PH212 - Applied ethics

Death

What is survival?

  • Derek Parfit (1984) - physicalism is false
  • Thought-experiment: teletransporter - you haven't died just because you are transported into a different body
  • Parfit's alternative view - we survive as long as our personal identity survives
  • We are a series of overlapping selves that are uniquely connected psychologically
  • As long as this continuity lasts, we survive

Death and the afterlife

  • In some views, death is not just an ending. If we can survive death it's also a new beginning
  • If there is an afterlife, death need not be bad for us
  • If we assume there is no afterlife, is death bad for us?

Epicurus - why death isn't bad for us

  • The common sense view of the badness of death relies on a mistake
  • For something to be bad, we must experience it as bad
  • When we're dead, we no longer have experiences

Epicurus' argument

  1. Each person stops existing at the moment of death
  2. If (1), then no one feels any pain while dead
  3. If no one feels any pain while dead, then being dead is not a painful experience
  4. If being death is not a painful experience, then being dead is no bad for the one who is dead. Therefore being dead is no bad for the one who is dead.

Epicurus is a hedonist - the only thing that is good is experiences of pleasure and the only thing that is bad is experiences of pain

Objections to Epicurus' argument

  • Some things can be bad even if we don't experience them as bad
  • Not just the quality of the experience in a given moment matters, quantities matter too. Death might deprive us of valuable experiences.

The deprivation account

  • Death is bad insofar as it deprives a person of the values inherent in continuing to live
  • Assumption - the person would have been better off had they not died
  • If this doesn't hold, say because someone has a very painful terminal illness, then death is not bad for that person
  • Death deprives us of the goods that are constitutive of human life (Nagel). Most deaths are bad for people because they interrupt their cherished projects, altering the shape of their lives (Nussbaum).

Assisted suicide

Euthanasia, literally good death, is acting to cause death where the motive is the good of the person who dies.

  • Passive euthanasia - ceasing or withholding life-supporting interventions
  • Active euthanasia - positive interventions to cause death, by lethal injection, for example. Assisted suicide is assisting someone else in the act of taking their own life. Physician-assisted suicide is when a doctor prescribes drugs that lead to death.

The role of consent

  • Voluntary - the person who dies gives meaningful consent to die
  • Non-voluntary - whether the person is giving consent is unclear, for example they've previously expressed their consent but are now incapacitated
  • Involuntary - the person expresses a desire not to die

The legal situation

  • Passive euthanasia is widely seen as morally permissible nd legal in many countries
  • Active euthanasia and/or assisted suicide are legal in a small number of countries (Switzerland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Canada, Colombia and some US states)
  • Switzerland allows non-residents to access assisted dying
  • The lecturer is from Switzerland
  • In the UK, active euthanasia and assisted suicide are illegal but not all cases of assisted suicide are actively prosecuted
  • A 2021 survey showed 73% support for a change in the law for assisted dying
  • 350 UK nationals have ended their lives in Switzerland
  • The British Medical Association have changed their position on the matter

Arguments for assisted suicide

  • People may opt for assisted suicide because they are less able to enjoy life or they've lost autonomy or dignity.

  • Assisted suicide can be in the interest of the patient - it ends or prevents physical or emotional suffering

  • Pursuing this interest is a permissible exercise of autonomy

  • Consent required for assisted suicide ensures proper exercise of autonomy

  • Kamm's argument

    1. We may permissibly cause death as a side effect if it relieves suffering
    2. We may permissibly intend lesser evils to the patient for the sake of their greater good

    Therefore when death is a lesser evil, it is sometimes permissible for us to intend death in order to stop pain.

The right to choose

  • The Philosopher's Brief (1997) - six prominent philosophers argued that a legal ban of assisted suicide was unconstitutional. They argued every person has a moral and constitutional right to make momentous personal decisions for themself, including a decision regarding how to end their life. The state has the power to override a person's decision only when there is good reason to believe that the person's decision does not reflect their enduring convictions. This argument is based on us having a moral and legal right to assisted suicide. It does not take a stand on moral permissibility.