Intrinsic Evil: Help Me Out

In response to Steve’s post, “Some things matter more than others” - let’s take as a given that “Not all moral issues have the same moral weight as abortion and euthanasia” – or as some have put it, these are “intrinsic evils” – as compared with areas requiring some prudential judgment in their application (such as capital punishment and war).

It’s not crystal clear to me what this means for political life – and especially for the decision about how to cast one’s vote. To cite that abortion is an intrinsic evil, as if that then clinches the argument on how to vote, seems to skip a few steps – regarding the function of law and the formation of public policy.

In fact, it seems that the heart of voting in many ways is all about those issues which do require prudential judgment – and in choosing the person whose prudential judgment you trust more.

It’s also not clear to me that just because an issue requires some prudential judgment in its application it is therefore “less important” than other issues. For example, perhaps capital punishment is one of those areas – but it seems that the state’s execution of an innocent person, to take an extreme case, or on the basis of a system that is racially discriminatory, is not therefore “less important” – and certainly not less tragic and less disturbing than an abortion. In fact, if we consider how this example touches on the role and power of the government in ways that are more direct than the series of decisions which lead to an abortion, it could also be more disturbing. Or to take a more complex case (perhaps), I’m just not clear on how a mistaken application of the just war principles – e.g., failure to insure that war was truly a “last resort” – is any less important or less tragic than abortion.

I don’t mean to downplay the moral tragedy of abortion or the importance in political life of clearly identifying abortion as an intrinsic evil. However, translating this conviction and concern into a legal agenda and specific public policy requires a few additional steps – and these steps do seem to involve prudential judgment about what would be the most effective course of action to reduce abortion and increase respect for life in our society.

So other than insuring that we understand something is really bad, how does that fact that something is an intrinsic evil advance the political anlaysis?

These are really honest questions – does anyone know of a good analysis of how the moral category of “intrinsic evil” is connected with political judgments and voting in particular – that can answer some of these questions?

Amy