scholarly journals Is transhumanism the solution to euthanasia?

JAHR ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-64
Author(s):  
Anna Bugajska
Keyword(s):  
Social Impact ◽  
Death And Dying ◽  
Human Enhancement ◽  
Life Extension ◽  
Good Death ◽  
Preliminary Assessment ◽  
Personal Freedom ◽  
Philosophical Framework

The article concentrates on the question of euthanasia in relation to the emerging life-extension technologies and the immortality industry within the philosophical framework of transhumanism. I begin by sketching the picture of human enhancement and immortality research and industry and pointing to its preliminary assessment of social impact, drawn by Jacobsen (2017). I present immortalism as a specific branch of transhumanism, leading to the rise of postmortal society informed by neohedonism and negative utilitarianism: oriented towards the pursuit of pleasure and minimization of suffering. I ask the question if in the postmortal society the problem of euthanasia will exist. To answer this question, firstly, I briefly present the changes in understanding the notion of a good death; secondly, I discuss the transhumanist approach to euthanasia. And thirdly, I point to the challenges to the biopolitics of death and dying in the postmortal society. The discussion of these areas leads to the conclusion that the problem of euthanasia in the postmortal society will not disappear; rather, it will become more aggravated due to the paradoxical nature of the transhumanist approach to death, personal freedom, autonomy, and dignity.

scholarly journals Information in Pursuit of the "Good Death": Libraries’ Role in the Death Positivity Movement

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roger Chabot
Keyword(s):  
North American ◽  
American Culture ◽  
Death And Dying ◽  
Good Death ◽  
Collection Development ◽  
Short Introduction ◽  
The North ◽  
Conference Theme ◽  
Culture Of Silence

The Death Positivity Movement (DPM) is a recent social and activist movement seeking to change the North American “culture of silence” surrounding death and dying. Seeking to engage with the conference theme of “conversations across boundaries,” this presentation presents arguments as to why libraries should be involved in the movement and also outlines more specifically actions that they can take to be involved. In this presentation, a short introduction to the DPM will be provided, followed by a brief discussion of the concept of the “good death”. Arguments will then be made explaining why libraries should be involved in the DPM and then the last section explores more specifically how libraries can be involved through collection development, community assistance and programming.

The Good Death, Virtue, and Physician-Assisted Death: An Examination of the Hospice Way of Death

1995 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 92-97 ◽  
Author(s):  
Franklin G. Miller
Keyword(s):  
Terminal Illness ◽  
Assisted Suicide ◽  
Hospice Care ◽  
Death And Dying ◽  
Good Death ◽  
Voluntary Euthanasia ◽  
Assisted Death ◽  
Comfort Care ◽  
The Face ◽  
The Right

The problem of physician-assisted death (PAD), assisted suicide and active euthanasia, has been debated predominantly in the ethically familiar vocabulary of rights, duties, and consequences. Patient autonomy and the right to die with dignity vie with the duty of physicians to heal, but not to kill, and the specter of “the slippery slope” from voluntary euthanasia as a last resort for patients suffering from terminal illness to PAD on demand and mercy killing of “hopeless” incompetent patients. Another dimension of the debate over PAD concerns the evaluative question of what constitutes a good death. At stake are Issues of character and virtue in the face of death and dying and their Implications for legitimizing the practice of PAD. Critics of PAD argue that “natural” death in the context of comfort care, as provided by hospice programs, is the good death. In contrast, PAD amounts to an easy way out, an evasion of the ultimate human challenge and task of dying. Because hospice care is clearly preferable to PAD, the former should be encouraged and the latter remain prohibited.

Remembering Patients who Die: Exploring the Meaning Conveyed in Notes to the Researcher

2008 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 321-333 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wendy J. C. Grove
Keyword(s):  
Registered Nurses ◽  
Qualitative Data ◽  
Death And Dying ◽  
Good Death ◽  
Patient Death ◽  
Daily Work

Nurses are confronted with the reality of death and dying as part of their profession and, often times, their daily work. The qualitative data in this article were compiled from unsolicited comments provided by respondents to a survey of Registered Nurses. Forty-eight nurses wrote notes to the researcher/author which, after analysis, were organized into two major themes. The first theme encompassed how patient deaths are remembered. The length of time since the death, details provided, and definitions of “good death” were identified as sub-themes. The second theme surrounded the effect that patient death experiences have on nurses. Implications of these data include the need to acknowledge patient death and the immense emotional toll it takes on nurses, as well as understanding that nurses are disenfranchised grievers.

Value Lexicality and Human Enhancement

2012 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 54-65 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tobias Hainz
Keyword(s):  
Ethical Theory ◽  
Applied Ethics ◽  
Human Enhancement ◽  
Life Extension

One idea discussed in ethical theory is that values can be put in a lexical ordering. One value that ranks higher in a lexical ordering always outweighs a lower-ranked value, regardless of the amount or intensity of both values. An account of value lexicality that focuses on the practical applicability of this concept will be developed and subsequently applied to the debate about life extension technologies and human enhancement in general. Finally, a sketch of a heuristic will be provided that shows how the concept of value lexicality could be of assistance when assessing the quality of arguments in various fields of applied ethics, one of which is the debate about human enhancement.

The Relevance of Value Theory for the Ethical Discussion of Human Enhancement

2014 ◽  
pp. 11-26
Author(s):  
Tobias Hainz
Keyword(s):  
Human Life ◽  
Theoretical Perspective ◽  
Human Enhancement ◽  
Value Theory ◽  
Life Extension ◽  
Theoretical Concepts ◽  
A Value ◽  
Ethical Discussion ◽  
Radical Life Extension ◽  
Theoretical Issues

The aim of this chapter is to provide a practical introduction to the central issues of value theory in order to demonstrate their relevance for the ethical discussion of human enhancement technologies. Among the value-theoretical issues discussed are value lexicality, the monism-pluralism dichotomy, and incommensurability. A particular enhancement technology analyzed from a value-theoretical perspective is radical life extension, the direct and intentional extension of the maximum human life span. Several examples are given to show how value-theoretical concepts are implicitly reflected in arguments for and against human enhancement. At the end of the chapter, it should be clear that value theory can and should make stronger contributions to the ethical discussion of human enhancement and that, in this discussion, an increased awareness of value-theoretical issues is desirable.

Advance care tweeting: A mixed-methods analysis of online conversations surrounding National Healthcare Decisions Day hashtags on Twitter (Preprint)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tahleen A. Lattimer ◽  
Kelly E. Tenzek ◽  
Yotam Ophir ◽  
Suzanne S. Sullivan
Keyword(s):  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
Topic Model ◽  
Death And Dying ◽  
The United States ◽  
Good Death ◽  
Communication Tool ◽  
Cultural Perspective ◽  
National Healthcare ◽  
Advance Care Directives ◽  
Advance Care

BACKGROUND Within most Western societies, topics related to death and dying continue to be taboo, and opportunities for presence and engagement during end-of-life that could lead to a good death are avoided as a result. Several efforts have been made to help people engage in advance care planning (ACP) conversations, including completing advance care directives, so they may express their goals-of-care if they become too sick to communicate their wishes. One major effort in the United States towards encouraging such challenging discussions is the annual celebration of National Healthcare Decisions Day (NHDD). OBJECTIVE The present study explored ACP from a socio-cultural perspective, using Twitter as a communication tool. METHODS All publicly available tweets published between August 1st 2020 and July 30th 2021 (N = 9,713) were collected and analyzed using the computational, mixed-method Analysis of Topic Model Network (ANTMN) approach. RESULTS Results revealed conversations, driven primarily by laypersons (96% of tweets originated from unverified accounts) surrounded three major themes: importance and promotion, surrounding language, and finally, systemic issues. CONCLUSIONS Based on the results, we argue there is a need for awareness of what barriers people may face in engaging in ACP conversations, including systemic barriers, literacy levels, misinformation, policies, including Medicare reimbursements, and trust among health care professionals. This is incredibly important for clinicians and scholars to be aware of as we strive to re-envision ACP so that people are more comfortable engaging in ACP conversations. In terms of content of Tweets, we argue there is a chasm between the biomedical and biopsychosocial elements of ACP, including patient narratives. If used properly, Twitter conversations and NHDD hashtags could be harnessed to serve as a connecting point between organizations, physicians, patients and family members, to lay the groundwork for the trajectory towards a good death.

Human Flourishing, Joy, and the Prospect of Radical Life Extension

2018 ◽  
Vol 129 (12) ◽  
pp. 554-561
Author(s):  
Victoria Lorrimar
Keyword(s):  
Artificial Intelligence ◽  
Genetic Engineering ◽  
Good Life ◽  
Human Enhancement ◽  
Life Extension ◽  
The Good Life ◽  
Human Flourishing ◽  
Academic Teaching ◽  
Secular Humanist ◽  
Radical Life Extension

The prospect of human enhancement through the use of genetic engineering, artificial intelligence and nanotechnology is generating increasing interest in academic and commercial circles. Responses to human enhancement technology are derived from, and therefore may illuminate, underlying notions of what human flourishing ought to look like. Miroslav Volf’s anatomy of joy is used to compare representative understandings of the good life from transhumanist and secular humanist perspectives as they correspond to attitudes concerning human enhancement, particularly the question of radical life extension. The argument is advanced that a joyful Christian vision of the good life, which answers both the secular humanist respect for creaturely finitude and the transhumanist hope for glorious transformation, possesses strong normative potential for academic teaching and discourse as we contemplate the future of human being.

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