Sunday, January 29, 2012

Personal thoughts on Killing vs. Letting Die

The readings have all but convinced me that, in theory, there is no difference between killing someone and letting them die. However, my gut tells me there is a difference. For instance, if I were on a sailboat in waters infested by box jellyfish with a politician or an executive of the entertainment industry in a nearby sailboat, and the politician/entertainment executive fell out of their boat, i would gleefully sail away. Yet at the same time, if someone gave me a catapult loaded with box jellyfish and pointed me at a politician/entertainment executive, I would be unable to launch a single jellyfish.

I think that the idea that the two are different is invented, but has become so ingrained in our minds -- probably due to its uses for rationalizing murder -- that it would take a very long time indeed to dislodge it.
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1 comment:

  1. Avery S. F.January 31, 2012 at 2:42 PM

    The idea that the usual usage of the term 'killing' has caused the idea that killing is worse than letting die, independent of any other variables, to become ingrained in our minds strikes me as a very good point. Because of the almost subconscious negative implications of the term 'killing', it is very easy for a person arguing against euthanasia, for example, to make statements which are actually untrue seem plausible or even quite reasonable. In modern English as it is used in America, in fact, 'killing' when used in regards to human beings has become virtually synonymous with 'murder' - which literally means 'unjustified killing'.

    It might be helpful if there were a word which meant 'unjustified letting die'. That would help people to give the same ethical subtext to killing and to letting die - whether that subtext was 'unjustified' or nothing at all. As it is, perhaps it is best when using these terms in an argument to clarify that neither killing nor letting die is necessarily immoral, but that both can be depending on the circumstances.
    P.S. I also posted this on my own blog if you'd rather read it there.

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