Showing posts with label personhood. Show all posts
Showing posts with label personhood. Show all posts

Rethinking Life and Death: The Collapse of Our Traditional Ethics Review

Rethinking Life and Death: The Collapse of Our Traditional Ethics
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Rethinking Life and Death: The Collapse of Our Traditional Ethics ReviewI never would have thought that I would come across a work of non-fiction that I couldn't put down, but here it is!
Fascinating and thought provoking, in Rethinking Life and Death, Singer shows how and why the western world has already started moving away from the Judeo-Christian sanctity of human life ethic. He sites the emphasis on 'brain death' and the acceptance of Galileo's discovery that we (humans) are not the center of the universe as the beginnings of the break down of this ethical system.
Singer reports where many western nations currently fall both legally and in mainstream medical practice with regard to controversial topics including abortion, infanticide, stem cell research, euthanasia, and assisted suicide. Furthermore, Singer uses well-reasoned logical arguments to show why these current interpretations of the sanctity of human life ethic are unsustainable.
In the last section of this book, Singer presents a working model for a new quality of life ethic and effortlessly shows how they would apply to situations in which our traditional ethic yields unsatisfactory results. Additionally, Singer shows the practical and moral justification for his most controversial stance - acceptance of infanticide.
One thing I really thought was magnificent about this book is that, while Singer obviously supports a shift to whole-hearted acceptance of a quality of life ethic, he doesn't insist that as a reader you agree with him. Singer leaves perfectly open the door of maintaining a sanctity of (all) life ethic; he just makes sure the reader understands the consequences of such an ethic in its pure and unadulterated form.
Once again, I have to compliment Singer on his amazing writing style. This book really reads more like a novel than a work of non-fiction. At the end of each section I was left on the edge of my seat, wondering what Singer would bring up next! Needless to say, I was never disappointed. Singer has wonderful wit and is equally critical of all sides of the argument. He also includes many telling narratives that make Rethinking Life and Death both entertaining and truly enlightening.
It is in no way surprising that many religious types will condemn this book. After reading Rethinking Life and Death, there is only one reasonable conclusion that one can come to: the Judeo-Christian sanctity of human life ethic is logically and morally indefensible. As individuals we can certainly choose to put our heads in the sand and ignore the problem, but as Singer states, "The question is not whether [the Judeo-Christian sanctity of human life ethic] will be replaced, but what the shape of its successor will be."Rethinking Life and Death: The Collapse of Our Traditional Ethics Overview

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The Foundations of Bioethics Review

The Foundations of Bioethics
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The Foundations of Bioethics ReviewH. Tristram Engelhardt, , Jr.
The Foundations of Bioethics
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1986) p. 107, 108.
This book contains two chapters addressing the issue of personhood,
at the beginning and end of human life.
The author clearly believes that full persons should have higher status
and more rights than pre-persons or former persons.
The ability to make responsible decisions ("moral agency")
is one of the most distinctive marks of personhood.
The following two quotes are from pages 107 & 108 respectively:
"What distinguishes persons is their capacity to be self-conscious,
rational, and concerned with worthiness of blame and praise.
The possibility of such entities
grounds the possibility of the moral community.
It offers us a way of reflecting on the rightness and wrongness
of actions and the worthiness or unworthiness of actors.
On the other hand, not all humans are persons.
Not all humans are self-conscious, rational,
and able to conceive of the possibility of blaming and praising.
Fetuses, infants, the profoundly mentally retarded,
and the hopelessly comatose provide examples of nonpersons.
Such entities are members of the human species.
They do not in and of themselves have standing in the moral community.
They cannot blame or praise or be worthy of blame or praise.
They are not prime participants in the moral endeavor.
Only persons have that status."
....
"For this reason it is nonsensical to speak of respecting
the autonomy of fetuses, infants, or profoundly retarded adults,
who have never been rational.
There is no autonomy to affront.
Treating such entities without regard
for that which they do not possess, and never have possessed,
despoils them of nothing.
They fall outside the inner sanctum of morality."
Engelhardt goes on to discuss further the difference between
human personal life and human biological life.
He acknowledges that zygotes, embryos, & fetuses
are potential persons, but until they become full persons,
they do not possess the rights of persons.
He also acknowledges that animals have some rights
because they have some level of consciousness.
If you would like to see other attempts to define personhood,
search the Internet for this precise phrase:
"Personhood Bibliography".
James Leonard Park, existential philosopher and medical ethicistThe Foundations of Bioethics Overview

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Persons, Humanity, and the Definition of Death Review

Persons, Humanity, and the Definition of Death
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Persons, Humanity, and the Definition of Death ReviewJohn P. Lizza
Persons, Humanity, and the Definition of Death
(Baltimore,MD: Johns Hopkins University Press: [...], 2006) 212 pages
(ISBN: 0-8018-8250-8; hardcover)
(Library of Congress call number: RA1063.L59 2006)
(Medical call number: W820L789p 2006)
This book is a philosophical exploration of hypothethical possibilities
that could never happen in the real world:
brains being transplanted into empty skulls;
brains being replaced 1% at a time;
computer reconstructions of complete memories;
heads being transplanted into new bodies;
a soul existing inside a single human cell;
persons being defined by their DNA, even if consciousness is over forever.
As such it will be of interest only to other philosophers,
not to people who must make real bed-side decisions in hospitals.
It might be better for these thinkers to apply their minds
to everyday problems of medical ethics.
But this book might still be of interest to readers
who like to think of the most extreme possibilities.
If you would like to see other attempts to define persons,
search the Internet for the following phrase:
"Personhood Bibliography".
James Leonard Park, existential philosopher and medical ethicistPersons, Humanity, and the Definition of Death Overview

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