RE: Utilitarian Bioethics
June 18, 2010 at 2:04 pm
(This post was last modified: June 18, 2010 at 2:04 pm by Paul the Human.)
I guess that's what I'm getting at. There is 'Bioethics' and then there is Utilitarian Bioethics, which condones killing in the name of the 'greater good'. Kill those born deformed for the greater good. Let the sick die... for the greater good. Deny treatment to the incurable... for the greater good.
Taken to extremes (which is very easy to imagine happening), people could be killed if their IQ is below the standard set by... whoever would set such things. The elderly could be killed to prevent them from becoming a burden upon society. Population control, for the greater good, could become standard practice. So on and so on. The implications of a world where the value of life is judged solely on a Utilitarian scale are frightening.
Taken to extremes (which is very easy to imagine happening), people could be killed if their IQ is below the standard set by... whoever would set such things. The elderly could be killed to prevent them from becoming a burden upon society. Population control, for the greater good, could become standard practice. So on and so on. The implications of a world where the value of life is judged solely on a Utilitarian scale are frightening.
