Pleasure principle.Despite Kenneth Woodward's atypical atypical /atyp·i·cal/ (-i-k'l) irregular; not conformable to the type; in microbiology, applied specifically to strains of unusual type. a·typ·i·cal adj. sarcasm, I found his debate with Mario Cuomo Mario Matthew Cuomo (born June 15, 1932) served as the Governor of New York from 1983 to 1995. Cuomo became nationally known for his rousing keynote speech at the 1984 Democratic National Convention and the subsequent speculation over the next two decades that he might run for the ("Catholics, Politics & Abortion," September 24) an elevated and provocative exchange. Neither author, however, addresses the fact that society's views on abortion have largely been shaped by changing attitudinal norms about sex. In a society where sex is divorced not only from procreation PROCREATION. The generation of children; it is an act authorized by the law of nature: one of the principal ends of marriage is the procreation of children. Inst. tit. 2, in pr. but from love and affection (and the natural result of the act is often dismissed as a nuisance nuisance, in law, an act that, without legal justification, interferes with safety, comfort, or the use of property. A private nuisance (e.g., erecting a wall that shuts off a neighbor's light) is one that affects one or a few persons, while a public nuisance (e.g. ), it is difficult for even those who oppose abortion to view their peers as worthy of jail time. Thus, recriminalization is not an acceptable option. One need only watch prime-time TV or read the newspaper to realize that the bishops have long since lost the fundamental moral argument; the pleasure principle seems to trump all. This is a far broader threat to our values than "partial-birth abortion partial-birth abortion n. A late-term abortion, especially one in which a viable fetus is partially delivered through the cervix before being extracted. Not in technical use. ." Too bad the bishops' credibility has been undermined by their failure to evaluate the implications of certain kinds of sexual activity. PAUL F. VERRETTE Lee, N.H. |
|
||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion