Preservation of Life

Abortion, euthanasia, genetic engineering, Just War theory and other such hot topics.

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RWStanding
Posts: 384
Joined: Sun Oct 09, 2016 12:23 pm

Preservation of Life

Post by RWStanding »

Preservation of Life
A current medical-ethical conundrum, which people will try to answer one way or the opposite. But this will hide a fundamental fracture in society, in how ethics as a whole is viewed. A majority answer may be provided by a transient majority but on quite contrary grounds.
There is the bigoted religious-philosophical view in which a person's life belongs to god or the state. And not for any intrinsic benefit to self or others. Life may be considered absolutely sacrosanct such that any spark must be preserved. Or, in contrast, life is only of value where it is active.
Then there is the society that is in fact ego-centred. In this every family is a rule to itself, and the state, courts, and public opinion, has no voice in its internal affairs.
And lastly the society of mutual benefit or altruism, as its 'god'. In which life has to be of some benefit to itself, and thereby of benefit to society. In this courts, of some kind, will have the final decision in cases of acute dilemma.
There will be, as ever, societies that take an intermediate view, not to say confused. This quite typically would be a religious belief in the absolute authority of an altruistic god. This is a contradiction, in that authority cannot be served in this way other than by a formalised or rule based ethic.
If we are to live in a cohesive society then we must know what its ethic is.
Impenitent
Posts: 4330
Joined: Wed Feb 10, 2010 2:04 pm

Re: Preservation of Life

Post by Impenitent »

the ethic of the cohesive society is a sticky subject...

-Imp
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