Life as a consumption good

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On a TV show, I saw an ill woman ask for help in killing herself: "I want to leave on my own terms."

She views her life as a consumption good, to be discarded once it is not "providing utility."

Comments

  1. Joseph R. Stromberg2:25 PM

    "Of all the virtues, the English prefer the 'usefulness'" -- Hercule Poirot.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Prateek9:08 AM

    Your example of describing life as a consumption good is meant to horrify, but seems to have the opposite effect.

    What on earth could ever be wrong with someone not wanting to continue their life once is ceases to give them happiness? Especially if we are talking about terminally ill people?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. gcallah12:54 PM

      You are so invested in the idea of your life as your own consumption good that you can't even conceive of what could be wrong with suicide!
      Trying reading Phaedo. Or consider standard Catholic doctrine:
      "Each of us has been made in God's image and likeness (Genesis 1:27) with both a body and a soul. Therefore, life is sacred from the moment of conception until natural death, and no one can justify the intentional taking of an innocent human life."

      Or the Koran:
      "And do not kill yourselves, surely God is most Merciful to you."

      Or just contemplate the fact that the prohibition on suicide has been an absolutely standard part of all the western monotheisms for thousands of years, and yet you can't even CONCEIVE of what could be wrong with it!

      Delete

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