Bihar Baby Position Paper

PHI 100
July 11, 2016
Kent Gang
Position
The baby should be taken care of and brought to the nearest institution which can take
responsibility for it.
Primary Argument

(1) We have a moral obligation to protect human life. (2) Because the baby is human, it
cannot defend for itself, and the travelers have the means to looks after it, (3) the
travelers should take it into custody and deliver it to a nearby place which can care for
it.
(4) The Bihar village is physically abusing the baby by leaving it to die, (5) therefore
they no longer have the right to influence the babys life. (6) Thus, the travelers can go
against their wishes to deliver it to authorities which can take care of it.

Supporting Arguments
(1) We have a moral obligation to protect human life because any person could not thrive
with the protection of others whether its parents while young or the police in the case of
violence. In general, people are not self-sufficient and rely on many other people in their
families, communities or the government to live the way they do. Because we have
benefitted from the interactions we have had with other people, we should extend that
generosity to the baby.
(2) Understanding that this baby deserves the travelers charity, the most appropriate
manifestation of it would be for them to take custody of it until they can place it in the
care of longer term caretakers. This is because the baby cannot defend for itself and this
action should not put an unreasonable burden on the travelers.
While an older person thrown out of a village could perhaps take care of himself or
herself, the baby is helpless. It will need to be in someones direct care for it to survive.
Therefore, the travelers should take care of it. Because it would not be reasonable for
the travelers to be obligated to take responsibility for the babys upbringing, the next
best option is to bring it to another organization which raise it.
(4) The villagers leaving the baby outside amounts to abuse. This is because the villagers
have done this with the purpose of killing it. It cannot be morally just to kill the baby,
despite the astrologers prescription, because the astrologer did not objectively
demonstrate a connection between the sacrifice and the harvest. If this could be shown,
one might argue that the number of the lives saved by preventing a famine outweighs
the value of the life of the baby.
(5) Since the villagers are not taking proper care of the baby, they lose their rights to
influence its life. All guardians which abuse their dependents lose their rights as
caretakers. This is because the purpose of looking after children is so that they can
become thriving adults. Since this baby was abandoned intentionally, this purpose is not
fulfilled. Therefore, the travelers are morally obligated to intervene.

(6) Since the travelers should takeover custody of the baby, it does not matter that the
villagers ask the travelers to put it back where they found it. The most reasonable
course of action then is (3).
Definitions
Human Life A characterization of homo sapiens experience being alive including emotions and
experiences. The baby represents an example of human life which should be protected as many
babies do not survive pregnancy or childbirth.
Moral Obligation An action or ideal which serves as part of the foundation for a thriving human
society. For example, we generally recognize that we have the moral obligation not to murder other
people. This is because we would not choose to interact with other people and form a society if we
felt that we would be murdered by other people. Likewise, we have a moral obligation to protect
other people who cannot protect themselves. This is because any person was once helpless and
benefitted from other people too. Therefore the travelers have the moral obligation to give this
opportunity to the baby.