Integrity and the Pro-Life Debate

CERC ^ | January/February 2007 | Donald DeMarco

[Coleus]

Since 1966, Professor Raymond Dennehy has bravely accepted the challenge of debating abortion advocates at the University of California at Berkeley. 

His long apprenticeship in the ring, so to speak, has led to the publication of his book, Anti-Abortionist at Large: How to Argue Intelligently About Abortion and Live to Tell About It (Trafford, 2006).

The touch of humor in Dennehy’s title is carried forward in the heading of his first chapter: “No One’s Ever Accused Me of Being Brilliant.” The heading is more self-deprecating than deserved. Nonetheless, it suggests a crucial point that its author is much too modest to claim: namely, that when it comes to making wise choices, integrity is far more important than intelligence.  Fittingly, Dennehy compares his approach with that of the daring man from La Mancha. Like the redoubtable Don Quixote, Dennehy sees his mission as restoring the virtues of a more chivalrous age. Though somewhat less than ideally equipped to pursue his ideals, Cervantes’ endearing character sets out with a tree branch for a lance, a rusty suit of armor for protection, and an old nag as a means of transportation. The moral is this: When we respond to an important challenge, we can do no more than bring with us whatever we happen to have on hand. How else can any one of us “right the unrightable wrong” and “beat the unbeatable foe”?

In one particular debate at Berkeley, a man of considerable intellectual renown and social standing made his case for abortion. He was a medical doctor and boasted of being the world’s only embryologist who performed abortions. He was also vice president of Planned Parenthood International and heavily involved in Third World family planning. In his slide show presentation, he compared an eight-week-old pig embryo with that of a human at the same stage of development. His comment was a paragon of false humility and bad science: “For the life of me I can’t see any difference.”  Dennehy countered by pointing out that his opponent had just committed the fallacy of arguing from appearances. “One might as well argue,” Dennehy retorted, “that the sun is smaller than the earth because that’s the way it looks.” He added that we do not need to be limited to how eight-week-old embryos appear to the naked eye. The electronic microscope allows us to see deeper into the realities of the two embryos and read their distinctive DNA. The critical distinction between appearance and reality, as a matter of fact, was the very insight that inaugurated science, as well as philosophy.

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This is what may be said of the man of integrity: “He did not know more than others, but he never used whatever knowledge he had as a trophy to be admired. Rather, he humbly placed his knowledge, animated by love, at the service of what is good.”

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The embryologist, according to Dennehy, “blew his cork.” As an embryologist, he certainly must have known that there are scientific ways of differentiating between an eight-week-old pig embryo and an eight-week-old human embryo. What he lacked was not knowledge but integrity, not status but virtue. The fact that his lack of integrity had been publicly exposed, a rather humiliating experience, naturally infuriated him.  Samuel Johnson once remarked that “knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful.” Specialized knowledge, such as what is needed to be an embryologist, is obtainable by relatively few. But integrity is a quality that is available to everyone. It is not embarrassing not to have that for which one has neither opportunity nor aptitude. But it is indeed embarrassing not to possess something that one should possess, specifically, one’s own personal integrity.

Integrity is the unification of knowledge, rightful purpose, and love. It is impressive and unassailable. Knowledge alone, tethered neither to a good purpose or to love, can be used for malicious aims. Indeed, as Johnson warns us, it can be “dangerous and dreadful.”  Professor Dennehy offers us a most important lesson, in the style of the Man from La Mancha: We will win in the end if we are virtuous. Mere brilliance can be blinding. Integrity does not distort truth for private gain. It is a personal virtue. And it is through genuine person-to-person contact, that we make truth clear, convincing, and palatable.  He has given us encouragement to take on opponents who may be more intelligent, better informed, and of a loftier social station than what we might possess. But if we bring to the arena our integrity, that, when all is said and done, is what counts most.

This is what may be said of the man of integrity: “He did not know more than others, but he never used whatever knowledge he had as a trophy to be admired. Rather, he humbly placed his knowledge, animated by love, at the service of what is good.”  Read an excerpt of: Anti-Abortionist At Large: How To Argue
Abortion Intelligently And Live To Tell About It

Lay Witness is the flagship publication of Catholics United for the Faith. Featuring articles written by leaders in the Catholic Church, each issue of Lay Witness keeps you informed on current events in the Church, the Holy Father's intentions for the month, and provides formation through biblical and catechetical articles with real-life applications for everyday Catholics.

Donald DeMarco is adjunct professor at Holy Apostles College & Seminary in Cromwell, Connecticut and Professor Emeritus at St. Jerome's University in Waterloo Ontario. He also continues to work as a corresponding member of the Pontifical Acadmy for Life. Donanld DeMarco has written hundreds of articles for various scholarly and popular journals, and is the author of twenty books, including The Heart of Virtue, The Many Faces of Virtue, Virtue's Alphabet: From Amiability to Zeal and Architects Of The Culture Of Death. Donald DeMarco is on the Advisory Board of The Catholic Education Resource Center.

Raymond Dennehy is Professor of Philosophy at the University of San Francisco. After serving from 1954-58 as a radarman in the U.S. Navy aboard the heavy cruiser, USS Rochester in the Pacific Theater of Operations, he attended the University of San Fransisco, obtaining a B.A. in philosophy. He studied philosophy in the graduate school of the University of California, Berkeley, finally getting his Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Toronto. He is the author, most recently, of Anti-Abortionist at Large: How to Argue Intelligently About Abortion and Live to Tell About It (Trafford, 2006). His previous books are Reason and Dignity and an anthology he edited, Christian Married Love. He is frequently invited on radio and television programs, as well as university campuses, to speak and debate on topics such as abortion, physician-assisted suicide, and cloning. He is married to Maryann Dennehy, has four children and eleven grandchildren. LayWitness

[Coleus]

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[garjog]

Is this a new edition of the 2002 book?

[FormerLib]

I might just have to pick up a copy of this one, thanks for posting.

[AliVeritas]

BTTT

[cpforlife.org]

It really is amazing how the Pro-Life side has literally a library size number of books, from religious to scientific and philosophical; from Hippocrates to the Apostles and in to St. Augustine into modern times.

And of course secular scientists, with the American Medical Association in the 1800's declaring abortion to be MURDER.

The pro-death side has all but the most empty of rhetoric. Embarrassing, almost, when you compare the two sides.

And yet in the US it all boils down to the definition of a single word: "personhood"

20 weeks from conception

Please Freepmail me if you want on or off my Pro-Life Ping List.

[wagglebee]

And of course secular scientists, with the American Medical Association in the 1800's declaring abortion to be MURDER.

Forty years ago, the DSM listed homosexuality as a mental illness.

Thirty years ago, Karen Ann Quinlan's parents declared it would be murder to remove her feeding tube.

First the left used judges and now they have added doctors as willing conspirators in their evil agenda.

[.30Carbine]

This is what may be said of the man of integrity: “He did not know more than others, but he never used whatever knowledge he had as a trophy to be admired. Rather, he humbly placed his knowledge, animated by love, at the service of what is good.”

Thank you for the ping, as always, dear cpforlife.org. May we see the end of abortion in our times, Sweet Jesus, and legislation that defends the life of every person no matter how small, how old, how weak, how 'damaged', amen.

And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man.
~Genesis 9:5

We are indeed, Lord, our brother's keeper. Find us faithful when You come. Thank You that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin - One Sacrifice by which we are made perfect forever in the Lamb. Please turn the hearts of our leaders like a watercourse to Justice. Please turn the expectant mamas away from the abortion mills to Righteousness, Truth, and Love. Please return the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of all children to You, Most Holy Father. Please forgive our sin and heal our land, amen.

[.30Carbine]

And yet in the US it all boils down to the definition of a single word:

"personhood"

[MHGinTN]

Agenda trumps integrity for some, or integrity is defined by agenda and thus always a changing measure. When folks have to lie to forward their agenda, they tell us what we need to know about them.

[.30Carbine]

bump.

[cpforlife.org]

And speaking of Judges and agendas...

Bush’s two on SCOTUS looked good today, from what I've heard so far. It will probably be his best legacy for Conservatism.

1 or 2 more like them and Roe should fall.

[MountainFlower]

The moral is this: When we respond to an important challenge, we can do no more than bring with us whatever we happen to have on hand. How else can any one of us “right the unrightable wrong” and “beat the unbeatable foe”?

I like this quote!! Thanks for the PING, Coleus. Too bad he did add, "with God's help"!