Final answer:
According to Marquis, the most crucial consideration in determining the permissibility of abortion is that a fetus has a valuable future. His perspective focuses on the loss of potential life, differing from other arguments concerning personhood, bodily autonomy, and legal rights. Option b is the correct answer.
Step-by-step explanation:
According to Marquis, the matter that most determines the permissibility of abortion is b) a fetus has a valuable future. Don Marquis, a contemporary philosopher, presents a future-like-ours argument which asserts that the primary wrongness of killing is the loss of one's potential future, a future that could potentially be valuable and fulfilling. This approach pivots away from the traditional debate focused on whether a fetus is a 'person' or has a 'right to life' and instead looks at the inherent value of the potential life of the fetus.
In contrast, other philosophers such as Judith Jarvis Thomson argue that a fetus's right to life does not override a woman's right to bodily autonomy. Philosophers like Ronald Dworkin emphasize that being a member of the human species grants full moral status, whereas the Judeo-Christian perspective may intertwine personhood with the presence of a soul. Historical figures like Aristotle and Kant have linked personhood to the capacity for rational thought, a condition a fetus has not yet obtained.
The landscape of abortion rights includes legal considerations such as those from Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, discussing the privacy rights of women and the balance between these rights and the potentiality of human life. The question of abortion often leads to normative moral considerations, which are reflected in the diverse perspectives present in societal and legal debates. Regardless, for Marquis, the decisive factor is the valuable future that the act of abortion terminates.