"violinist argument" meaning in English

See violinist argument in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Proper name

Forms: the violinist argument [canonical]
Etymology: The argument was first used in the essay “A Defense of Abortion” by Judith Jarvis Thomson, first published in the Philosophy & Public Affairs journal in 1971. Head templates: {{en-proper noun|def=1}} the violinist argument
  1. (philosophy) An argument in favour of a right to abortion that appeals to a thought experiment in which a person with a rare blood type is kidnapped and plugged into a famous unconscious violinist with a fatal kidney ailment; if the violinist is unplugged, he will die, but if he stays plugged into the kidnappee for nine months, he will recover from his ailment. The argument assumes that in this hypothetical scenario, the kidnappee has the right to unplug themselves from the violinist at any time even if this will cause his death, because the violinist does not have a right to the kidnappee’s body. Wikipedia link: A Defense of Abortion, A Defense of Abortion#The violinist, Judith Jarvis Thomson, Philosophy & Public Affairs Categories (topical): Abortion, Philosophy Synonyms: violinist analogy
    Sense id: en-violinist_argument-en-name-Sx6G0JvB Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header Topics: human-sciences, philosophy, sciences

Download JSON data for violinist argument meaning in English (2.8kB)

{
  "etymology_text": "The argument was first used in the essay “A Defense of Abortion” by Judith Jarvis Thomson, first published in the Philosophy & Public Affairs journal in 1971.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "the violinist argument",
      "tags": [
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  "head_templates": [
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      "expansion": "the violinist argument",
      "name": "en-proper noun"
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "name",
  "senses": [
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          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
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          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Abortion",
          "orig": "en:Abortion",
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            "Body",
            "Gynaecology",
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            "Female",
            "Medicine",
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            "Gender",
            "Biology",
            "Sciences",
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      "glosses": [
        "An argument in favour of a right to abortion that appeals to a thought experiment in which a person with a rare blood type is kidnapped and plugged into a famous unconscious violinist with a fatal kidney ailment; if the violinist is unplugged, he will die, but if he stays plugged into the kidnappee for nine months, he will recover from his ailment. The argument assumes that in this hypothetical scenario, the kidnappee has the right to unplug themselves from the violinist at any time even if this will cause his death, because the violinist does not have a right to the kidnappee’s body."
      ],
      "id": "en-violinist_argument-en-name-Sx6G0JvB",
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        [
          "violinist",
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      "raw_glosses": [
        "(philosophy) An argument in favour of a right to abortion that appeals to a thought experiment in which a person with a rare blood type is kidnapped and plugged into a famous unconscious violinist with a fatal kidney ailment; if the violinist is unplugged, he will die, but if he stays plugged into the kidnappee for nine months, he will recover from his ailment. The argument assumes that in this hypothetical scenario, the kidnappee has the right to unplug themselves from the violinist at any time even if this will cause his death, because the violinist does not have a right to the kidnappee’s body."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "violinist analogy"
        }
      ],
      "topics": [
        "human-sciences",
        "philosophy",
        "sciences"
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "A Defense of Abortion",
        "A Defense of Abortion#The violinist",
        "Judith Jarvis Thomson",
        "Philosophy & Public Affairs"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "violinist argument"
}
{
  "etymology_text": "The argument was first used in the essay “A Defense of Abortion” by Judith Jarvis Thomson, first published in the Philosophy & Public Affairs journal in 1971.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "the violinist argument",
      "tags": [
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      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
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      },
      "expansion": "the violinist argument",
      "name": "en-proper noun"
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  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "name",
  "senses": [
    {
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        "English proper nouns",
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        "en:Philosophy"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An argument in favour of a right to abortion that appeals to a thought experiment in which a person with a rare blood type is kidnapped and plugged into a famous unconscious violinist with a fatal kidney ailment; if the violinist is unplugged, he will die, but if he stays plugged into the kidnappee for nine months, he will recover from his ailment. The argument assumes that in this hypothetical scenario, the kidnappee has the right to unplug themselves from the violinist at any time even if this will cause his death, because the violinist does not have a right to the kidnappee’s body."
      ],
      "links": [
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        ],
        [
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        ],
        [
          "blood type",
          "blood type"
        ],
        [
          "kidnapped",
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        ],
        [
          "violinist",
          "violinist"
        ],
        [
          "kidney",
          "kidney"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(philosophy) An argument in favour of a right to abortion that appeals to a thought experiment in which a person with a rare blood type is kidnapped and plugged into a famous unconscious violinist with a fatal kidney ailment; if the violinist is unplugged, he will die, but if he stays plugged into the kidnappee for nine months, he will recover from his ailment. The argument assumes that in this hypothetical scenario, the kidnappee has the right to unplug themselves from the violinist at any time even if this will cause his death, because the violinist does not have a right to the kidnappee’s body."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "violinist analogy"
        }
      ],
      "topics": [
        "human-sciences",
        "philosophy",
        "sciences"
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "A Defense of Abortion",
        "A Defense of Abortion#The violinist",
        "Judith Jarvis Thomson",
        "Philosophy & Public Affairs"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "violinist argument"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-01 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (f4fd8c9 and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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