Philosophy of Life and Death - Essay Example

it is infinite in the finite.

Before joining the class, I believed that war is justifiable as a means to protect the innocent. However, the pacifist ideology made me confused as that is against any kind of violence. There are various opinions in this class of thought as some people in the pacifist group think war is justifiable if it is used for defense purposes while some are totally against any violence. However, the question arose in my mind if it is justifiable to stay silent and inactive when one witnesses atrocities in society, say in another country.
I thought of the military action undertaken by NATO in various nations when there are large-scale human rights violations. Then, one will have to admit that abstaining from the war against the erring will cause more damage to the innocent than resorting to war. Thus, I reached the realization that in the case of war, the only possible conclusion is ‘end justifies means. In total, my opinion seemed closer to Just War Theory which intends to set some moral and political criteria that justify war. At this juncture, some people opine that if this is the case, terrorism too gains justifiable grounds. However, in my opinion, terrorism is in no way justifiable. Two reasons make terrorism unacceptable and different from war. Terrorism intentionally aims at the innocent while the kind of war I support intends to protect the innocent. Moreover, while war is intended to impose the wish of the majority on a minority, terrorism is the attempt to achieve the goals of a minority against the wish of the majority. Thus, terrorism does not have a rational ‘end’ to justify the means. In total, while war enjoys the support of Utilitarianism, terrorism enjoys the support of none.

Regarding Euthanasia, I realized how difficult it is to reach a logical conclusion about the morality in it. Firstly, there is the Utilitarian theory of John Stuart Mill according to which the action that produces maximum happiness to the greatest number is the best approach. Thus, it becomes evident that the acceptability of mercy killing, according to Utilitarianism, is purely dependent on how the patient and his family accept it. However, as Warburton (57) points out, someone who advocates deontologist ideology may claim that one should not think about the consequences and must strictly adhere to the commandment ‘Thou shalt not kill’. Here, it becomes evident that while taking moral judgments in euthanasia, one will be forced to strictly follow one ethical theory and forget the rest. So, as in the case of war, there are instances where killing is the best solution and hence justifiable.

In addition, there is the issue of the morality of abortion. There are several ethical questions associated with abortion. The first is when a fetus should be considered a human being. As far as this question remains unanswered by the science fraternity, I find it difficult to answer the question. If the fetus is considered a human being, the question will be if it is right to kill a human being.
However, it seems that all ethical theories agree on the fact that an innocent person should not be killed. However, various groups possess various assumptions about when to consider a fetus as a human being. Even if a fetus is considered a human being, there are circumstances like war when human beings are killed. So, in my opinion, abortion is justifiable but depends on the ‘end’ the action wants to achieve. Read More