Judith Jarvis Thomson
| Judith Jarvis Thomson | |
|---|---|
| Born | October 4, 1929 (age 87) |
| Era | Contemporary philosophy |
| Region | Western Philosophy |
| School | Analytic Philosophy |
|
Main interests
|
Moral philosophy |
Judith Jarvis Thomson (born October 4, 1929) is an American moral philosopher and metaphysician. She is known for her defense of moral objectivity, her account of moral rights, her views about the incompleteness of the term 'good,' and her use of thought experiments to make philosophical points. She is most famous for her 1971 essay "A Defense of Abortion", which bases abortion rights on the pregnant woman's right to control her own body and its life-support functions, rather than denying the personhood of the baby.
Born in New York City, on October 4, 1929, Judith (Jarvis) Thomson was the second child of Theodore Jarvis (Javitz), an accountant, and Helen (Vostrey) Jarvis, an English teacher. Her mother was of Catholic Czech extraction, and her father was descended from a line of Eastern European rabbis, including Rabbi Hayyim Eliezer Wachs of Kalish and Rabbi Jacob Emden. Raised in an observant family on the Lower East Side, Theodore Javitz changed his name to Jarvis in 1918. His relationship with his wife, which began at socialist summer camp, was a source of tension for both their families.
Helen Jarvis died when Judith was six, and Theodore Jarvis remarried two years later. His second wife had two children. She was a successful interior designer and an arts and antique dealer and importer.
Judith attended elementary school in New York City and in Yonkers, graduating from Hunter College High School in January 1946. She went on to receive a B.A. from Barnard College in 1950, a second B.A. from Cambridge University in 1952 (at Newnham College, Cambridge), an M.A. from Cambridge in 1956, and a Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1959, all in philosophy.
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