Weblog 3

In Pinker’s article he seemed to say that women who kill their newborns should not be held as responsible as women who kill older children. That tendency to commit neontacide is something that is part of our instinct to survive. Killing a newborn might be more justified than killing an older child and we need to establish that line of personhood. He indicates that young mothers may kill newborns out of fear of getting into trouble. That they may see them as burdens. Most tend to be young, poor, unmarried, and isolated; they do it to help the species survive. Hundreds of women commit neontacide and most are undiscovered. Many of his reference sources are vague and he makes assumptions about the state of mind of new mothers. Brings to the table words such as infanticide, neontacide, and filicide and uses them to get his point across and he comparisons between prom moms and women in extreme condition such as famine.   In Chapman’s article he down plays everything direction that Pinker went in his article. He states that Pinker said that killing one’s offspring should be regarded less harshly. For him, women who kill their newborns are obeying their instincts, that the human traits that permit the right-to-life include “a unique sequence of experiences that defines us as individuals.Indicating that an individual have an ability to reflect upon ourselves and abilities to form and savor plans for ones future, to avoid death and to express a need not to die. That newborns don’t have these traits because they were just born you don’t have the right to life. Makes a comparison to mice and newborn stating that Pinker writes that “our immature neonates don’t possess these (human individualizing) traits any more then mice do.” In do not completely agree with either one of them. Pinker makes claims that young women should be punish less harshly do to circumstances, I disagree a young mother in today’s society have many choice and opportunities at their disposal. There is no need for a mother to kill their newborns. I do not complete understand how he could compare 200 or more years to the present days. Yes times were harder then but today in America things are not so primitive. There is no need for the selfless acts of murder to be done. As for Chapman in reading his article it was filled with anger, sarcasm and misquotes of Pinker’s.  

Advertisement