Summary Of Mistreatment Of Dead Bodies By Joel Feinberg

In this article, “The Mistreatment of Dead Bodies,” author Joel Feinberg argues the misunderstanding of using cadavers for organ donation, and research. Feinberg discusses the modern issue many people have with attaching sentimental value with a dead body, letting their values outweigh and halt the necessary uses for cadavers (31). Cadavers being used for medical training, organ donation, and forensic research, provide as great utility for people. Feinberg states that in 1978, a dispute between a California Congressman and The Department of Transportation developed when The Department of Transportation began to use cadavers in place of dummies in collision tests for more detailed research. These detailed tests would cover every gruesome angle

Despite their plea against the Congressman’s request, The Department of Transportation faced setbacks in their for years (31). Feinberg points out that many people (like the Congressman) don’t seem to have a problem with typical research done in a lab on a cadaver, yet when the setting changes to a more distasteful extreme (Like smashing a cadaver into a wall), a person’s view on the research does too. Feinberg addresses this issue as “appeal to sentimentality,” that is, individuals place value on symbols, ignoring real life issue (32). He goes on to acknowledge this argument through William May’s, “Harvesting the dead”, which outlines the argument of sentimental value placed in dead people, stating how using them in any weakening manner also weakens sentimentality for humanity (34). Feinberg addresses May by pointing out how sentimentality over a dead body should be the last thing in consideration when it comes to a person’s life, concluding that a person in desperate need of an organ is far more valuable than a cadaver that’s no longer using the organ

We all are really nothing more than organic tissue. Feinberg does an excellent job at drawing out the problem people have getting attached to the dead. He shows that we are attached emotionally to the dead as our treatment towards such represents our humanity. Yet I don’t think he looked deep enough, only skimming the surface as to why we have a problem with using cadaver unconventionally. Feinberg concludes the reason for the disgust people get when observing corpse being used as test subject is based on the value we place on corpses; He draws the line there and really goes any deeper into the reason for the sentimentality. I think the reason for the sentimentality, and the symbolism placed on a corpse is the based on the value we have for ourselves. Where Feinberg sees sentimentality and symbolism on the dead as an ideation of a person’s humanity, I see the it as maps to a deeper underline issue, the thought of lost. People our selfish, and despite how negative that sounds its true, and good that we are. Our selfishness is the reason we invest so much time into ourselves, keeping our bodies nourished and growing. This selfishness is why we mourn death, the company of other helps us grow, and keeps us supported. When a person dies, we lose that support. Everyone has evolved with this type of need for other. The idea of loss and not being anymore