Publicado

2016-05-01

Human Life as a Basic Good: A Dialectical Critique

Palabras clave:

morals, New Natural Law, human life (es)

Descargas

Autores/as

  • Javier Echeñique Sosa Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile

In this article I argue that the fundamental axiological claim of the New Natural Law Theory, according to which human life has an intrinsically valuable, cannot be defended within the framework assumed by the New Natural Law Theory itself, and further, that such a claim turns out to be false relative to a wider eudaimonistic framework that the Natural Law theorist is committed to accept. I do this this by adopting a dialectical standpoint which excludes any assumptions that could be de-nied by the New Natural Law theorist, except for the axiological claim, and show that the New Natural Law theorist cannot argue for the axiological claim’s plausibility, and moreover, that in such a setting the New Natural Law theorist is compelled to replace the axiological claim by the claim that human life is instrumentally valuable.

Referencias

Aquinas, Th. Summa Theologiae Prima Secundae, 1-70. Eds. John Mortensen and Eduardo Alarcón. Lander: The Aquinas Instutite, 2012.

Aristotle.Athenian Constitution, Eudemian Ethics, Virtues and Vices. Trans. Rackham, H. Loeb Classical Library, 1935.

Boyle, J. “Sanctity of Life and Suicide: Tensions and Developments within Common Morality.” Suicide and Euthanasia: Historical and Contemporary Themes. Ed. Baruch A. Brody. Dordrecht: Klusher Academic Publishers, 1989. 221-250.

Chappell, T. D. J. Understanding Human Goods: A Theory of Ethics. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1998.

Devine, P. “Capital Punishment and the Sanctity of Life.” Midwest Studies in Philosophy 24.1 (2000): 228-242. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1475-4975.00032.

Dworkin, R. Life’s Dominion: An Argument about Abortion and Euthanasia. London: Harper Collins Publishers, 1993.

Finnis, J. Natural Law and Natural Right. New York: Oxford University Press, 1980.

Finnis, J. Reason in Action. Vol. iof Collected Essays.Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011.

Glover, J. Causing Death and Saving Lives. London: Penguin, 1990.

Gómez-Lobo, A. Morality and the Human Goods: An Introduction to Natural Law Ethics. Washington D.C.: Georgetown University Press, 2002.

Grisez, G. “Towards a Consistent Natural-law Ethics of Killing.” The American Journal of Jurisprudence 15 (1970): 64-96.

Grisez, G. Christian Moral Principles. Vol. 1 of The Way of the Lord Jesus.Chicago: Franciscan Herald Press, 1983.

Grisez, G., and Boyle, J. M. Life and Death with Liberty and Justice: A Contribution to the Euthanasia Debate. Notre Dame; London: University of Notre Dame Press, 1979.

Hittinger, R. A. A Critique of the New Natural Law Theory. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1987.

Keown, J. Euthanasia, Ethics and Public Policy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511495335.

Lee, P., and George, R. P. Body-Self Dualism and Contemporary Ethics and Politics. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007.

Lee, P., and George, R. P. “The Natural Basis of Human Dignity.” Ratio Juris21 (2008): 173-93.

McCloskey, H. J. “The Right to Life.” Mind84 (1975): 403-425.

McMahan, J. The Ethics of Killing: Problems at the Margins of Life. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/0195079981.001.0001.

Murphy, M. C. Natural Law and Practical Rationality. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001.

Novak, D. Suicide and Morality: The Theories of Plato, Aquinas and Kant and their Relevance for Suicidology. New York: Scholars Studies Press, 1975.

Oderberg, D. S. Moral Theory: A Non-Consequentialist Approach. Malden: Blackwell Publishing Company, 2000a.

Oderberg, D. S. Applied Ethics: A Non-Consequentialist Approach. Malden: Blackwell Publishing Company, 2000b.

Oderberg, D. S. “The Structure and Content of the Good.” Human Values: New Essays on Ethics and Natural Law. Eds. David S. Oderberg and Timothy Chappel. London: Palgrave MacMillan. 2007.

Paterson, C. The Contribution of Natural Law Theory to Moral and Legal Debate Concerning Suicide, Assisted Suicide, and Euthanasia. Boca Ratón: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2010.

Schumacher, B. N. Death and Mortality in Contemporary Philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511780028.

Singer, P. Practical Ethics. 2nd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993.

Singer, P. Rethinking Life and Death: The Collapse of Our Traditional Ethics. New York: St. Martin’s Griffin, 1994.

Cómo citar

“Human Life As a Basic Good: A Dialectical Critique”. Ideas Y Valores, vol. 65, no. 161, May 2016, pp. 61-87, https://doi.org/10.15446/ideasyvalores.v65n161.44310.

Licencia

Derechos de autor 2016 Universidad Nacional de Colombia

Creative Commons License

Esta obra está bajo una licencia internacional Creative Commons Atribución-NoComercial-SinDerivadas 4.0.

De acuerdo con la Licencia Creative Commons Atribución-No Comercial-SinDerivar 4.0 Internacional. Se autoriza copiar, redistribuir el material en cualquier medio o formato, siempre y cuando se conceda el crédito a los autores de los textos y a Ideas y Valores como fuente de publicación original. No se permite el uso comercial de copia o distribución de contenidos, así como tampoco la adaptación, derivación o transformación alguna de estos sin la autorización previa de los autores y de la dirección de Ideas y Valores. Para mayor información sobre los términos de esta licencia puede consultar: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode.