Ronald Dworkin on Abortion and Assisted Suicide

In the first part of this article, I raisequestions about Dworkin's theory of theintrinsic value of life and about the adequacyof his proposal to understand abortion in termsof different ways of valuing life. In thesecond part of the article, I consider hisargument in ``The Philosophers' Brief on AssistedSuicide', which claims that the distinctionbetween killing and letting die is morallyirrelevant, the distinction between intendingand foreseeing death can be morally relevantbut is not always so. I argue that thekilling/letting die distinction can be relevantin the context of assisted suicide, but alsoshow when it is not. Then I consider why theintention/foresight distinction can be morallyirrelevant and conclude by presenting analternative argument for physician-assistedsuicide.     

Shifting worldviews: modeling sacrality in naturalistic perspective

ABSTRACT

In this essay, I offer an exercise in modeling a multifaceted concept of sacrality. I do so within the context of my increasing interest in naturalistic, evolutionary views of human social behavior. I distinguish four genres of behavior and their ethological trajectories where sacrality can thus be re-contextualized, at the same time freeing the term from its essentialized versions in religious studies. The behavioral frames include: making-sacred as dedicating objects for secure respect, defending the subsequent social order from violation, attributing status or prestige to objects, and responding to sacred ‘prompts’ with commensurate actions within niche-specific environments.