Please enable JavaScript.

Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.

euthanasia - Coggle Diagram

- - - - Secular origins of quality of life
        -Secular means non-religious.
        -The scholar Peter Singer (pictured) has strongly argued that it is now time to abandon the sanctity of life principle in favour of the non-religious quality of life argument.**
        Singer believes that people nowadays make decisions based on their quality of life rather than sanctity of life.
        
        quality of life principle
        -the quality of life pricniple takes the apprach that a life is only worthwhile if it can fulfil those things make life worth living
        
        eg, someone having good physical and mental health, an education, fincancial stability
    - - voulunatary euthanasia
        -a persons life is ended at their request or with their consent
        -reasons for using voluntary euthanasia:
        
        suffering from a terminal illness
        -unlikely to benefit from the discovery of a cure for that illness during what remins of their life expectancy
        -suffering intolerable pain
        -their life is unacceptably burdensome
        -has an eduring, volountary and competent wish to die
        -unable without assistance to end their life
        
        Non-voluntary euthanasia
        -Non-voluntary euthanasia means a person’s life is ended without their consent but with the consent of someone representing their interests.
        -Glover distinguishes non-voluntary euthanasia from involuntary euthanasia
        
        With involuntary euthanasia, a person is killed against their wishes, such as when disabled people were killed by Nazi doctors — this is regarded as murder..
        
        Non-voluntary euthanasia should be in the interest of the person who dies and not anyone else.
        
        Tony Bland example
        -When doctors at Airedale Hospital in Yorkshire asked the High Court for permission to withdraw artificial nutrition and hydration from Hillsborough victim Tony Bland, his family supported the application.
        -After the Hillsborough stadium tragedy, Tony was left in a persistent vegetative state - and hence was not legally dead. His parents believed their son would not want to be kept alive in such a condition. They petitioned the court to sanction the withdrawal of hydration and artificial nutrition, which it did.
- - - - natural law and euthanasia
        -when applying natural law, the primary precepts should be recalled
        -in the case of euthanasia, they key precept to do good and avoid evil and the primary precept to preserve life, which uphold the sanctity of life and consequently the beleif that only God has the right to give and take life, are particularly important
        
        Catholic teaching on euthanasia
        -According to the Bible, we are created in God's image and knitted together by God in the womb (Psalm 139:13).
        -The Catholic Church's teachings on euthanasia conclude that euthanasia is wrong (Pastoral Constitution, Gaudium et Spes, no. 27, 1965) as life is sacred and a gift from God, 'which they are called upon to preserve and make fruitful' (Declaration on Euthanasia, 1980).
- - - - Secular argument against SOL
        -Sanctity of life is a religious concept.
        -In many parts of Western Europe, people are becoming more secular (less religious). So religious teachings and concepts/laws arguably have less significance and importance.
        -Peter Singer has strongly argued that it is now time to abandon the sanctity of life principle in favour of the non-religious quality of life argument.
        
        Quality of life counter-argument
        -There is nothing intrinsically good about being alive besides enabling us to experience those things which are desired.
        -The quality of life principle says that a life is only worthwhile if it can fulfil those things which make life worth living.
        
        In other words, human life has to possess certain attributes to have value.
- - - - People should not have autonomy
        -Voluntary euthanasia is the start of a slippery slope that leads to involuntary euthanasia and the killing of people who are thought undesirable.
        -Natural law and Kantian ethics argue that we do not have complete autonomy.
        -Kant would argue that the categorical imperative is clear – if we do not want killing people universalised, then we should not accept euthanasia.
        -Likewise, Aquinas’ precepts say that society should be orderly and innocent life should be protected. Autonomy goes against this.
  - - - morally diffrent- legal view
        -the law in the UK clearly states that there is a moral diffrence between medical intervention and non intervention
        -any act that directly end a persons life (whether voluntarily or not) is illegal
        
        nor morally diffrent
        -joseph fletcher would argue that the outcome determines whether soemthing is morally acceptable or not
        -fletcher would argue that there is no moral diffrence between intervention and non intervention if the outcome is positive and loving