Nothing as It Seems

In light of the large public support and recent international trends, it seems more likely to be a matter of when, and not if, there will be legislation One topic that has received increasing public discussion in recent years is the issue of voluntary physician-assisted suicide (PAS) and euthanasia. PAS and euthanasia are not limited to contemporary societies: the Athenian poet of the 5th century BC Cratinus referred to euthanasia – roughly translated as ‘good death’ – as a fast, gentle, painless death; the Roman Stoic philosopher Seneca thought it was preferable to choose death than to live with excruciating, incurable pain. Christianity, however, viewed voluntary death more negatively. The Catholic Church, for instance, regards suicide as intrinsically wrong. The Christian position on PAS has been the dominant viewpoint for several centuries, but it is no longer universally shared. The Ethics of PAS  The UK public healthcare system, the National Health Service (NHS), defines ...

Humanists generally agree that we ought to apply reason, free enquiry, and self-reflection when trying to figure out what is right or wrong. Most of us also think that it is unjustifiable to discriminate against someone solely on the basis of their race, sex, age, or whatever other grouping you can think of. Humanists rightly criticise religions when they defend discrimination against certain groups or individuals by means of scripture, revelation, authority, or, in some cases, tradition. Despite the fact that humanists have over time questioned and, indeed, freed themselves from many of these prejudices, is it possible, nevertheless, that many may still latch onto at least one dogmatic relic of an earlier age? Namely, the prejudice of speciesism. The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations  estimates that around around 60 billion land animals are killed annually in food production— a large proportion of these come from intensive factory farms....

Should terminally ill patients have a right to die? A version of this article was printed in  Humanism Ireland , Sep-Oct, Vol. 142 (2013) Suppose you have just discovered you are suffering from multiple sclerosis, a disease of the nervous system. This condition, you learn, is progressive and, in time, you’ll become fully paralysed; most likely, as a result, you’ll be entirely dependent on the care of others. Worse still, you realise you’ll no longer be able to look after yourself and will not be capable of swallowing the food somebody else placed in your mouth. To avoid dying from hunger, you’ll have to be fed through a tube inserted into your stomach. Fortunately for most, the chances of suffering from multiple sclerosis are rare. This is not the case, however, for 59-year-old Marie Fleming who is terminally ill with the condition. Although it has no impairing on her cognitive facility, she suffers frequently from severe and at times intolerable pain. She has fough...