Euthanasia

Question 1

sanctity of life

Answer 1

god created human life in his image
-suggest value and only he has right to end it
-adopted strongly by conservatives and protestants
-catholics would also argue natural law provides evidence for SOL

Question 2

quotes for sanctity of life

Answer 2

thou shalt not murder- exodus
-your body temple of holy spirit- 1 corinthinans
-whoever sheds human blood- by humans shall their blood be shed for in the image of god has god made mankind - genesis 9

Question 3

weak sanctity of life view

Answer 3

criticise strong view
-only one of many biblical themes
-jesus emphasis on compassion
-strong view allows suffering and not empathetic
-in some cases compassion for quality of life might outweigh SOL

Question 4

argument against weak view of SOL

Answer 4

-bible has other themes but dont overrule SOL
-bible against killing

Question 5

quality of life

Answer 5

-refers to how happy or unhappy life is
-valid consideration to euthanasia because life has to be of certain quality in order to be worth living

Question 6

peter singer on quality of life

Answer 6

-believes quality of life important factor for euthanasia
-recommends non voluntary euthanasia for babies whose potential QOL is low

Question 7

peter singers criteria for personhood

Answer 7

rationality and self consciousness
-separates humans and persons
-persons = rational beings
-not all humans are persons
-argues SOL of our species based on christian domination of european thought
-since christian theological tenants no longer accepted- we should re think christian ethical precepts

Question 8

singer on why its not morally wrong to euthanise

Answer 8

-we thing of what we are depriving someone of when we think killing is wrong
-doesnt deprive then of anything that they are able to have a preference to not be deprived of

Question 9

Archbishop anthony fisher and slipper slope argument

Answer 9

wherever euthanasia is legalised- its extended to more people
-in holland euthanasia was legalised for terminally ill but 10 years later legalised for babies with severe illness

Question 10

fisher on euthanasia and QOL

Answer 10

-elderly and vulnerable people might be tempted to die because they feel like a burden
-western culture values beauty, success, productivity
-we might encourage people to feel like failures

Question 11

alternative to euthanasia

Answer 11

-valid ethical approach would be changing society, not allowing euthanasia
-those who advocate for euthanasia think their compassionate

Question 12

singer response to fisher

Answer 12

-people who receive euthanasia in oregon and white, educated and not elderly- doesnt target vulnerable people
-genetic screening and stats- euthanasia not more widespread
-fisher criticises allowing euthanasia in society which lacks proper support for vulnerable

Question 13

autonomy

Answer 13

freedom of people to make their own choices
-view that decision about whether life is valuable morally up to whose life it is

Question 14

deontological approach of autonomy

Answer 14

nozick libertarian- thinks people have absolute right to do whatever they want as long as they dont harm other
-of person wants to die and receive help from others then its their right

Question 15

criticism of nozicks deontological autonomy

Answer 15

people will choose euthanasia for short sighted reasons
-we can safely predict they will view life worth living and value overrides temporary violation of their autonomy

Question 16

singer on autonomy

Answer 16

-takes consequentalist view
-says he doesnt want to make it easy for people to end their lives
-example of young person wanting euthanasia due to depression over relationship issues

Question 17

consequentialist view of autonomy

Answer 17

-singers view influenced by mills
-mill developed political liberalism
-before enlightenment , religion told people what to do
-individual people in best position to judge what to do
-shows euthanasia should be left to autonomy of competent adult

Question 18

slipper slope vs consequentialist autonomy

Answer 18

-fisher argues allowing euthanasia for reason of autonomy vulnerable to slippery slope
-if we grant people have autonomous freedom to die, how can we avoid extending it to all cases where someone wishes to die, no matter how short sited reasons

Question 19

fisher on autonomy 2

Answer 19

argues absolute autonomy right ethical approach

Question 20

pairing consequentialist view of autonomy with rationality

Answer 20

add condition of rationality
-young love sick person not making a rational calculation
-logically coherent way of avoiding extending autonomy absolutely

Question 21

fletchers rejection of legalism in the bible including the SOL

Answer 21

-fletchers liberal view of bible
-argues bible not legalistic rules but editorial collection of scattered sayings
-cant take bible literally
-best theme in bible to follow is agape love
-fletcher rejects sanctity of life principle

Question 22

application of situation ethics to euthanasia

Answer 22

-if someone has very low quality of life and autonomous wish to die fletcher would accept euthanasia
-if someone pressured into it by family or greed or society
- then wrong to allow it

Question 23

love is subjective applied to euthanasia

Answer 23

-loving is subjective
-nazis forces euthanasia program against terminally ill patients with babies they deemed disabled
-love to subjective to provide basis for ethics

Question 24

defence of fletcher

Answer 24

-agape love not subjective
-person would not be pressured into euthanasia themselves
-cannot be agape to pressure your neighbour into it

Question 25

further evaluation situation ethics

Answer 25

what if someone thought they would actually want to be euthanised if they were in the circumstance their neighbour was in -problem with loving your neighbour as yourself is it depends on whether you love yourself ethically

Question 26

people are not perfectly loving

Answer 26

people loving nature can be corrupted by power -someone might find it loving to pressure someone in or out of E

Question 27

fletcher and robinson defence of situation ethics

Answer 27

-humanity has come of age -not uneducated like medieval people -more civilised, granting them more autonomy wouldnt risk stability of society

Question 28

barclay criticism of robinson and fletcher

Answer 28

-if people are granted freedom they will choose bad thing to do -power corrupts -stanford prison experiment and lord of the flies -freedom to decide good and bad without laws grants more power and corrupts

Question 29

natural law application to euthanasia

Answer 29

-euthanasia violated PP and SOL -failure to follow natural law causes disharmony -dangerous to give humans right to kill themselves -corruption of power

Question 30

catholic church on euthanasia and SOL

Answer 30

-CC uses double effect for passive euthanasia -administer drug to which could speed up death -as long as intention not to kill actions morally acceptable

Question 31

catechism on euthanasia

Answer 31

-active euthanasia never justified -allows giving high doses of pain killers even if it risks killing them as long as death foreseen but besides intention

Question 32

singer criticises catholic church on euthanasia

Answer 32

church allow passive euthanasia from patients in coma state -because they have no obligation to provide burdensome treatment -for patients in coma its impossible to see how keeping them alive on life support could have imposed burden -logical way to remove treatment

Question 33

natural law is outdated

Answer 33

-ethical principles made useful in socio-economic conditions of their time -ancient and medieval society was more chaotic -strict primary precepts absolutist ethical theories to prevent society falling apart

Question 34

criticism of outdated natural law applied to euthanasia

Answer 34

-people were less educated so needed simple legalistic rules -issue is socio-economic conditions have changed

Question 35

evaluation of natural law is outdated

Answer 35

-this doesnt make his theory wrong -doesnt make it right that society has moved on from natural law ethics -if hitler won the war and enslaved humanity, democracy would be outdated

Question 36

counter evaluation to aquinas

Answer 36

-aquinas theory was reaction to his socio-economic context and since that has changed natural law is not relevant -aquinas was giving what would be good for his people -ethical precepts from god gives more moral motivation -however when they come from eternal being they become inflexible and outdated

Question 37

non voluntary euthanasia

Answer 37

-when someone doesnt have mental capacity to choose euthanasia