Re: What gives life value?
Originally posted by Regret
Is death a big deal?Why?
Urizen's thread "test your morality" asks if Hitler's infant life is of as much value as the Holocaust victims. What is it that gives life value that would allow one the ability to properly make such a decision?
Does death really matter? Does life? Why?
Life's value is inherent (i.e. you are born with it). The fact that regardless of gender, race, color, size, etc. each person is equal to the other is what mathematicians like to call a theorem; an accepted truth. There is more evidence in disproving racism, sexism, ageism, etc. than in proving it, so it is with an air of "negative theology" that the value of human beings is accepted as inherent.
Death varies with those who view it. I find death not as a final destination but a journey. Since birth we are "dying" to finally die is like getting off the buss at your stop. Other people see it as the be all and end all. So it's really a matter of opinion.
To speak off the topic, one is never in the right to kill someone. Even in self-defense it is contradictory/redundant/"nonprofitable". Regardless of the outcome, jeopardizing a life, let alone ending one, is wrong/immoral and should be avoided/prevented at all cost.
Mama mia, what questions.
Originally posted by RegretYes. Because, at the very least, we are genetically hardwired to feel that way.
Is death a big deal? Why?
Urizen's thread "test your morality" asks if Hitler's infant life is of as much value as the Holocaust victims. What is it that gives life value that would allow one the ability to properly make such a decision?I'm too small a being to make such a vast and far-reaching decision.
Does death really matter?
Life is of instrinsic value regardless of morality and regardless of result. I beleive that Hitler's life is just as valuable as my own, as anyone else's. Even though I couldn't care less about him or his life, objectively he is my equal, he is your equal, he is worth just as much as we are.
The idea of morality taints our mentalities and creates biases which in turn cause us to rate the worth of other people and thier lives.
Sometimes the idea of morality itself is more evil than what we percieve as evil.
Life is of absolute worth. Life is precious. You may or may not experience another.
I think I'm going to have to disagree with just about everyone here.
I disagree that value is inherent in life. I think that there are actually things that give life value. To name a couple
1 - Potential. This does tend to be inherent in life. A younger life tends to have more of it than a life that is close to its end. Also, people who work hard gain more potential even as they achieve their previous potential, thus giving their lives even more value.
2- Service. A person who makes the world a better place for others has increased the value of his life immensely. He will be missed far more than someone who wasted their life via alcohol or drugs. And even more than that over someone who spent their life doing evil to others.
There are others, love, Family and friends, etc.
So while I would agree that each life starts with a similar value (the potential), I would say that each person decides what their life will be worth by the end.
Re: What gives life value?
Originally posted by Regret
Is death a big deal?Why?
Urizen's thread "test your morality" asks if Hitler's infant life is of as much value as the Holocaust victims. What is it that gives life value that would allow one the ability to properly make such a decision?
Does death really matter? Does life? Why?
In my opinion: having something to live for.
Mi famillia, my possessions and my fear of Judgement [God] are what keep my going en este vida.
Originally posted by Lord UrizenWouldn't morality also give value to life that doesn't necessarily have value? Does a person trapped in a 20 year coma have the same value of life as a functional contributor to society? Social justice taught in Catholicism seems to think so.
Life is of instrinsic value regardless of morality and regardless of result. I beleive that Hitler's life is just as valuable as my own, as anyone else's. Even though I couldn't care less about him or his life, objectively he is my equal, he is your equal, he is worth just as much as we are.[b]The idea of morality taints our mentalities and creates biases which in turn cause us to rate the worth of other people and thier lives.
Sometimes the idea of morality itself is more evil than what we percieve as evil.
Life is of absolute worth. Life is precious. You may or may not experience another. [/B]
It is mostly our physiology that makes life so valuable, what means human passions, desires, needs, etc... We need to fulfill our wishes and follow our human ecology, that includes staying alive and live a good life.
Life is good because death is usually put as a bad thing. Life is good because it is usually thought as the only good thing that ever existed in the universe even if its efemeral and has some suffering within it.
Originally posted by speiderman
to say that life has no value means that a person can be cruel and inhumane. Everybody has value. sons value their mothers.
I value my family so yes I value life
some are cruel and inhumane. I believe it's obvious that they hold life at a lower value than you or I. It's all relative to each person's thought, ideas, beliefs and morals.