Judith Jarvis Thomson Quotes
Judith Jarvis Thomson was an American moral and metaphysical philosopher and a long-serving professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her A Defense of Abortion, published in 1971, became one of the most discussed papers in twentieth-century moral philosophy and inaugurated a new style of careful, scenario-driven argument in applied ethics. The quotes below are attributed to Judith Jarvis Thomson, organized by topic.
Judith Jarvis Thomson on Justice
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Attributed to Judith Jarvis Thomson:
“A defense of abortion does not require a denial of personhood.”
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Attributed to Judith Jarvis Thomson:
“We have rights, but we also have duties to one another.”
Judith Jarvis Thomson on Virtue
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Attributed to Judith Jarvis Thomson:
“The trolley problem reveals the structure of our moral intuitions.”
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Attributed to Judith Jarvis Thomson:
“What you may not do is not always what you must not allow to happen.”
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Attributed to Judith Jarvis Thomson:
“Careful description of cases is the first task of moral philosophy.”