[lit-ideas] Re: Right to Life, Right to Die

Robert:<I've 
always thought that there was an intuitive difference between mere life 
(which is what the drowning man wants and what paramedics provide), and 
having?living?a life in which one's mind is active and one's body one's 
friend. In expressing my own wishes to my family and friends about what 
I'd want done or not done in extreme, but no doubt inevitable, 
circumstances, I've tried to spell out what I mean by living or having
a life, such that if there's no prospect of my having it I wouldn't want
my life (in that diminished sense) prolonged.>

Same here.  One of the issues for me is that I have more or less stopped
being afraid to die after I read Socrates on this.  What I fear is the
process.  That's why I have taken measures to deal with this.  When the US
Supreme Court ruled that Americans do not have a right to physician
assisted suicide, a doctor wrote an article somewhere, perhaps the NYTimes.
In it, he said how much he regretted their decision.  The reason was that
medical science can now, if one chooses, separate suffering from death.  I
greatly admire the Pope's joy and dignity in his suffering.  He identifies
with his God.  Many of us do not.

Veronica


> [Original Message]
> From: Robert Paul <robert.paul@xxxxxxxx>
> To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Date: 3/26/2005 11:11:04 AM
> Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Right to Life, Right to Die
>
> Eric Yost wrote:
>
> > Philosophically, or just as one human being to another, what's most 
> > important:
> > 
> > The longevity of life or its intensity?
> > 
> > Is it a question of time or is it a question of virtue?
>
> > Is it found in mere duration? Or something else?
>
> The question leaves a number of things underdescribed, I think, Eric. I 
> would not say, e.g. that poor Terri Schiavo has 'lived a long life.' 
> Just being alive is not living a life. This is a distinction that isn't 
> made in the wrangling over her case but it's one that people who make 
> their own wishes known about end-of-life care do think about. I've 
> always thought that there was an intuitive difference between mere life 
> (which is what the drowning man wants and what paramedics provide), and 
> having?living?a life in which one's mind is active and one's body one's 
> friend. In expressing my own wishes to my family and friends about what 
> I'd want done or not done in extreme, but no doubt inevitable, 
> circumstances, I've tried to spell out what I mean by living or having
> a life, such that if there's no prospect of my having it I wouldn't want
> my life (in that diminished sense) prolonged.
>
> This is of course not the Church's view. For the Church, mere life is 
> enough. I somehow think Aristotle would disagree.
>
> Robert Paul
> Reed College
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