Social Science and the Public Interest

Excerpt

Longtime contributor, Daniel Callahan, is remembered principally for his work in the broad area of medical ethics (which is better known because of his leadership as bioethics). But his contributions to public issues and policy extended far beyond the focus of work conducted by the institute he co-founded, The Hastings Center. These broader contributions appeared in Society, among other places, over four decades. In 1982, he contributed to a symposium on The Human Life Bill S.158 proposed at that time. His opposition could hardly be regarded as partisan in today’s disputes over abortion: “To date in the abortion debate, the ‘pro-life’ group has taken the lead in asking the serious question: when does human life begin, and what are the moral implications of our answer to that question? I hope that the “pro-choice” group will in the future be no less vigorous in its willingness to ask and confront that question, a trait that has not been noticeably present in the past. I support the right of women to make their own moral choice on abortion. But that is not the end of the matter. A no less fundamental moral problem is how that right ought morally to be used. That is the real debate we should be having, not a debate about a bill full of philosophical fallacies” (“Raw Data vs. Wisdom” 19:5, May/June 1982). …