Moral Decision-Making

Paper Summary:

The paper discusses how, while supporters of assisted suicide feel that it must be allowed on the basis of human dignity, opponents feel that dignity of human life is blatantly violated and abused when someone takes his own life. The paper attempts to address the issue in strict ethical frameworks. The paper looks at the ideas of Kant and the theories of utilitarianism, cultural relativism and pragmatism.

From the Paper:

"Assisted suicide is a contentious issue in the US medical circles for lack of proper ethical support. While the supporters feel that assisted suicide must be allowed on the basis of the principle of human dignity, the opponents feel that the principle of dignity of human life is blatantly violated and abused when someone takes his own life. On the one hand its human dignity- the desire to live life as one wants and to end it when and as he wishes. On the other hand we have dignity of human life argument- life must be preserved, protected and preferred over any form of self-destruction."

Sample of Sources Used:

• "Pragmatism" Accessed online 18th March 2007: http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Introduction_to_Philosophy:Pragmatism
• "Kant's ethics" Accessed online 18th March 2007 http://www.trinity.edu/cbrown/intro/kant_ethics.html

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• Analytical Essay # 27722 : "Ethics in Decision Making"
• Research Paper # 63610 : "Medical Decision Making and Research"

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