Medical Medical EthicsEthics

Fall 2011Philosophy 2440Prof. Robert N. Johnson

Wednesday, April 19, 2023

Do animals have Do animals have rights?rights?Carl Cohen: No1.Rights are claims

among a community of moral agents.

2.Animals are not moral agents.

3.Therefore, animals have no rights.

Do animals have Do animals have rights?rights?Why aren’t animals

moral agents?1.Moral agents can

exercise and respond to moral claims.

2.Animals cannot exercise or respond to moral claims.

3.So animals are not moral agents.

Really?Really?

Often rights are based in moral agency. But if they all were, then there could be no ‘inalienable’ rights, or rights that we cannot lose even if we exercise our moral agency to try to give them up.

Some think it is interests and needs that are the sources of rights. Animals have interests and needs.

Utilitarianism and Utilitarianism and Voluntary Voluntary EuthanasiaEuthanasiaPeter SingerPreference vs.

Hedonistic UtilitarianismAnti-Speciesism

Utilitarianism and Utilitarianism and Voluntary Voluntary EuthanasiaEuthanasiaSetting aside religious

beliefs, what makes it wrong to kill?

Singer: Killing ends whatever goods life holds.

Utilitarianism and Utilitarianism and Voluntary Voluntary EuthanasiaEuthanasiaTherefore, there is

reason (not necessarily conclusive) to kill when the future holds more unhappiness than happiness.

Utilitarianism and Utilitarianism and Voluntary Voluntary EuthanasiaEuthanasiaMill: Beings capable of

reflecting on available information and choosing are the best judges of their interests.

Utilitarianism and Utilitarianism and Voluntary Voluntary EuthanasiaEuthanasiaKilling does not end

whatever goods life holds for such a person.

Utilitarianism and Utilitarianism and Voluntary Voluntary EuthanasiaEuthanasiaSo reasons against

killing evaporate when someone judges it would be better to die.

Utilitarianism and Utilitarianism and Voluntary Voluntary EuthanasiaEuthanasiaIs the right to life

inalienable?

Utilitarianism and Utilitarianism and Voluntary Voluntary EuthanasiaEuthanasiaSinger: No, that is just a

right not to have one’s life involuntarily taken.

Utilitarianism and Utilitarianism and Voluntary Voluntary EuthanasiaEuthanasia“But we forbid people

from selling themselves into slavery.”

Utilitarianism and Utilitarianism and Voluntary Voluntary EuthanasiaEuthanasiaSinger: That’s because

you’d have to be crazy to do that. Voluntary euthanasia isn’t crazy.

Utilitarianism and Utilitarianism and Voluntary Voluntary EuthanasiaEuthanasiaSinger: Also, morally

repugnant to enforce such a practice.

Utilitarianism and Utilitarianism and Voluntary Voluntary EuthanasiaEuthanasiaNat Hentoff: “Physicians

often don’t recognize depression.”

Treatable vs. non-treatable

Utilitarianism and Utilitarianism and Voluntary Voluntary EuthanasiaEuthanasiaHow should physicians

respond to requests from untreatable depression?

Utilitarianism and Utilitarianism and Voluntary Voluntary EuthanasiaEuthanasiaNetherlands 1991: Can

be competent.

Utilitarianism and Utilitarianism and Voluntary Voluntary EuthanasiaEuthanasiaWhat matters is pain

and the request to die, not what kind of pain it is.

Utilitarianism and Utilitarianism and Voluntary Voluntary EuthanasiaEuthanasiaEpisodic depression and

moments of clarity.

Utilitarianism and Utilitarianism and Voluntary Voluntary EuthanasiaEuthanasiaUtilitarianism does not

support the assisted suicide of the temporarily deluded.

Utilitarianism and Utilitarianism and Voluntary Voluntary EuthanasiaEuthanasiaHentoff: Physicians are

bad at palliative care.The only meaningful

difference between terminal sedation and euthanasia is that the former takes longer.

Utilitarianism and Utilitarianism and Voluntary Voluntary EuthanasiaEuthanasiaSome who want

euthanasia are not in pain: Nausea, breathlessness, tiredness, lack of dignity.

Utilitarianism and Utilitarianism and Voluntary Voluntary EuthanasiaEuthanasiaIf patients can rationally

opt for refusing life support or pain medication that will shorten life, they are rational enough to choose voluntary euthanasia.

Utilitarianism and Utilitarianism and Voluntary Voluntary EuthanasiaEuthanasiaSlippery Slope

Argument:

If minor harm A occurs, then a series of events will occur culminating in major harm Z.

Utilitarianism and Utilitarianism and Voluntary Voluntary EuthanasiaEuthanasia“Legalizing VE will lead

to involuntary euthanasia.”

Utilitarianism and Utilitarianism and Voluntary Voluntary EuthanasiaEuthanasiaEvidence? No reports of

such in Oregon since 1997.

Utilitarianism and Utilitarianism and Voluntary Voluntary EuthanasiaEuthanasiaEvidence? In Holland there was a

slight rise initially in involuntary euthanasia.

Did legalization lead to this?

Utilitarianism and Utilitarianism and Voluntary Voluntary EuthanasiaEuthanasiaEvidence? A similar study of a later

period showed no rise, however.

Utilitarianism and Utilitarianism and Voluntary Voluntary EuthanasiaEuthanasiaEvidence? Also, involuntary

euthanasia has gone down in Australia and Belgium, suggesting the effect is quite the opposite.