Shakespeare's Acts of Will

Watt, Gary

doi:10.5040/9781474217880

Cited by 16 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…Moreover, in contrast to feeding which requires a series of 'positive acts' to continue, the discontinuation of pregnancy requires (at least pre-viability) active intervention in the form of a bodily assault -a rupture of bodily functioning of both mother and child. 30 Not only is pregnancy not medical support, but it seems countermedical -anti-health -deliberately and harmfully to disrupt, as opposed perhaps to failing to support, the physiology of pregnancy. Promoting or at least respecting healthy (or relatively healthy) bodily functioning is, after all, what medicine is all about.…”

Section: Abortion As 'Taking Off Life Support'mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There is much to say on this approach to abortion questions, which I have sought to do elsewhere. 34 Here I will simply say that it is not an approach I think can ultimately be sustained, not least in view of the goaldirected physiological nature of pregnancy as a function of woman and baby -in contrast to abortion's counter-functional bodily assault on both alike. As mentioned above, with basic support measures more generally, we do not in fact give parents absolute discretion on offering such support whether to infants or children of any age -let alone on using lethal force to discontinue support and/or specifically to end life.…”

Section: Abortion As Elective Social Proceduresmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Abortion for life-limiting foetal anomaly: Beneficial when and for whom?

Watt¹

2016

Clinical Ethics

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Abortion for life-limiting foetal anomaly is often an intensely painful choice for the parents; though widely offered and supported, it is surprisingly difficult to defend in ethical terms. Abortion on this ground is sometimes defended as foetal euthanasia but has features which sharply differentiate it from standard non-voluntary euthanasia, not least the fact that any suffering otherwise anticipated for the child may be neither severe nor prolonged. Such abortions may be said to reduce suffering for the family including siblings-a consideration rarely stated so explicitly in defences of postnatal euthanasia-or for the woman who must in any case face the eventual loss of her baby, and for whom the abortion is seen as therapeutic in minimising pain. Finally, the abortion may be said to constitute the cessation of morally optional life support on the part of the woman, and/or to be a 'social' choice she is entitled to make, whether or not this in fact promotes her interests or those of her child. These defences need honest exploration: the intense parental suffering caused by the choice to end an often much-wanted pregnancy should not preclude but rather encourage the question whether this choice can indeed be ethically proposed to couples, especially compared with the neonatal palliative care ('perinatal hospice') approach so well received by parents who experience it.

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Section: Abortion As 'Taking Off Life Support'mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Abortion As Elective Social Proceduresmentioning

confidence: 99%

Abortion for life-limiting foetal anomaly: Beneficial when and for whom?

Watt¹

2016

Clinical Ethics

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Making Rights and Realities: How Australian Human Rights Make Gender, Alcohol and Other Drugs

Seear

Mulcahy

2022

Australian Feminist Studies

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Shakespeare and the Law

Watt

2024

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Shakespeare and the Law argues that Shakespeare was not primarily concerned with the technical accuracy of law, but with its capacity to generate drama through dispute and playing with rules. Shakespeare employs the rhetorical magic of legal language and performances to conjure playgoers to be a critical jury to events transacted on stage. His poetic sound effects prompt audiences to confer fair hearing. The book’s emphasis on rhetoric as performance is reflected in chapters that structure the book according to elements of performance. These include ‘Stages: Shakespeare’s Legal Time and Place’; ‘Roles: Shakespeare’s Legal Personalities’; ‘Script: Shakespeare’s Legal Language’; ‘Properties: Shakespeare’s Legal Materials’; and ‘Playgoers: Shakespeare’s Judicious Audience’ (addressing the association between sight, hearing, and sound judgment). The concluding chapter scrutinizes ‘Shakespeare’s Justice and Legal Legacy’, observing that Shakespeare’s works have the enduring stability and adaptability we associate with laws, and that judges are fond of quoting him, but that the justice of his works exists principally in their playful challenge to legal categories and rules.

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Shakespeare's Acts of Will

Cited by 16 publications

References 0 publications

Abortion for life-limiting foetal anomaly: Beneficial when and for whom?

Abortion for life-limiting foetal anomaly: Beneficial when and for whom?

Making Rights and Realities: How Australian Human Rights Make Gender, Alcohol and Other Drugs

Shakespeare and the Law

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