This single-authored, brief text explores the moral dilemmas in our lives from a philosophical point of view. Society is deeply divided on the matters of life and death discussed in this book: the sanctity of life versus the quality of life; the meaning of death and dying; suicide; euthanasia; abortion; artificial procreation such as in vitro fertilization and cloning; the death penalty; animal rights; world hunger; and war.
This is a breakthrough work expanding the debate of the dilemmas of life and death in contemporary American society by carrying it beyond the insights of Western religious and philosophic thought to include ethical perspectives of the Hindu tradition. The topics covered are the timely ethical issues that concern both Americans and all people of the world -- abortion, suicide, euthanasia, and the environment. A lively East-West dialogue probes the roots of each issue in its native setting, and the fruit of this historical approach is a clear-cut analysis of up-to-date cases, giving their current status in terms of ethics, religion, philosophy, medicine, and law. Unlike traditional textbooks that concentrate on a theoretical analysis to the exclusion of practical issues, this book does justice to both theoretical and practical ethics.
You might be standing by the bedside of an ill or dying family member, facing agonizing moral and medical choices. Or you may be struggling with a disability, asking questions that seem to have no answers. Where can you find practical encouragement and realistic perspective to help you make the best decisions Joni Eareckson Tada, herself a quadriplegic, helps you and your family tackle the hard questions about death, illness, and suffering, such as: - Is it ever right to choose death, either for yourself or a suffering loved one - How can I make the best decisions in a medical crisis - Where is God in the unanswerable questions - Are our rights being protected Stories of real people who have faced life-and-death decisions, practical suggestions for coping in crisis, and scriptural insight on the meaning of life help you find hope and answers in difficult situations. From the legal facts to the human factor, Joni brings a unique perspective to what makes life worth living and how to make health care choices with dignity, wisdom, and compassion. The Life and Death Dilemma, written with families' needs in mind, offers help and insight for those who are disabled, dying, or terminally ill. Complete with practical questions at the end of each chapter and full of relevant case studies, it offers help and guidance through one of the toughest issues families must face.
In a reassessment of the meaning of life and death, a noted philosopher offers a new definition for life that contrasts a world dependent on biological maintenance with one controlled by state-of-the-art medical technology.
Gives students philosophical tools to think clearly about divisive moral issues faced today. Early chapters introduce moral theory, ethical relativism and objectivism, and classical ethical theories to provide a framework for understanding moral issues. Later chapters explore specific moral issues, such as cloning, suicide, abortion, the death penalty, and animal rights. This second edition contains four new chapters. Can be used as a stand-alone text, or with an anthology by the author. The author teaches philosophy at the US Military Academy in West Point, NY.
Drawing on philosophical notions of personal identity and the immorality of killing, Jeff McMahan looks at various issues, including abortion, infanticide, the killing of animals, assisted suicide, and euthanasia.
Provocative takes on cyberbullshit, smartphone zombies, instant gratification, the traffic school of the information highway, and other philosophical concerns of the Internet age. In The Death Algorithm and Other Digital Dilemmas, Roberto Simanowski wonders if we are on the brink of a society that views social, political, and ethical challenges as technological problems that can be fixed with the right algorithm, the best data, or the fastest computer. For example, the “death algorithm ” is programmed into a driverless car to decide, in an emergency, whether to plow into a group of pedestrians, a mother and child, or a brick wall. Can such life-and-death decisions no longer be left to the individual human? In these incisive essays, Simanowski asks us to consider what it means to be living in a time when the president of the United States declares the mainstream media to be an enemy of the people—while Facebook transforms the people into the enemy of mainstream media. Simanowski describes smartphone zombies (or “smombies”) who remove themselves from the physical world to the parallel universe of social media networks; calls on Adorno to help parse Trump's tweeting; considers transmedia cannibalism, as written text is transformed into a postliterate object; compares the economic and social effects of the sharing economy to a sixteen-wheeler running over a plastic bottle on the road; and explains why philosophy mat become the most important element in the automotive and technology industries.
Explores a range of issues--including pediatric hospice, historical, religious, spiritual and cultural perspectives on the end of life, hospice in nursing homes, surrogate decision making, physician assisted suicide, organ donation, and our society's legal tenants of end-of-life care. Includes an index.
When the end of life makes its inevitable appearance, people should be able to expect reliable, humane, and effective caregiving. Yet too many dying people suffer unnecessarily. While an "overtreated" dying is feared, untreated pain or emotional abandonment are equally frightening. Approaching Death reflects a wide-ranging effort to understand what we know about care at the end of life, what we have yet to learn, and what we know but do not adequately apply. It seeks to build understanding of what constitutes good care for the dying and offers recommendations to decisionmakers that address specific barriers to achieving good care. This volume offers a profile of when, where, and how Americans die. It examines the dimensions of caring at the end of life: Determining diagnosis and prognosis and communicating these to patient and family. Establishing clinical and personal goals. Matching physical, psychological, spiritual, and practical care strategies to the patient's values and circumstances. Approaching Death considers the dying experience in hospitals, nursing homes, and other settings and the role of interdisciplinary teams and managed care. It offers perspectives on quality measurement and improvement, the role of practice guidelines, cost concerns, and legal issues such as assisted suicide. The book proposes how health professionals can become better prepared to care well for those who are dying and to understand that these are not patients for whom "nothing can be done."
