Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies.
The line between lawful and unlawful abortion will be marked by the fact of having sensation and being alive.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that the ethical distinction regarding abortion hinges on the capacity for sensation and the state of being alive.
Aristotle's quote highlights the moral and philosophical considerations surrounding abortion. It implies that the defining factor in the legality and morality of abortion is whether the fetus can feel pain and possesses a life state, thereby raising questions about personhood and the ethical implications of terminating a pregnancy. This perspective invites a deeper exploration of what it means to be alive and sentient, emphasizing the significance of these attributes in ethical decision-making.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
Discussing the ethical implications of abortion in a debate.
More from Aristotle
All quotes βThose who cannot bravely face danger are the slaves of their attackers.
For often, when one is asleep, there is something in consciousness which declares that what then presents itself is but a dream.
You will never do anything in this world without courage. It is the greatest quality of the mind next to honor.
But if nothing but soul, or in soul mind, is qualified to count, it is impossible for there to be time unless there is soul, but only that of which time is an attribute, i.e. if change can exist without soul.
The whole is more than the sum of its parts.
Similar quotes
Knowledge and liberty are so prevalent in this country, that I do not believe that the United States would ever be disposed to establish one religious sect, and lay all others under legal disabilities. But as we know not what may take place hereafter, and any such test would be exceedingly injurious to the rights of free citizens, I cannot think it altogether superfluous to have added a clause, which secures us from the possibility of such oppression.
The minute the church and pastors start saying what do people want and then giving it to them, we betray our calling. We're called to have people follow Jesus. We're called to have people learn how to forgive their enemies.
For a time it seemed inevitable that the surging tide of agnosticism and materialism would sweep all before it. There were those who did not dare utter what they thought. Many thought the case hopeless and the cause of religion lost once and for ever. But the tide has turned and to the rescue has come - what? The study of comparative religions. By the study of different religions we find that in essence they are one.
Time is a drug. Too much of it kills you.
Myth is much more important and true than history. History is just journalism and you know how reliable that is.
Take motherhood: nobody ever thought of putting it on a moral pedestal until some brash feminists pointed out, about a century ago, that the pay is lousy and the career ladder nonexistent.