What is your ethic regarding human life?

[Dogbrain]

I have come across many an ethic regarding human life, especially the life of an unborn human vs. that of a murderer. Some say that all human life is human life--it is not our place to kill people. Others draw the line elsewhere.

 

[juantoo3]

Hello Dogbrain!

Interesting poll. I think it is a bit limited and limiting. I tend to think on a case by case basis, so it would be difficult for me to make a blanket statement.

While on one hand, I do think it is ethically improper to end an innocent life that has hardly begun, I also understand there are sometimes mitigating circumstances...circumstances that may outweigh the act of ending that life.

Likewise, I see a huge ethical difference between someone who has taken an adult life in a moment of passion or accident, versus a for-hire premeditated killer...and then one must factor in and account for those brave souls standing on the front lines in military conflict to preserve the blessings of whatever our nation has to offer us.

So blanket statements as to what is ethically correct in these instances is very difficult to determine, for me. I do not stand in the shoes of any of these, and I would rather withhold personal judgment (that I be not judged) unless and until I walk a mile in any of their shoes.

I will grant this much...taking a life for *any* reason, including to put food on the supper table, is a solemn moment and should be done with the greatest consideration and respect for the life given.

I didn't answer your poll because I can see all of the possibilities, and moments when each could be ethically proper. There is no "all of the above" option.

 

[Tao_Equus]

I'm with my guru above Choices offered are far from the possible options.

 

[seattlegal]

I agree with juantoo3 and Tao_Equus.

Ecclesiates 3:1-8
1 There is an occasion for everything,
and a time for every activity under heaven: (A)

2 a time to give birth and a time to die; (B)
a time to plant and a time to uproot; [a]
3 a time to kill and a time to heal;
a time to tear down and a time to build;
4 a time to weep and a time to laugh; (C)
a time to mourn and a time to dance; (D)
5 a time to throw stones and a time to gather stones; (E)
a time to embrace and a time to avoid embracing; (F)
6 a time to search and a time to count as lost;
a time to keep and a time to throw away;
7 a time to tear and a time to sew;
a time to be silent and a time to speak; (G)
8 a time to love and a time to hate;
a time for war and a time for peace. (H)
​

 

[Nick_A]

Since we are incapable of appreciating what Simone Weil asserts below, option 4 is the best: "Just make it a matter of convenience, permit killing the unborn, kill murderers." Kill or be killed. It is nature's way and normal for the lack of higher awareness..

"The combination of these two facts – the longing in the depth of the heart for absolute good, and the power, though only latent, of directing attention and love to a reality beyond the world and of receiving good from it – constitutes a link which attaches every man without exception to that other reality. Whoever recognizes that reality recognizes that link. Because of it, he holds every human being without any exception as something sacred to which he is bound to show respect. This is the only possible motive for universal respect towards all human beings." Simone Weil

“Draft for A Statement of Human Obligations” SIMONE WEIL, AN ANTHOLOGY ed. Sian Miles​

 

[juantoo3]

Who, exactly, are the "we" we are speaking of?

 

[wil]

I am not in favor of abortion as birth control. I am in support of a women's right to choose in relation to her body. I am not in support of any late term abortions unless it is to save the life of the mother.

I am not in support of the death penalty. I am in support of self defense. I am not in support of war, especially preemptive. I am in support of self defense.

Is that all ambiguous enough, or clear enough?

 

[China Cat Sunflower]

My ethic is that since I don't have to do anything about it, I don't.

Chris