The article that Peter Singer writes brings up some major ethical concerns. He has some interesting points of view he wants to share with the world which he does in his book Rethinking Life and Death. In this, we learn what he thinks a human being is and a person as well as their differences. There is also a lot of implications of his work that we should address. All of this will be discussed as well as my opinion on what he is talking about. Singer starts out by defining what a person is. He says a person can be defined as “a being with certain characteristics such as rationality and self-awareness (Rethinking Life and Death, 1994, pp. 180).” After he says this he goes on to give examples. He begins to tell us a story about a person who is
…show more content…
We are not always able to see that right away. This brings to mind people that physical or mental disabilities but have been able to overcome them and still make a huge difference in the world. Temple Grandin is a great example dealt with stuff to overcome her disability. If someone did not take the time to value her life, she would have not been able to accomplish so much and change the world. This is a major problem with not valuing all of human life. There is so much potential in people and if we dismiss people who might not qualify as a “person”, we could lose out on someone great. People who are old and have diseases like Alzheimer’s still have stuff to offer the world. They might not be functionally like they used too, but still have stories, wisdom, jokes and more to share with the world. This is why I think Singer’s first new commandment is wrong. In Peter Singers book Rethinking Life and Death, he is exploring the issues of ethics and how they fit into our lives. He is trying to figure out what it means to be a “person” and what it means to be a “human being”. He gives us the old commandments that society used to follow and then gives what he thinks society should adopt. I do not agree with this and think that the old commandments are fine. There are some issues that I had with the new commandments, like that Singer does not think that we need to value all human life the same. If we do this, we are liable to miss out on some great
We are not always able to see that right away. This brings to mind people that physical or mental disabilities but have been able to overcome them and still make a huge difference in the world. Temple Grandin is a great example dealt with stuff to overcome her disability. If someone did not take the time to value her life, she would have not been able to accomplish so much and change the world. This is a major problem with not valuing all of human life. There is so much potential in people and if we dismiss people who might not qualify as a “person”, we could lose out on someone great. People who are old and have diseases like Alzheimer’s still have stuff to offer the world. They might not be functionally like they used too, but still have stories, wisdom, jokes and more to share with the world. This is why I think Singer’s first new commandment is wrong. In Peter Singers book Rethinking Life and Death, he is exploring the issues of ethics and how they fit into our lives. He is trying to figure out what it means to be a “person” and what it means to be a “human being”. He gives us the old commandments that society used to follow and then gives what he thinks society should adopt. I do not agree with this and think that the old commandments are fine. There are some issues that I had with the new commandments, like that Singer does not think that we need to value all human life the same. If we do this, we are liable to miss out on some great