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Mistakes we Make in Thinking - Appeal to Pity

March 13th, 2007 by Stephen

The Thinking Baby's Baby. Photo: Tub GurnardWhen discussing issues around abortion, one often sees an argument such as this from the pro-choice side:

when all is said and done, the question most prevalent should be: “Do we want our orphanages and adoption agencies overflowing with uncared for children?”

The argument being made is that we should allow people to kill foetal life, because the consequence of not doing so would be children who are uncared for, and that this is such a miserable outcome that the alternative is somehow better than the consequence.

But our pity for uncared-for children is being hhijacked here. If we can convince ourselves that killing life before it reaches some point of development that we consider crucial is better than allowing children to live in misery then is it not better to kill them?

But in that case, if a child is born to a mother who we suspect will be abusive or will abandon the child, should we not then kill the new born child? Why would one course of action be better than the other?

If you ask a pro-choice advocate this question, they will give you answers based on issues such as the mother’s right to choose what she does with her body and so on.

And that is fine. We can then evaluate those arguments on their own merits, but note that these issues are the real nub of the argument. The issue is an issue of morality. People must weigh up the morality of killing human life with the morality of restraining a mother’s choice.

But an appeal to pity (argumentum ad misericordiam to give it its latin name), is fallacious. It is not the argument that needs to be answered, and it distracts us from the real issue at hand.

Previous in series

Table of contents for Mistakes in Thinking

  1. Mistakes we Make in Thinking - Confirmation Behaviour
  2. Mistakes we Make in Thinking - In Groups and Out Groups
  3. Mistakes we Make in Thinking - Ad Hominem Arguments
  4. Mistakes we Make in Thinking - Anecdotal Evidence and WiFi Radiation
  5. Mistakes we Make in Thinking - Misremembered Evidence
  6. Mistakes we Make in Thinking - The Straw Man
  7. Mistakes we Make in Thinking - Appeal to Pity
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11 Responses to “Mistakes we Make in Thinking - Appeal to Pity”

  1. on 13 Mar 2007 at 6:17 pm1 selahV

    that kind of reasoning would leave open the door to eliminate the perpetrators before they have opportunity to abort. They wouldn’t want us to kill off the women who are about to have a baby and abort it, or kill off the women who have babies and then abuse them. But it’s perfectly reasonable and rational to kill off the innocent in order to accomodate the guilty? Isn’t this silly thinking? Pro-choice folks can justify anything. They even twist God’s Word when they do it. sad, sad, sad. selahV

    Good post! You back from London yet? Did you have tea with the Queen? :)

  2. on 13 Mar 2007 at 8:06 pm2 MInTheGap

    Great analysis here, Stephen. One book I read said that a good way to illustrate this point is to substitute the word baby for the word 2-year-old. No one would be willing to kill a two-year-old because of orphanage over crowding; therefore, it stands to reason that the question is back to “is it a baby”– the real question.

  3. on 13 Mar 2007 at 10:22 pm3 Mrs Meg Logan

    OOH MIN such a clever use of English!

    I am going to have to remember that one.

    Nice post Stephen

    Mrs. Meg Logan

  4. on 14 Mar 2007 at 10:33 am4 Stephen

    That is a useful technique, Min. I think it makes the same point.

    Thanks both for your comments.

  5. on 14 Mar 2007 at 11:43 am5 Stephen

    selahV, Thanks for your comments.

    I got back from London last night (this posting was automatically posted in my absence). Whilst I didn’t have tea with the Queen, I was in the Queen Elizabeth II conference centre (just off parliament square) where I had lunch with a very nice view. (See: this picture taken from the conference centre).

  6. on 14 Mar 2007 at 7:31 pm6 Mary

    Nice post and so true…

    Thanks for sharing that picture…wow! Wonder if I’ll ever see London first hand? Have you been to the USA?

  7. on 14 Mar 2007 at 9:36 pm7 MInTheGap

    Stephen, did you see my post with a link I sent you. It’s possible it was trapped as spam because of the link.

  8. on 14 Mar 2007 at 9:53 pm8 Stephen

    I’m sorry, but I haven’t seen it. It is not in the moderation queue (which is as it should be - I only queue posts if they have 3 or more links). However, I do run akismet which may have removed the post. Unfortunately I trashed my akismet spam box about an hour ago (it had 580 spams in it so I cannot be sure yours was not there).

    I’m sorry about this. If you have a copy, please feel free to email it to me and I’ll make sure it goes up! (or repost and I’ll be careful about akismet!)

    Stephen

  9. on 14 Mar 2007 at 10:00 pm9 Stephen

    Hi Mary,

    Yes, I have been to the USA (and Canada) on a number of occasions. I think I have been to about 15 US states in all. It helps that I have some American and Canadian relatives :)

    Which state are you in?

  10. on 14 Mar 2007 at 10:44 pm10 Mary

    I could email it to you…thus far I’ve decided not to share specific locations…but I’m in the mid-west which narrows it down a bit!

    :)

  11. on 14 Mar 2007 at 11:03 pm11 Stephen

    That’s fine, it is not important. It also makes it unlikely I have been to your state! I don’t think I have been to any mid west states.

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