The Value Of Human Life - 907 Words

Value of human life Everyone thinks human life is valuable. Some of those against capital punishment believe that human life is so valuable that even the worst murderers should not be deprived of the value of their lives. They believe that the value of the offender s life cannot be destroyed by the offender s bad conduct - even if they have killed someone. Some abolitionists don t go that far. They say that life should be preserved unless there is a very good reason not to, and that the those who are in favor of capital punishment are the ones who have to justify their position. Right to live Everyone has an inalienable human right to life, even those who commit murder; sentencing a person to death and executing them violates that right. This is very similar to the value of life argument, but approached from the perspective of human rights. The counter-argument is that a person can, by their actions, forfeit human rights, and that murderers forfeit their right to life. Another example will make this clear - a person forfeits their right to life if they start a murderous attack and the only way the victim can save their own life is by killing the attacker. The medieval philosopher and theologian Thomas Aquinas made this point very clearly: Aquinas is saying that certain contexts change a bad act (killing) into a good act (killing to repair the violation of justice done by the person killed, and killing a person who has forfeited their natural worthiness byShow MoreRelatedValue of a Human Life1400 Words   |  6 Pages Value of a Human Life What is an individual worth in currency? From birth an individual is worth something. Individuals tend to value life with emotion and ethics. Money is not usually placed into the equation of valuing human lives when one thinks about it. Society however, is all about money. People are life and it costs to live. There is always a need for money in life and society acknowledges that. Death is the absence of life, so what is the end value of an individual when life is over? ThisRead MoreThe Value of Human Life1514 Words   |  7 PagesThe Value of Human Life: A Comparison amp; Contrast on Various Models Employed Faculty of Economics Outline There is increasing debate on the question in what value should be placed upon human life. Numerous agencies and policy makers have taken great interest in tackling the issue of human life valuation. Although there is increasing controversies that surround producing estimates for valuing a human life, it is imperative to understand the importance of reaching an economic valueRead MoreThe Value of Human Life Essays543 Words   |  3 PagesValue of Human Life Though our society has adapted and developed, inequality remains prevalent all around the world. Our society assigns value to human live based on ethnicity and gender. Currently around the world there are over 30 million slaves in which 60,000 are in the United States. Even though slavery has been abolished in nearly every country many people still measure the value of individuals in cents and dollars. Should life be calculated in terms of money? How should we as a societyRead MoreEssay on Human Cloning and the Value of Human Life1257 Words   |  6 PagesHuman Cloning and the Value of Human Life To recognize the value of human life, from conception until its natural end, is an achievement of civilization to be safeguarded as a primary good of the person and of society. Today, however, in many societies it is not unusual to see a sort of regression of civilization, the result of an incomplete and sometimes distorted conception of human freedom, which often finds public legitimization in the State legal system. That is, it happens that the respectRead MoreAnton Chekhovs Value of Human Life1132 Words   |  5 PagesValue In the short story The Bet by Anton Chekhov a wager is made that changes the lives of two people. The story begins with a heated argument at a party over which is more moral, capital punishment or life imprisonment. The host of the party, the banker (appositive), believes that capital punishment is more moral because the death sentence kills the victim quicker rather than dragging out the process. A twenty-five year old lawyer at the party responds, saying, he would choose the life sentenceRead MoreLife And Death : Is The Base Of Human Values?1849 Words   |  8 Pageswith dignity and respect no matter of the timing of their death, which is the base of human values. Often times, we are afraid of speaking about death that we avoid the topic. As we grow older and we experience substantial loss, we start to come to the realization that we must also accept our own mortality. Dying with dignity is how we confront our own death and how we make our self-worth count. In many culture life and death are perceive as equally important. A person must be able to have autonomyRead MoreEssay on Capital Punishment Cheapens the Value of Human Life1588 Words   |  7 PagesI have the infallibility of human judgment demonstrated to me†. Why? The following quote by Stewart J sums it up perfectly in that: [T]he penalty of death differs from all other form of criminal punishment, not in degree but in kind. It treats all persons convicted †¦ not as uniquely individual human beings, but as members of a faceless, undifferentiated mass †¦ subjected to the blind infliction of the penalty of death. Death, in its finality, differs more from life imprisonment than a 100-yearRead MoreEuthanasi A Debate Of Morals, Ethics And The Value Of Human Life2388 Words   |  10 Pagesdebate of morals, ethics and the value of human life. Those against euthanasia focus on the word killing, but it is the person doing it to themselves and not someone else especially someone out of vengeance or criminal act. For some it is even a religious stance and say it is God’s will and only he shall decide when someone dies. More importantly those against it fail to see it is about an individual who is terminally ill should have the right to end their own life. Those against euthanasia argueRead Moreranscendentalists Emerson and Thoreau, Recognize the Value of Human Life599 Words   |  3 Pagesphilosophy that valued life and recognized the importance of the human person. They understood that every person has worth and a part to contribute to the world. Abortion, the intended killing of a human life, goes against everything these great men practiced and believed. Man can comprehend this through the use of our own individual intuition and moral courage. The term Transcendentalist describes a group of people who came up with a new approach to solve the conflicts of life. They would look toRead MoreWe live in a society where a life of another human being is losing value by the minute, murder is900 Words   |  4 PagesWe live in a society where a life of another human being is losing value by the minute, murder is almost more common than marriage, and monsters no longer lurk under our beds but inside us. Even sadder, this is acceptable; this is our normal. When we are children, we have an indescribable innocence; we are invincible. As we grow up, life happens, and we go through hardships that break us. Stephen King says it best with the words â€Å"sometimes inhuman places create human monsters† (Stephen King, The