By: Nathan Nobis; originally posted at Political Animal Magazine. As the dust settles on the Trump presidency, we are left to reflect on its many themes. One of its most fundamental was this: believing without adequate evidence. Many aspects of the last four years fit this theme, but we saw…

There are “extremists” about many issues: big, important issues and even small, trivial issues. About abortion, the “extremists” most of us are familiar with are “pro-life extremists” who have sometimes used, or encourage, lethal violence against abortion providers. And there are, of course, many less extreme anti-abortion extremists. But there…

At about 4:40 of this video (which someone sent along to me), Robert George — a professor and well-known critic of abortion — says something like this: “Millennials want to hear reasons and arguments, and it’s very clear that when the arguments are presented, it’s clear who wins this…

What can people do to help ensure that women have the legal right to abortion and that abortion access is available? By and large, the only suggestion that pro-choice organizations and people offer is this: vote! Voting surely is a good idea and is a necessary part of an effective…

Kristina Grob, Philosophy, University of South Carolina Sumter, and Nathan Nobis, Philosophy, Morehouse College, Atlanta, GA. For the past few years in the United States, almost daily there’s a headline about new proposed abortions restrictions. Conservatives cheer, liberals despair. But who is right here? Should abortion be generally legal or…

Written in January 2020. Posted July 16, 2020. A too-common objection to veganism, vegetarianism and otherwise plant-based eating is that it’s a privilege: “Go vegan? ‘Check your privilege!’” A narrower version of the objection is that not everyone can be vegan since, even in well-off countries, there are “food deserts,”…

How people engage the issue of abortion can be indicative of general patterns of inquiry, thinking and communicating about controversial and challenging issues. Some of these patterns of response are good but others are bad. One bad response to issues like these is to engage in what can be called…

I am the co-author of the introductory open-access book Thinking Critically About Abortion. I am going to try to start a blog post series where I post responses to people’s questions about abortion and ethics that I receive (with their permission, of course). …

A U Chicago Ph.D. student, Steven Andrew Jacobs, did a dissertation on the topic of abortion that involved asking biology professors about “when life begins.” A report on his research and experiences is here: “I Asked Thousands of Biologists When Life Begins. The Answer Wasn’t Popular.” He shares many angry…