How embarrassing
Thinking Catholic Gary Wills has an embarrassing op ed in the L.A. Times that makes me blush for him. Ramesh Ponnuru has done the commentary for me.
He has a long, confused op-ed on abortion in the L. A. Times. His focus on evangelicals is a little odd—if all you had to go on was this op-ed, you might think they were the only people who oppose abortion.
If we are to decide the matter of abortion by natural law, that means we must turn to reason and science, the realm of Enlightened religion. But that is just what evangelicals want to avoid. Who are the relevant experts here? They are philosophers, neurobiologists, embryologists. Evangelicals want to exclude them because most give answers they do not want to hear.
What is Wills talking about? Evangelical (and other) pro-lifers are perfectly willing to turn to embryologists, regardless of those embryologists' position on abortion policy, for confirmation of the thesis that human embryos are living organisms of the human species. There are pro-life philosophers, too, and plenty of pro-lifers cite them.
If Wills had consulted one of them, he might have avoided some of the wrong turns he takes when he tries to commit philosophy. "Harvesting carrots, on a consistent pro-life hypothesis, would constitute something of a massacre." Okay, that's just embarrassing, so let's move on.
The universal mandate to preserve "human life" makes no sense. My hair is human life — it is not canine hair, and it is living. It grows. When it grows too long, I have it cut. Is that aborting human life? The same with my growing human fingernails. An evangelical might respond that my hair does not have the potential to become a person. True. But semen has the potential to become a person, and we do not preserve every bit of semen that is ejaculated but never fertilizes an egg.
Wills's skin cells and sperm cells are human, and alive, but they're part of an organism (him). They're not living human organisms, as a human fetus is. As for the notion that semen has the potential to become a person: Wills needs a refresher course in biology. Perhaps he should ask an evangelical for a referral to an embryologist?
Catholics were discussing natural law theory long before the so-called enlightenment that was more apt to chop off heads than to make decisions based on reason and science. Wills would be on steadier ground he if mentioned evangelicals that had abandoned natural law theory in the first place, though it is certainly making a comeback in those circles.
If it was Lent I would recommend reading Wills' whole column.
Known as 
Holy... ! Is Wills serious? Someone call up Fr. Erik over at Orthometer and tell him he's got a prime candidate for the Batsh*t Crazy Award here.
And Ponnuru doesn't even bother to mention another Wills howler: "The fetus has a face long before it has a brain." Riiiight, Mr. Wills.
Poor Mr. Wills. He seems to have been having one of those Miss-Teen-South-Carolina moments, made worse by the fact that he's grown up. I just hope he's not too invested in being a "thinking Catholic" to realize that he (like most of us, to be fair to Mr. Wills) is still capable of being an idiot.
Peace,
--Peter
I thought that nail and hair cells were dead. That's why it doesn't hurt to cut them. They don't "grow" like living things, it's just that more dead cells accumulate.
Am I wrong? If I am, could someone please explain to me what I'm misremembering from middle-school science class?
Chris,
I believe you are correct. As far as hair goes, it grows from the follicles. So to harm anything living, the follicles would have to be damaged.
Remind me not to use Mr Wills barber.
I believe this is the same Gary Wills referred to by a prominent Filipino politician in his radio program.
I'm getting the impression that people like Wills are doing better in forming the consciences of some of our intellectuals than the Pope does because their message is in a language and form our "betters" can understand and accept without question.
Critical thinking is not a strong point in Filipino intellectual culture. While US Catholics can easily dismiss Wills and his ideas, our intellectuals won't and don't. The problem is then compounded when the average Filipino turns off the radio with the impression that this Wills guy is a huge expert in the shadowy world behind the walls of the Vatican and must be telling the truth about the machinations of the Pope and his Curia.
US Catholics should realize that a good part of Universal Church is watching them and imitating them, whether for good or bad.
Good gravy, I can almost hear Wills' brain screeching to a halt.
Read Will's Book on St Augustine for a great example of reductionism. Good to know he's consistent.
I think some of these comments are a bit disingenuous, or at best naive. Anyone care to bet what would happen if tomorrow the heavens opened and the voice of God was heard proclaiming that abortion was just fine? Answer: much of the steam would go out of the anti-abortion movement. So, stop denying that religious belief makes up a large portion of the pro-life cause.
As for Will's article, I haven't read it yet, but I heard him on NPR, and all I can say is that he's naive if he believes his arguments are really going to persuade anyone to change their opinions!
Wills's arguments are fallacious at best, and duplicitous at worst. As Chris rightly points out, the fingernails and hair that are cut are truly dead tissue. Nor does the solitary sperm or ovum have the potential to become a human life. As Raymond Dennehy wrote in "Anti-Abortionist at Large," even the most strident defenders of abortion will rarely fail to admit that a fetus is a human life. Wills should stick to his avocation as a historian - or perhaps take a freshman biology course before commenting on human reproduction.
Hmm. Gary Wills. Some years ago, I ran across a statement of his regarding the Church's stand on a moral issue - or perhaps it was about a doctrine. It doesn't matter which it was, really. What matters is his statement and his lack of any argument.
He described the Church's position as "silly," and went on to another topic, as if he had simply brushed a troublesome insect from his brow.
Since then, I have not read more than half a sentence produced by this person, and as such, I confess I haven't bothered to read on tenth of this column. He deserves as much respect as he gives to the Church - and the unborn.
Let us all try to ignore this fellow.
I think some of these comments are a bit disingenuous, or at best naive.
Example?
Anyone care to bet what would happen if tomorrow the heavens opened and the voice of God was heard proclaiming that abortion was just fine? Answer: much of the steam would go out of the anti-abortion movement. So, stop denying that religious belief makes up a large portion of the pro-life cause.
Not sure what is meant by this hypothetical. I would need elaboration. Wills is denying? We are denying? I don't understand.
As for Will's article, I haven't read it yet, but I heard him on NPR, and all I can say is that he's naive if he believes his arguments are really going to persuade anyone to change their opinions!
If for a moment we grant that dubious propositition that the wrongness of abortion is a matter of mere opinion like a favorite flavor of ice cream, we still need a sound reason for changing our minds and Wills (or any other defender of the indefensible) has simply not provided any.
I forget who said it, but tis true that it takes an intellectual to get something completely and radically wrong!
I forget who said it, but tis true that it takes an intellectual to get something completely and radically wrong!
Dunno who that was, but Orwell I believe said "there are some ideas so foolish that only intellectuals could believe them."
Where does Wills gets his scientific facts from, NARAL?
Both an ovum and sperm are unicells. Although they are alive, they do not have the genetic code of homo sapiens, therefore, neither one is human life. Hair is not alive. Carrots are not human.
Is it just me, or is Wills getting stupider with each passing day?
Judith M.,
Excellent points all. Especially the last one.