Ethics: Abortion

About this episode

Tanner Campbell discusses the Stoic perspective on abortion, emphasizing the importance of reasoning and virtue over political positions.

Stick around after the closing music for some extra thoughts on this topic. -- I am a public philosopher, it is my only job. I am enabled to do this job, in large part, thanks to support from my listeners and readers. You can support my work, keep it independent and online, at https://practicingstoicism.com/pledge. In this episode, I explain why Stoicism does not judge people as just or unjust based on whether they hold a pro-life or pro-choice position. What matters, from a Stoic perspective, is not the conclusion someone reaches, but the quality of the reasoning that leads them there, and whether that reasoning accords with Stoic ethical theory. I use abortion specifically because it is a subject most of us struggle to hold open space around. It is emotionally charged, morally serious, and deeply tied to how we think about Nature, life, and human responsibility. For Stoics, this makes it a fitting case study for understanding how justice, reason, and virtue actually function in practice. I lay out the core Stoic framework first: reason is what carries moral weight. The pregnant person possesses reason; the fetus does not yet. Because of this, Stoicism does not frame abortion in…

People in this episode

Host: Tanner Campbell

Topics covered

• Stoicism
• ethics
• abortion
• reason
• virtue
• justice

Keywords

• Stoicism
• abortion
• ethics
• reasoning
• virtue
• justice
• pro-life
• pro-choice

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