Rating: 
Summary: Keen
Review: I loved the book so much that I translated it in French and have used it with some of my students in Quebec. It has wit and insight, bundled with kindness.Peter Kreeft is a philosopher who talks to the brain instead of splashing about philobabble.
Rating:
Summary: Unbeatable!
Review: Just as Socrates was hated by the ancient sophists, so is Peter Kreeft hated by today's sophists. In this book, Peter Kreeft becomes Socrates and tackles the abortion issue from three important aspects (philosophical, biological, and psychological) and leaves behind his opponents with an open mouth and nothing else to say--just as Socrates did back in the ancient period. This book is extremely sophisticated but also fun to read. Its little summaries of points in the margin make it easy to quickly locate an argument or an objection. This book really exposes the rhetoric used by many people who endorse abortion and lays bare the fact that no rhetoric in the world can fool those who really know how to use their brain. Of course pro-abortion people will dislike this book and give it just one star. But you--decide for yourself!
Rating:
Summary: A PERFECT ARGUMENT
Review: Peter Kreeft shows takes just about every argument for abortion and completely refutes it perfectly. A must read for people on both sides. Some people said he lacked scientific info. He's a philosopher, not a scientist and scientific info shows TONS of risks for women's bodies when they have abortions: ectopic pregnancies, breast cancer, infertility, depression, etc. etc. I should know because my sister's life was saved by giving birth to her son.
Rating: 
Summary: Do you trivialize the sacred?
Review: Peter Kreeft's essay against abortion employs Socratic dialectic as vehicle of moral illumination. For committed Pro-lifers much of what is discussed is manifestly obvious and True. This does not diminish its importance: the fetus is complete ontologically. It is not "potentially" a person...it is potentially a specific kind of person (baseball player; mother; astronaut; yuppie).
That committed Pro-abortionists do not accept this is also manifestly obvious through 30 years of political struggle asserting "a" Value over against "a" Reality (pp 145-150)....and PREVAILING. Who is this book really written for then? Though there have been
approximately 45 million legal abortions (cf: The Guttmacher Institute statistics) since 1973 Roe v. Wade decision by The Supreme Court, there are still many otherwise informed citizens who claim "invincible ignorance" of the reality of abortion and The Culture it furthers/subbtends.The fact never in three decades of Pro-choice have more than 2%-5% of these abortions been to save a mother's life or protect her health (cf:Guttmacher Annals; or Ryan Reports)might seem startling enough to shake ethical foundations of any but the most complacent or self-absorbed...at least into inquiry about the most important moral issue confronting this nation since SLAVERY. Kreeft is clever but hardly as profound or persuasive as he might be. The substantive arguments (where "gloves" come-off, as it were)don't begin until page 106 (with classic references to our Supreme Court vis-a-vis NAZI "anthropology" and its legal application during The Third Reich and WWII.)The thrust of the book, however,is on page 151: Do you accept sanctity of Life? Or do you trivialize the sacred? THE UNABORTED SOCRATES is written as prod to readers of conscience who still regard the value the latter portends, yet deny reality of vital(!) anti-life forces in society where they live as complicit,if passive, abettors.(3 and 1/2 stars)
Rating:
Summary: "The Unaborted Socrates" Forces the Real Issue
Review: Peter Kreeft, who is famous for his religious/philosophical dialogues, has another witty materpiece here. As the title suggests, Socrates is playing the role of the questioner against those who might defend abortion on demand. Socrates engages a doctor, lawyer and philosopher who argue for the pro-abortion position. The great thing about this book on the abortion issue is that Kreeft forces the reader to see what is at stake in this issue. He strips away emotionally loaded cases and bad arguments for abortion. This is a must read for anyone who isn't sure where they stand with abortion. If you don't get why pro-lifers are so uptight about about abortion, you need to read this book. The dialogue is easy to read, and it is unapologetically honest about where the truth leads.
Rating:
Summary: Peter Kreeft has it right!
Review: Peter Kreeft, who truly is one America's great academic gems, and a prolific author has done an excellent job with this book on the topic of abortion.
He uses both humor and logic to prove a point - that abortion is gravely evil and is objectively wrong.
In the book Socrates and an abortionist get into many discussions with respect to what is a person, is abortion murder, etc. Kreeft does an a great job with presenting both sides of the "debate" (debate is in quotation marks because there really is no debate - just certain individuals displaying the effects of original sin - i.e. the pro-death people, the ACLU, Planned Parenthood, etc.) The dialog is fast paced, entertaing and educational. Kreeft has put a lot of thought into this book. It is not an academic treatise on why abortion is wrong, but rather a "down-to-earth" presentation on the topic. I hight encourage anyone to read it.
After reading this book with careful thought, one can only come to the conclusion that the 4000 deaths per day in this country from abortionists must be stopped.
Our Lady of Guadeloupe, pray for us. St. Joseph, patron of departing souls, pray for us.
Rating:
Summary: Masterfully done
Review: The author clearly shows how emotionally-charged and irrational pro-abortion arguments really are when they are held up to the truth-penetrating light of logic and natural reason, which Professor Kreeft, using his brilliant wit in the role of Socrates, masterfully applies. The charge in a previous review that the author did not accurately present the women's perspective on abortion because all the characters in the book were male is somewhat puzzling--the characters are fictional to begin with; and besides, I can think of no argument that only a woman would be able to use to justify abortion that was not triumphantly refuted. Anyone who has argued himself or herself blue in the face with someone who is pro-abortion knows how discomfittingly illogical--oftentimes downright silly--and motivated by selfishness the arguments employed are. To the Christian this volume demonstrates that one does not need to rely solely upon Church teaching to argue that abortion is morally wrong--a strategy which will rarely succeed against a non-believer. Instead, it reveals the power that logic and reason alone can have in critically examining issues of social morality, which when used properly, can greatly bolster religious arguments. To the non-believer, this little book plainly shows that abortion is not exclusively a religious issue, as many people in today's society assume. I enthusiastically recommend this book to any pro-life person who wants to be successful in arguing against abortion as well as to persons who, being instinctively pro-choice, honestly desire to understand how anyone could be against this apparent woman's right.
Rating:
Summary: Masterfully done
Review: The author clearly shows how emotionally-charged and irrational pro-abortion arguments really are when they are held up to the truth-penetrating light of logic and natural reason, which Professor Kreeft, using his brilliant wit in the role of Socrates, masterfully applies. The charge in a previous review that the author did not accurately present the women's perspective on abortion because all the characters in the book were male is somewhat puzzling--the characters are fictional to begin with; and besides, I can think of no argument that only a woman would be able to use to justify abortion that was not triumphantly refuted. Anyone who has argued himself or herself blue in the face with someone who is pro-abortion knows how discomfittingly illogical--oftentimes downright silly--and motivated by selfishness the arguments employed are. To the Christian this volume demonstrates that one does not need to rely solely upon Church teaching to argue that abortion is morally wrong--a strategy which will rarely succeed against a non-believer. Instead, it reveals the power that logic and reason alone can have in critically examining issues of social morality, which when used properly, can greatly bolster religious arguments. To the non-believer, this little book plainly shows that abortion is not exclusively a religious issue, as many people in today's society assume. I enthusiastically recommend this book to any pro-life person who wants to be successful in arguing against abortion as well as to persons who, being instinctively pro-choice, honestly desire to understand how anyone could be against this apparent woman's right.
Rating: 
Summary: Good but could have been better and fuller
Review: The indictment is clear, but the argument for it is still rather sketchy and limited. Those who perpetrate abortions are murderers (though a woman who allows her fetus to be killed is merely an unwitting murderer, tricked by modern philosophy). This is a somewhat brief, breezy, and entertaining look at the question of abortion, and it is surely no surprise that Peter Kreeft, a Catholic apologist of some fame and doggedness, has his rational Socrates come down squarely against the practice. Still, you've got to give Kreeft some high marks for not once refering to the Bible or religion to make his case against abortion. The three quick dialogues wander a bit, seemingly to make the characters appear real and their conversations off-the-cuff, but when the participants finally get around to making their best points, they all make fairly good ones. In my view, Kreeft is correct to center the entire moral argument for and against abortion on the personhood of the human embryo and fetus. Nevertheless, his case for considering the human fetus as a person -- made through Socrates' question-answer dialectic -- is sound but weak. Much more could be said in objection to Socrates' rapid, blithe conclusion that the human zygote should be considered a person than Kreeft allows his pro-choice opponents to say. Also, Kreeft does not even enter the world of law and democratic politics, which are, of course, as firmly in the center of the abortion debate as the definition of the fetus. Still, let me be clear, I am pro-life and agree with Socrates' conclusions. I just don't think his opponents in this debate are given the best or fullest challenges to the pro-life position. All in all, this is a worthwhile read. Sad to say, though: it has probably had little to no affect on the abortion debate. But all those who are pro-life must keep on talking, trying to persuade people to see the evils of this practice, in the dim hope that some day we shall overcome. We have no other choice.
Rating:
Summary: Good but could have been better and fuller
Review: The indictment is clear, but the argument for it is still rather sketchy and limited. Those who perpetrate abortions are murderers (though a woman who allows her fetus to be killed is merely an unwitting murderer, tricked by modern philosophy). This is a somewhat brief, breezy, and entertaining look at the question of abortion, and it is surely no surprise that Peter Kreeft, a Catholic apologist of some fame and doggedness, has his rational Socrates come down squarely against the practice. Still, you've got to give Kreeft some high marks for not once refering to the Bible or religion to make his case against abortion. The three quick dialogues wander a bit, seemingly to make the characters appear real and their conversations off-the-cuff, but when the participants finally get around to making their best points, they all make fairly good ones. In my view, Kreeft is correct to center the entire moral argument for and against abortion on the personhood of the human embryo and fetus. Nevertheless, his case for considering the human fetus as a person -- made through Socrates' question-answer dialectic -- is sound but weak. Much more could be said in objection to Socrates' rapid, blithe conclusion that the human zygote should be considered a person than Kreeft allows his pro-choice opponents to say. Also, Kreeft does not even enter the world of law and democratic politics, which are, of course, as firmly in the center of the abortion debate as the definition of the fetus. Still, let me be clear, I am pro-life and agree with Socrates' conclusions. I just don't think his opponents in this debate are given the best or fullest challenges to the pro-life position. All in all, this is a worthwhile read. Sad to say, though: it has probably had little to no affect on the abortion debate. But all those who are pro-life must keep on talking, trying to persuade people to see the evils of this practice, in the dim hope that some day we shall overcome. We have no other choice.
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