Ah, I see. So the Dutch is no longer koning, but rather konink? At any rate, where'd you pick up Dutch?
The reason it's a matter of ethics is because often people want to die when they have quite a bit of potential joy before them that they simply cannot see. To take a literary example, how many of us think Romeo & Juliet were doing the right thing when they killed themselves (particularly Romeo)? If one is old and sick, suicide is understandible from at least one viewpoint. If they are young and vibrant, on the other hand…
Concerning euthanasia, consider viewpoints like the Buddhist one which considers harming any living creature a sin. Is killing something out of mercy justifiable in that world-view?
I really don't think fear of death is what has created these norms—sociologically, it is only fairly recently that losing young men to suicide did not "harm" the state in some way. It may also be worth noting that sometimes there was a double-standard, such as in the Indian suttee phenomenon. This would be unlikely if simple fear were the driving cause behind suicide stigma.
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chiming
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Date: 2006-07-25 03:28 pm (UTC)From:The reason it's a matter of ethics is because often people want to die when they have quite a bit of potential joy before them that they simply cannot see. To take a literary example, how many of us think Romeo & Juliet were doing the right thing when they killed themselves (particularly Romeo)? If one is old and sick, suicide is understandible from at least one viewpoint. If they are young and vibrant, on the other hand…
Concerning euthanasia, consider viewpoints like the Buddhist one which considers harming any living creature a sin. Is killing something out of mercy justifiable in that world-view?
I really don't think fear of death is what has created these norms—sociologically, it is only fairly recently that losing young men to suicide did not "harm" the state in some way. It may also be worth noting that sometimes there was a double-standard, such as in the Indian suttee phenomenon. This would be unlikely if simple fear were the driving cause behind suicide stigma.