Contents
- Introduction
- Assisted Dying
- Assisted Suicide versus Assisted Death
- Towards a Philosophy of Decision Making
- Decision Making and the Problem of Time
1. Introduction
Are we free to decide on the moment of our own death? And is it permissible to ask for help in committing suicide? In this unit we hear a story of a person who is confronted with these questions followed by a panel discussion representing different religious views on assisted suicide. The reflection on this episode focuses on philosophical aspects of assisted suicide and what it means to make a final decision.
Where to use this:
OCR Developments in Religious Thought papers. Topic - Challenges.
AQA Study of Religion and Ethics papers. Topic - Issues of human life and death
Edexcel Religion and Ethics papers. Topic - Problem of evil and suffering.
Or scroll down to continue!
2. Assisted Dying
Giles Fraser hears about Alison Davis, who was in pain, very unwell and wanted to die. Her friend and carer Colin Harte describes how she changed her mind and went on to campaign against euthanasia, or assisted dying, and also developed a Catholic faith.
The debate about assisted dying, the right to choose when and how we die if we're terminally ill, is back in the political spotlight. Life, death and attitudes to suffering are at the heart of all religions. After hearing Alison's story, a panel of people of faith discuss how their beliefs shape their views on this fundamental question.
Panel Members: Rabbi Jonathan Romain, Canon Rosie Harper, Rev Katie Tupling and Baljit Singh.
The epsiode covers a range of different related issues including:
- Choice versus decision - listen to min 7.18-8.05 and 14.34-15.15.
- Pain: emotional pain versus physical pain - listen to min 0.53-2.20.
- Compassion versus avoiding suffering (min 10. 38-10.50).
- Sacredness of life (11.02-11.44)
As you listen to the episode, try to pay close attention to when and how sacred texts are mentioned.
Where to use this:
OCR Philosophy of Religion and Ethics papers. Topic - voluntary euthanasia / non-voluntary euthanasia.
AQA Religion and Ethics papers. Topic – Evil and suffering
Edexcel Religion and Philosophy papers. Topic - Theodicies and solutions to the problem of suffering.
Or scroll down to continue!
3. Assisted Suicide versus Assisted Death
“There is but one truly serious philosophical problem, and that is suicide. Judging whether life is or is not worth living amounts to answering the fundamental question of philosophy”.
Albert Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus
What is the difference between assisted suicide and assisted dying? The obvious difference between these two ways of taking one´s own life is that in assisted dying another person is involved. The term assisted dying should be met with some suspicion. Is assisted dying not a euphemism for assisted suicide, or more precisely as physician assisted suicide (see: https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/physician-assisted_suicide)? From a philosophical point of view, assisted suicide raises another series of interlinked fundamental questions: who is responsible for one´s own death? From this, two further questions come to the fore, as Ferdinand von Schirach in his play Gott (2020) points out. Who owns our own life and who decides on our death? For Albert Camus, as mentioned above, this is the fundamental philosophical problem. Not only because it is at the core of the philosophical discussion of absolute personal freedom on the one hand, and social responsibility, on the other. Are we totally free to take our own life or are we responsible for the absolute persistence of life, our responsibility towards others, even if we are in pain and suffering? The philosopher Simon Critchley in his book Notes on Suicide (2020) provocatively asks: “Is suicide selfish?” Furthermore, what is more important, the quality of life or the quantity of life. And who has got the authority to decide on the quality of life?
Where to use this?
OCR Philosophy of Religion and Ethics. Topic – Death and the afterlife.
AQA Ethics and Religion papers. Topic - voluntary euthanasia and assisted suicide
Edexcel Study of Religion and Ethics papers. Topic - Medical ethics: beginning and end of life issues.
Or scroll down to continue!
4. Towards a philosophy of decision making
When we are confronted with a legal and moral dilemma like in the BBC episode based on a real case, one is prompted to ask the question what it means to decide. The following chart will show you 6 different types of decision making. Can you identify one or more types which are applicable to Alison Davis´case.
Image: Arnulf Rainer, Zentralisierung, 1951 (copyright Klaus Fabits)
The following chart outlines the six basic ideal-types of decision making:
The two key parameters organising this schematic typology are whether a decision is made by one person or many as a collective body and whether one, or other people are affected by the decision made.
Examples of how this decision might look in real life are:
Type1: I have decided to be vegan
Type 2: Yes, of course I will marry you
Type 3: Herewith, I declare war on another nation
Type 4: We, as a group decided not to join the protest
Type 5: The jury found the defendant guilty of murder
Type 6: The house of parliament decided to declare a state of emergency
Where to use this:
OCR Religion and Ethics papers. Topic – Normative Ethical Theories: Religious Approaches
AQA Philosophy of Religion and Ethics papers. Topic - Free will and moral responsibility
Edexcel Religion and Ethics papers. Topic - Medical ethics: beginning and end of life issues.
Or scroll down to continue!
5. Decision Making and the Problem of Time
When is the right time to die? Inevitable the philosophical problem of decision making implies the concept of time. Sometimes we can make decisions without the pressure of time and sometimes we are forced to make decisions immediately without consultation, without deliberation and exchange of differing arguments. The latter is the case in states of emergency when swift decisions are required to avert a looming danger or to minimise damage (See: Helmut Schmidt, Responsibility and Conscience of a Politician, forthcoming).
In the case of assisted suicide, time also matters. Not time in an abstract sense but in the form of Kairos that is the right moment to make a fundamental decision of life and death. Again, we are confronted with the question who decides and who judges that now is the right moment to end one´s own life. This is one of the key aspects in the episode when Davis found refuge and consolation in the Catholic faith.
Where to use this:
OCR Religion and Ethics papers. Topic – Normative Ethical Theories: Religious Approaches
AQA Philosophy of Religion papers. Topic - Free will and moral responsibility
Edexcel Religion and Ethics papers. Topic - Medical ethics: beginning and end of life issues.
4. Further Reading
Améry, Jean. On Suicide: A Discourse on Voluntary Death, translated by John D. Barlow. (Bloomington Indiana University Press, 1999).
Hoelzl, Michael. “Time is up. Decision Making and the problem of time” in: Andrej Zwitter, Takuo Dome (eds.) Meta-Science Towards a Science of Meaning and Complex Solutions (Groningen: Groningen University Press, 2023) pp. 71-88.Améry, Jean On suicide: a discourse on voluntary death, translated by John D. Barlow. (Bloomington Indiana University Press, 1999).
Film recommendation: Michael Haneke, Amour (2012):
These pages were created by me, Dr Michael Hoelzl, Senior Lecturer in Political Philosophy and Religion in the Department of Religions and Theology at the University of Manchester. My main research interests include legal philosophy, political theology and Nietzsche. My current research focuses on a philosophy of political decision making, based on a critical translation of Helmut Schmidt´s Marburg speech. You can see more of my publications here: https://research.manchester.ac.uk/en/persons/michael.hoelzl
When I listened to the episode, I was intrigued by the philosophical questions of suicide and decision making. In my current research I am focusing on the phenomenon of decision making. We all make more or less important decisions every day. Otherwise, we would not be able to act. This is truly a trivial observation, but it gets more sophisticated if we consider the difference between “choice” and “decision”. We often hear the phrase: “I had no choice, I had to make a decision”, or “I decided because there was no choice”.
In my previous research I focused on the problem of decision making by concentrating on its political philosophical aspects. I have translated two key books of the most eminent and most controversial legal philosopher of the 20th century: Carl Schmitt.
Published 12 September 2024.