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Legal
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What Is Life?Where Does Life Start And End?The Terri Schiavo case has made the question of what is life a necessary one. Most of us assume we know what life is but do we. Is life simply a functional organism; an organism that performs functions normal to its species? Does life require consciousness or some awareness of its existence? Does life imply intelligence? When does an organism cease to have life? Is an intelligent organism still alive if it has no awareness, no intelligence? Does an organism cease to be alive if it can only function at 5 or 10 percent of what is considered its species normal or of its previous level? To make matters more difficult, each species has its own normal functionality. If that functionality is significantly impaired, is that organism still viable and still alive? Where does life cease to be viable? There was a time when life was no longer viable if it couldn’t see to its own needs or required external assistance to keep it breathing and its blood flowing. Today, with modern medicine, an organism can be kept going with only minor internal assistance. Mechanical hearts, mechanical lungs can keep an organism in a form of simulated life but can there be life if the brain isn’t functioning? Will we develop a mechanical, electronic brain that can keep an organism alive until the body rots away? The definition of what is life must also include a definition of when life starts and when life ends. If we can define the start and end points in some acceptable manner then it is easier to define what life is or is not. Of course, we could resort to the method said to be used to determine when a pope is dead: a high-ranking cardinal, who was appointed to this task by the pope, calls the pope by name three times and if the pope does not respond at least once the pope is pronounced dead. Is life a sperm cell or a group of cells? Is life awareness and intelligence. Does this awareness include self-awareness as well as external awareness? If life is defined too broadly then germs and viruses become life and our own immune system is guilty of destroying life. If we define life as a certain level of intelligence then we may have to define some mentally challenged humans as non-life. Perhaps we should define life as being that awareness that can imagine its own demise. The problem with that definition is how do we determine if such awareness exists. Many philosophers have tried to define life but the definition of where life starts and ends changes as our medical science and medical knowledge increases. Means of prolonging life exist today that was unthinkable 50 years ago. Who knows what 50 years from today may bring. We may be able to keep a brain alive without a body attached to that brain. Life is sometimes based on awareness and the ability to communicate in such a manner that humans understand or at least imagine they understand. In other words, life is usually defined by the highest awareness or life-form in a particular environment. We tend to define life as organic but not all levels of organic life have awareness or a detectable level of intelligence if we exclude instinct. If we define life as something that grows and becomes then vegetables could be considered as life. If all things can be said to be alive or have life then we have to decide what level of life can be sacrificed to sustain another level of life. Humans and animals must eat to survive and grains and vegetables may not be a sufficient diet for prolonged existence. Some eat cats, dogs, and horses, some don’t. Some will live on only inanimate objects, some won't. If a vegetable is not alive then why is a human or animal that is in a vegetative state considered to be alive? It would appear that life is based on perception rather than a definable quantity. What this says is that what is life is determined by the culture, the environment, and the laws of civilization. Most of us would consider it an act of kindness and a humane act to put down a favorite pet that could no longer walk, is in constant pain, or could not live without a feeding tube. Why do we consider a human life so much more valuable than an animal’s life? Is the value of a life based on our religious beliefs or is the human a special case of organic life? If life is only based on individual perception then we can never agree on what is life, where it starts, or where it ends. Society can and should make a general definition of life based on its current medical abilities and knowledge and its belief systems but the individual must refine that general definition for their personal use based on their beliefs and the situation. Life is like love; we can’t really define it; we can only experience it. Life like love will be different for each life form that has sufficient awareness and intelligence to imagine life, love, and death.
Author: Don Miller
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2005 Articles |
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