Dignity: Two riddles and four concepts

Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics

Volumn 17, Issue 2, 2008, Pages 230-238

  Schroeder, Doris ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL LANCASHIRE   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ARTICLE; ASSISTED SUICIDE; ETHICAL THEORY; HUMAN; PERSONAL AUTONOMY; RIGHT TO DIE; SOCIOECONOMICS;

ETHICAL THEORY; HUMANS; PERSONAL AUTONOMY; RIGHT TO DIE; SUICIDE, ASSISTED; VALUE OF LIFE;

EID: 43949134922     PISSN: 09631801     EISSN: 14692147     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0963180108080262     Document Type: Article

References (51)

1. For an umbrella organization, see the World Federation of Eight to Die Societies at: http://www.worldrtd.net/ (accessed Jul 14, 2007).
2. Resources. Death with Dignity National Center at: http://www. deathwithdignity.org/resources (accessed Aug 22, 2007).
3. The World Federation of Right to Die Societies - Our Members, at: http://www.worldrtd.net/members (accessed Aug 22, 2007).
4. Patrick L. Personhood, dignity, suicide and euthanasia. The National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly 2001:1(3), reprinted at http://www.lifeissues. net/writers/leep/leep_01dignity1.html (accessed July 15, 2007).
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7. A third position will not be outlined here due to lack of space. According to Christopher Coope, "death with dignity" is an unsatisfactory and unclear phrase, 'which should simply be given up. Coope CM. Death with dignity. Hastings Center Report 1997;27(5):37-8.
8. Kolnai A. Dignity. Philosophy 1976;5(1)251-71 at p. 252.
9. Macklin R. Dignity is a useless concept. British Medical Journal 2003;327:1419-20.
10. Translated from German and paraphrased. Wetz FJ. Menschenwürde als Opium fürs Volk. Der Wertstatus von Embryonen. In: Kettner M, ed. Biomedizin und Menschenwürde. Frankfurt: Edition Suhrkamp; 2004:221-48.
11. Kuhse H. Is there a tension between autonomy and dignity? In: Kemp P, Rendtorff J, Mattson Johansen N, eds. Bioethics and Biolaw, Vol. II: Four Ethical Principles. Copenhagen: Rhodos International Science and Art Publishers and Centre for Ethics and Law; 2000:61-74 at p. 74.
12. Schiboleth nowadays stands for a code word for recognition. It is derived from Hebrew and goes back to the Old Testament, Book of Judges, Chapter 12, Verse 5ff, where it says: "And when refugees from Ephraim (came and) said: I would like to cross!, the men from Gilead asked: 'Are you an ephraimite?' And when one said no, they asked him: Please say 'shibboleth' and if he said 'sibboleth,' because he could not pronounce it, they took him and killed him near the river Jordan" (my translation).
13. Schopenhauer A. Preisschrift über das Fundament der Moral. Hamburg: Felix Meiner Verlag; 1977:64f [165-7].
14. Häyry M. Another look at dignity. Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics 2004:13:7-14 at pp. 11f.
15. Kant I. Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 1997:5 (4:392).
16. See note 15, Kant 1997:7 (4:393 - my emphasis).
17. See note 15, Kant 1997:42 (4:435);
18. Hill TE Jr. Dignity and Practical Reason in Kant's Moral Theory. Ithaca: Cornell University Press; 1992:202-3.
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23. See note 18, Kant 1990:110 (463) (my translation).
24. See note 18, Kant 1990:74f (435f) (my translation).
25. See note 15, Kant 1997:38 (4:429).
26. See note 19, Kant 1999.
27. According to Kant, dignity is based on rationality and hence restricted to those with rational capacities. It is beyond the scope of this paper to discuss the implications of this view for those whose rational capacities are diminished or nonexistent.
28. Lebech M. What is human dignity? In: Lebech M, ed. Maynooth Philosophical Papers NUIM: 2004;2:59-69 at p. 59.
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34. It is beyond the scope of this paper to defend the above claim. For a slightly longer exposition of the claim, see Schroeder D. A child's life or a "little bit of torture": State-sanctioned violence and dignity. Cambridge Quarterly of Health Care Ethics 2006:15(2)188-201, to be followed by a book in 2008.
35. Aristotle argues for the unity of the virtues, which is necessary to sustain the claim in the following: Aristotle. Nikomachische Ethik. Hamburg: Felix Meiner Verlag; 1985:148-9 (1144b).
36. See note 33, Aristotle 1985:33-4 (1105b-1106a);
37. Solomon RC. On Ethics and Living Well. Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth; 2006:91;
38. Foot P. Virtues and vices. In: Virtues and Vices and Oilier Essays in Moral Philosophy. Oxford: Blackwell; 1978:1-18 at pp. 2-3;
39. Hursthouse R. On Virtue Ethics. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 1999:167.
40. For a slightly longer exposition of this claim, see note 33, Schroeder D.
41. Manifesto. The World Federation of Right to Die Societies, at: http://www.worldrtd.net/members (accessed Aug 30, 2007).
42. See note 36, Manifesto.
43. Due to limits of space, I shall not discuss the relationship between dignity and advanced mental illness or permanent vegetative states as additional scenario.
44. Due to limits of space, I shall not discuss the possible criticism that a peaceful or dignified death is always impossible.
45. Diane Pretty dies. BBC News. May 12, 2002, at: http://news.bbc.co.uk2hi/health/1983457.stm (accessed Aug 30, 2007).
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47. Allmark PJ. Death with dignity, Journal of Medical Ethics 2002:28:255-7 at p. 256.
48. Palliative care supporters will rightfully maintain that the prison and the hospital case should never have happened and that such situations can be avoided without resorting to physician-assisted suicide. I have chosen these extreme examples for emphasis as the fear of pain and embarrassment in death is real even outside extremes.
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50. See note 28, Beyleveld, Brownsword 2001:63.
51. "Every day morality" is a term used by Dieter Birnbacher as opposed to ethical theory. "Lay morality" or "common sense morality" may be regarded as equivalent. Birnbacher D. Menschenwürde - abwägbar oder unabwägbar. In: Kettner M, ed. Biomedizin und Menschenwürde. Frankfurt: Edition Suhrkamp; 2004:249-71.