No.

If you live in America and somebody's about to kill you and you have a gun in your hand, Sanctity of Life becomes meaningless.

If you're a Peshmerga commander in Iraqi Kurdistan and ISIS are about to launch a major assault and potentially start a genocide of Yazidis, Sanctity of Life becomes meaningless when you contact the Americans to launch their airstrikes.

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 9

viddy9

Original post by The Dictator

I don't believe in the sanctity of life, do you?

After all, certain people's lives are worth less than others.

No, I don't believe in the sanctity of life. Such a concept is absolutist and cannot be logically justified.

Taking a life is almost always, but not always, wrong. Those who argue against abortion, voluntary euthanasia and IVF on the basis of "sanctity of life" are invoking a nonsensical concept.

However, people's lives, all things being equal, are worth exactly the same as everyone else's. There's no a priori reason to consider the interests of some people over the interests of other people.

Reply 10

viddy9

Original post by douglas merritte

Does the usefulness of a person's life to others count as creating value? Could it be said that we are not all equally useful and that we like to reward and punish each other because of this?

My statement was that, all things being equal, there's no reason to value the life, or consider the interests, of one person any more than anyone else's.

That is, if we have no prior information, we should equally consider the interests of everyone. Often, this principle will still hold even with new information. There's no reason to reward or punish someone for being more or less useful (whatever "useful" means), however. If I were forced to torture someone more "useful" or someone less "useful", there's no reason to torture the less useful person. His preference not to be tortured has nothing to do with his usefulness.

But if I had to choose between someone who I somehow knew had the cure for cancer in her head, and five other people, I'd choose the person who has the cure for cancer, given that saving her life would lead to millions more lives being saved.

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 11

Drunk Punx

Original post by Moonstruck16

I do believe that all life is sacred but that does not mean that I think all life is equal.

I would argue quite the opposite.
Your parents brought you into this world, not God. Therefore life is not sacred.
An ant, and even a plant, has just as much place in this world as you do. Therefore all life is equal.

Reply 12

saeed97

Original post by Crossedit

I agree. Human life is overrated.

I could shoot anyone to threaten me or my family as easily as I could gut a fish.

You're the kind of person who talks big but would sh*t themselves at war.

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 13

drowzee

Everyone's life is as valuable as the next. It doesn't matter if one individual has contributed more to society than someone else, they're lives should be considered equally as important. However, then I remember this includes people that have commited the most henious of crimes, then it becomes a bit if a grey area.

Reply 14

viddy9

Original post by douglas merritte

Yeah, that's brilliant mate but it's a bit unrealistic to think that we can perceive all people as being equal.

I'm not saying they're equal in terms of every characteristic, I'm saying that we should equally consider their interests. This means that one person's interest in continuing to live is no more important than anyone else's.

Original post by douglas merritte

my point is that this is a theoretical POV. In the real world, we make judgement calls all the time... I'm just wondering, what creates value to you?

I already explained this. The capacity for self-awareness and having an interest in continuing to live makes life valuable. That's it. If someone will lead to more people having this interest satisfied, then their life is more "valuable" in that, without it, other people's lives will end as well.

What "judgement calls" are you talking about? And, what creates value for you?

Original post by douglas merritte

Let's face it, some life is more sanctified than others

You're not actually justifying your position by saying "let's face it". Some life isn't more "sanctified" than others, and I'm perfectly able to hold this viewpoint and act upon it to a significant extent in the real world.

Reply 15

queen-bee

Original post by The Dictator

I don't believe in the sanctity of life, do you?

After all, certain people's lives are worth less than others.

We are all equal in the eyes of God.

Reply 16

AristoBrat!

No, all life is not sacred or equal.
I say not sacred for obvious reasons. Who even knows if God exists, so that point is baseless.
All life isn't equal - in the two minutes, it took me to write this post, I've already devoured a buffalo wing and squatted at a fly (classy, I know.)
:colondollar: