Date of Award
Spring 2024
Thesis Type
Rollins Access Only
Degree Name
Honors Bachelor of Arts
Department
Philosophy
Sponsor
Dr. Eric Smaw
Committee Member
Dr. Scott Rubarth
Committee Member
Dr. Anne Stone
Abstract
Eugenics has been widely denounced as a practice by philosophers, politicians, and human rights activists. Yet, it is still prevalent. For example, Iceland and Denmark practice eugenic abortions. Upon prenatal screening, a positive diagnosis of a disability, and “neutral counseling,” nearly 90 percent of women terminate their pregnancy. As a result, in Iceland, only two to three children are born with Down syndrome each year. In the US, Virginia’s Eugenical Sterilization Act continues to be upheld by the landmark case Buck v. Bell (1927) and 31 states plus Washington DC have laws in place that allow for the sterilization of people with disabilities. The weighty persistence of eugenics in modern-day practices motivates my philosophical defense of the dignity of people with disabilities. In this paper, I detail the historical treatment of people with disabilities from the American Eugenics Movement in the early 1900s to the ratification of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Secondly, I will demonstrate that two of the most prominent philosophical frameworks, Immanuel Kant’s deontology, and Peter Singer’s preference utilitarianism, deny personhood, and consequently dignity, to some people with disabilities. Third, I will defend Martha Nussbaum’s definition of personhood and conception of status and achievement dignity. Using Nussbaum’s capabilities approach, I will argue against normative eugenic abortion practices, sterilizations that are not medically necessary, and Singer’s permissive standard for killing infants with disabilities who are less than one-month old. Fourth, I will defend my use of person-first language (PFL). In this paper, I argue that because people with disabilities have dignity, first, we should employ PFL unless the person with the disability we are referring to prefers otherwise, and second, the state has an obligation to ensure that every person’s dignity is protected by meeting minimum thresholds for human flourishing as articulated by Nussbaum’s capabilities approach.
Recommended Citation
Shaikh, Ferah, "A Philosophical Defense of the Dignity of People with Disabilities: Martha Nussbaum and the Capabilities Approach" (2024). Honors Program Theses. 236.
https://scholarship.rollins.edu/honors/236
Rights Holder
Ferah Shaikh
