ToK Presentation - Should We Allow Euthanasia in our Society?

Simon Cereda, Katie Marshall & Jeremy Achkar

Euthanasia: Definition

Ending a life early To relieve pain Allow the subject to die in an easy peaceful manner

Specific Knowledge Issues

Freedom of choice Rational vs Emotional

Freedom of choice
Accepted right amongst us nowadays Examples through time: Euthanasia accepted since the Greeks Even made into rituals by some like Samurai Modern controversy

Nowadays we say that we have a right to make our own choices as long as they do not have negative consequences for others within society

Assuming this to be true... We can do what we want if it does not directly affect anyone else Euthanasia does not directly affect anyone else Therefore we can practice euthanasia

However, harbours many critics People believe it to be outside of our choice Our lives belong to something else, above our level of control If we can end our lives however, is this not untrue - we have full access and therefore full rights?

Ramon Sampedro
o a He t for 29 ear for i le al deat after ident left im paral ed ne do n ard N to die

Hi o n life deemed not it in i de i ion ma in a ilitie

Quotes upon the matter

"From the Soviet gulag to the Nazi concentration camps and the killing fields of Cambodia, history teaches that granting the state legal authority to kill innocent individuals has dreadful consequences." ... Pete Du Pont, former Delaware governor "The fundamental question about euthanasia: Whether it is a libertarian movement for human freedom and the right of choice, or an aggressive drive to exterminate the weak, the old, and the different, this question can now be answered. It is both." ... Richard Fenigsen, Dutch cardiologist "A man, even if seriously sick or prevented in the exercise of its higher functions, is and will be always a man ... [he] will never become a 'vegetable' or an 'animal,'" the Pope said. "The intrinsic value and personal dignity of every human being does not change depending on their circumstances. ... Pope John Paul II, 2004

Rational vs Emotional
om s o n to ar t at of motional m nt of rational nat r to

ro E t anasia - Usin rational t in in ainst E t anasia - Usin motional t in in