Thursday, April 07, 2005
Ellen Horowitz on Terri's Death
From Arutz Sheva (Hat tip: NY Nana)
This is without a doubt the best ethical analysis of Terri's case that I've seen. If you've cared at all about this issue, you will be edified by reading this short but powerful piece.
Sentencing a brain-damaged woman to death by dehydration and starvation is an embarrassingly barbaric and pitiful solution for a modern, purportedly evolved, world. Regardless of which side of the argument one takes, this should have been a humbling moment for humanity.
How limited and primitive we are.
Much of the discussion surrounding the case circumvented the moral crux of the issue, and instead was directed towards the matters of personal, spousal and parental rights, and whether or not the victim would feel the pain of death.
But behind the scenes, this was clearly a battle between individual rights and moral obligations; between the takers and the givers; and between the material and incorporeal worlds. The hands-down verdict is that we live in a very selfish and material world.
I also loved this quote at the beginning:
"The moral law can never be legislated in ultimate terms by the human mind." -- Rabbi Yosef B. Soloveitchik
This is without a doubt the best ethical analysis of Terri's case that I've seen. If you've cared at all about this issue, you will be edified by reading this short but powerful piece.
Sentencing a brain-damaged woman to death by dehydration and starvation is an embarrassingly barbaric and pitiful solution for a modern, purportedly evolved, world. Regardless of which side of the argument one takes, this should have been a humbling moment for humanity.
How limited and primitive we are.
Much of the discussion surrounding the case circumvented the moral crux of the issue, and instead was directed towards the matters of personal, spousal and parental rights, and whether or not the victim would feel the pain of death.
But behind the scenes, this was clearly a battle between individual rights and moral obligations; between the takers and the givers; and between the material and incorporeal worlds. The hands-down verdict is that we live in a very selfish and material world.
I also loved this quote at the beginning:
"The moral law can never be legislated in ultimate terms by the human mind." -- Rabbi Yosef B. Soloveitchik
papijoe 7:37 AM
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