A Rhetorical Analysis Of Euthanasia By Philippa Foot

The argument that I am analyzing is found in Philippa Foot’s article Euthanasia. This specific section starts at the beginning on page 88. This argument starts once she talks about the true meaning of Euthanasia and the difficulty in how people see or perceive it. In Foot 's article, she wants to prove that an act of euthanasia is morally permissible, as long as you’re performing it for the right cause or reasons. Foot defines euthanasia as "a matter of opting for death for the good of the one who is to die." (Foot, p.100) She further justifies this argument by stating that as long as we put into consideration the interests of the person involved and only the benefits of that person that euthanasia can morally acknowledge. I believe that it

Or, this is due to the fact that unless she interferes and puts an end to his life, that his life will be so horrible he’d be better off dead. Hence, the main reason that the person who carries out the act of euthanasia is that they want to accommodate the one whose death is imminent. “It is important to emphasize the motive of benefiting the person who is assisted to die because well-being is a key value in relation to the morality of euthanasia.” (Young) This is also clear as day in many cases of physician-assisted suicide. Some argue that for Euthanasia, “Once legalized, euthanasia will not be used just for those facing serious illnesses, but those who are depressed.” (Mezban) Past philosophers like Immanuel Kant and John Locke were opposed suicide. For this reason, they viewed euthanasia as suicide, regardless of how much pain or suffering the person was dealing

The possible legalization of euthanasia can cause a great disturbance in how people view life and death and the simplicity of how they would treat it. "There are many fairly severely handicapped people for whom a simple, affectionate life is possible." (Foot, p. 94) As demonstrated, the decision of terminating a person 's life is a very fragile and difficult one, emotionally and mentally. Nevertheless, it’s a choice we can make if it is passive euthanasia being expressed. At this very moment, active euthanasia is not legal. As far as legalizing active euthanasia goes, Foot thinks that we need to tread lightly. She doesn 't exactly agree with this idea. She believes that euthanasia will be abused immediately. There are people who want to unburden themselves of the elderly & will simply euthanize them for their own benefit, not the elders. Another issue with legalizing euthanasia would be that society would be too easily convinced to support it. "It would be hard to devise procedures that would protect people from being persuaded into giving their consent." (Foot, p. 112) There is no possible way to know if a person is giving their consent because they actually want to or maybe because they were persuaded to do