James Rachels' Death and Dying
James Rachels is one of the most controversial philosophers talked about
in today's society. One of his most talked about topics is whether a person has
a right to die or not. Not much is known about Rachels expect for the many
articles and books he has written. In the controversy of letting a person die
or killing him, he does not try to explain which method is good and which method
is bad. He however tries to explain why they both are bad to a certain degree.
Rachels does not take one side, but tries to convince why one is better than the
other. In his opinion, letting a person starve to death or just putting him out
of his misery by killing him is an ongoing struggle. If you let a person starve
to death, it might be putting that person through a lot of pain but he'll still
be alive (who knows, maybe a miracle cure will be found.) If you killed him on
the spot with a lethal injection, it would be a more peaceful death but you
would be shortening that person's life. Putting a person to death in a peaceful
manner is called euthanasia. Euthanasia is an ancient word that means "easy
death." There is also the issue of morality. Would killing someone by their
own will or suicide be a moral act? What about a patient that is suffering from
cancer? Is it moral to let that person suffer? These are some of the many
questions people have been trying to answer for year without success.
Euthanasia is a very uncomfortable subject to talk about for most people
because who wants to think about having to kill oneself or a person that is dear
to his or her life ...