Is it okay to kill yourself or anybody else?
CURRICULUM: Responsibility to Others: Your Inner Circle
Summary: Although ownership of one’s own body is a reasonable premise, most ancient and modern societies do not permit the ending of a human life by suicide or other means. Often, the taking of a life is a social, religious, and ethical taboo (except when the life belongs to a perceived enemy). The discussion becomes more complicated when the concept of a human body is separated from a human soul, the latter believed survive for an extended period.
Basic Understanding:
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“Thou Shalt Not Kill” (and its non-Judeo-Christian equivalents)
Development: “human life is sacred” concept
Justified killing: intruder in the home, in warfare, due consequence for a crime
In some cultures, under some circumstances: self-defense, prevention of a crime
Law enforcement; killing for public good / public safety
Not permitted: suicide, other types of euthanasia, mercy (illness approaching death)
Permitted: killing of plants, animals, non-human living things
Permitted suicide, under certain circumstances: Hinduism, Buddhism, Japan
Unsuccessful suicide: excommunication (Christian)
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Determining, teaching, learning what is “right” and “wrong”Community expectation, religious law, government law - where should responsibility reside?
Development of ethical codes among tribes, cultures; development of laws
Responsibility to mitigate - limited to family or friends, or is this everyone’s responsibility?
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Securing “permission” to end a life (yours or one that belongs to somebody else)
Who “owns” the decision?
Physical assisted suicide, mercy killing, legal euthanasia (Benelux, others?)
Ceding control under special circumstances: military, punishment for criminal activity, extreme health issues (power of attorney)
Issues / Open Questions:
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How we determine “reasonable circumstances”
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Impossible choices: “Trolley problem” - do something (kill 1 person) or do nothing (5 people killed)
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Organized military, killing large numbers of people (for a cause) - certainty about righteousness
Justification for killing North America’s natives, Hitler’s Nazi holocaust, etc.
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Questions of Honor - battlefield euthanasia (so that comrade will not be dishonored), terminating a “no available options” life as an honorable death, family honor (Sharia laws)
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Death penalty - why are we comfortable killing “bad” people in battle, but not in prison?
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Different sets of rules: killing one person, or taking your own life is not okay, but over 600,000 Civil War deaths) is justifiable. Every day, 22 veterans end their lives by suicide.
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Limits of custody: control over the life of another
Care of extremely young, old and infirm, mentally or physically ill; troubled, and/or in need
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What is a life? A body? A soul? Property? A family, a person’s relationships?
Conversation Pit: Possible Topics
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It's a Wonderful Life - nearly a century later
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Suicide and its alternatives: dealing with extreme mental and emotional anguish
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Assisted suicide, mercy killing - how far can or should you go for a loved one?
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Civil disobedience
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Are we ready to consider new law?
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Notebook Contents
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Review of international laws re: killing oneself or another
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Underlying legal theory
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Review of religious rules and practices re: killing oneself or another
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Underlying theology and philosophy
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Statistics: relative size and shape of issues (number of lives affected); who dies
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Psychology: those who kill (how they change)
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Learnings from suicide hotlines
Examples of Web Assets
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Michael Sandel - JUSTICE - Trolley problem
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Self-ownership and the right to say no[1]
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When is suicide ok? Belgian twins choose death over blindness.[2]
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Human life is an enactment of a sacred agreement[3]
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In the movie Letters from Iwo Jima, several soldiers decide to take their own life Instead of running away[4]
Scholars, Books, Other Sources
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THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE DIFFERENCE: How to Tell Right from Wrong in Everyday Situations by Randy Cohen (formerly, “The Ethicist” - The New York Times)
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Theology scholars - comparative religions
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Scholars (sociology) - ritual and philosophy of nonreligious groups
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ADD MORE
Creative / Educational Opportunities
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ADD MORE
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1-_7bNLWkI
[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgcAAoG9DLA