RE: Does human life have INHERENT value?
June 21, 2015 at 5:55 pm
(This post was last modified: June 21, 2015 at 5:58 pm by Mr.wizard.)
(June 21, 2015 at 5:44 pm)Catholic_Lady Wrote:(June 21, 2015 at 5:27 pm)Rhythm Wrote: Rationally, I value my own life. Because I am consistent I value in others that which I share with others, that which I value in myself. The more something shares with me, the more similar I am to something, the more value I assign it, because, again, value starts right here (and ofc the more dissimilar, the -less- I value it). This is why, for example, I assign the utmost value to your life, and less value to a dogs life.....while the dog's life is valued (by me) more than the life of a mollusk.
Biologically? My pain response is autonomous, my fear response is autonomous. My heart beats without my conscious control (and I couldn't will it to stop if I tried). I am -incapable- of not valuing my life, every part of me, from the machinery "on up"...if there even is an up...screams to me to preserve that which I am, alive. Even if the "on up" bit of me -tried- through ignorance or mistake...to off itself, my machinery might yank the wheel out of that humunculous' hands because clearly...it doesn't know wtf it's doing...and it's time for a better qualified operator. I can't help it, that's the situation my biology places me in, regarding my valuing human life.
(I was asking you if you thought that human life had value, ofc.)
Thanks for the well thought out response.
Now to answer you.
Yes, I believe human life has inherent value. That means it is itself valuable. It is not conditional. It is not valuble only if other people value it. It is valuable because it is. That is the very nature of it.
In the same way that grass is green, life is valuable.
Obviously, I believe this because I believe that God created human life, and that He created it with value.
I do not think any person's life is worth any less or any more than any other person's life, and the value of a person's life cannot be taken away or diminished by anyone/anything else.
Therefore, I believe that the life of a saint is as valuable as the life of the worst kind of criminal.
The life of a human is as valuable while it is still in the womb, as it is when it is out of the womb, and as it is when it is on its death bed being eaten up by cancer.
Yes, I believe human life has inherent value.
(June 21, 2015 at 5:31 pm)Mr.wizard Wrote: Sure human life has value to other humans, that is one of the reasons we survived as a species.
Inherent is the key word on my OP question. ;-)
The value on human life is what we make it, it may be inherent to humans to put value on human life but that value is not going to be the same to an alligator or a bird, they could care less if we live or die.
