı ilerletmek için ceninin yaşama hakkı olduğunu kabul etti; ama bunun tek başına kimseyi, bedenini başka birini hayatta tutmak için kullandırmaya zorlamadığını savundu. Makale çağdaş felsefede en çok yeniden basılan metinlerden biri oldu; benzetmenin gebeliğe ne kadar uyduğu ise iki tarafta da hâlâ tartışılıyor.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: A Defense of Abortion
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