Euthanasia Pros And Con List
Euthanasia is a hot topic nowadays, and even though it is widely discussed, it is incredibly hard for us to decide whether or not it is legitimate, ethically correct, or even acceptable within the human race. We are talking about assisted suicide, can this be a choice? Is it possible that we can decide whether or not we live or die in a conscious manner? Who’s to say there is nothing beyond death, and who’s to say there is something? This discussion can go through a million branches, but we need to stay on topic: euthanasia. At the end of the day, we still know nothing about death, we can’t even say with a great degree of accuracy that death is, in fact, the end of life. Still, we have free will and we should have the right to choose whether or not we want to live, and if we do not want to live, we have every right to go away from this world (at least in the corporeal form we know for now) with dignity, without pain, and with help of professionals.
List of Pros of Euthanasia
1. Right to Die
The first thing we need to look at, is the right to die. Clearly we can see why this is a pro of euthanasia, it is part of our own free will, and we have the right to choose anything. If we as a race have fought for thousands of years with one another for futile differences, ending lives for motives that, at the end of the day, aren’t worth even the time spent thinking about the subject, why can we not choose to end our own life? The right to end it all for ourselves is just as legitimate as the right to end it all for someone else (to kill) some might argue, but then again, if we are perfectly aware of what we are doing (ending life), it is just as legitimate as one being able to process the feelings of oneself.
2. Abstract Line of Murder
Euthanasia is basically a form of legalized murder. As a pro, it is possible that in a very abstract line of though, we can grow as a race and as a society when it comes to our mentality and our stance towards death. Perhaps one day we can eradicate murder as a problem in human societies due to the fact that the line of though and stance towards death has changed. What if death is no longer feared? What if we truly embrace death as a part of life, and have to completely change the definition of death, changing what we have believed it to be for the whole period of our conscious existence. If we look at death in a different way, and if we open our minds to it, the possibilities are endless.
List of Cons of Euthanasia
1. Changing Acceptance of Death
We must face that we know nothing about death. The philosopher Epicurus has defended that death is nothing but the absence of feelings and sensations, and as such, there is nothing in death. This is a theory over 2,000 years old and it still looks very possible today, but then again, in over 2,000 years we discovered nothing new about death, so we have no right to mess with what we do not know in such a brute way.
2. Legalizing Murder
Legalized murder in another form. Things can easily get a little out of hand and in some cases, euthanasia may be completely justifiable. In some other cases, it might be a way for incompetent doctors to get away with pure stupidity, and in other cases, it can mean doctors can get away with murder, by saying it was the patient’s choice, and since the patient won’t be there to defend himself, who is going to know? The issue needs to go deeper, and other current problems with our society will come up, like corruption, greed, envy, and so on.
3. Religious Conflicts Among Different Belief Structures
Religious concerns may exist with euthanasia. No one can be say that God exists. No one can deny that God exists, no one can prove God exists. From the dawn of our existence we have believed in a greater being, whether it is a man with a beard up there, or nature itself, or the universe itself, there is surely a motive within us that makes us believe that there is something bigger out there. The truth is, religious books are written, and no matter what major religion we talk about, there are millions of followers involved, which means these books do contain truth to some degree, whether or not there is a superior being. By ending it all, even if consciously, we are choosing to terminate our search for whatever might be above us, or right by our side looking after us. Perhaps if someone is miserable enough to desire death, or weak enough to desire death, could this person keep the hope up, and try and look for divinity, even if within? No one is a simple waste of space and oxygen, we are all here for a reason, and that reason is certainly not wait for death, or to hurry it up.