Kete e kam shkruajtur ne lidhje me "assisted suicide" (dhe Euthanasia), personalisht jam kundra per arsye se nuk do me pelqenin ndryshimet qe do te ndodhnin ne shoqerine tone sikur te legalizoesh vrasja me ndihm. Gjithashtu jam kundra per arsye se mendoj se Zoti qe na ka krijuar ne jete duhet te jete ai qe na i merre jeten.
Death is in many ways a mystery to us and this perhaps as a result of the fact that death may be associated with different meanings (depending on ones culture and social influences). Patricia Mann, in her essay "The Meanings of Death", points out that "Dying itself remains beyond" and because it is difficult to define the experiences of death, she goes on to discuss what it would mean for people to actively chose it, that is legalizing assisted suicide. Mann, herself, isn't opposed to legalizing assisted suicide and therefore focuses on the idea of "new social relations" that would develope as a result of such legalization. Personally, I'm opposed to legalizing assisted suicide and partially due to those social changes that Mann points out.
Arguments for assisted suicide have centered on notions of "individual autonomy and self-determination". Mann, however, feels that this notion of an autonomous choice when one nears death is "problematic and misleading" and this because we don't really notice the social motivations of our actions. We forget that we act in relation to other people in our lives or more precisely what Mann refers to as "self-other relations". Through this idea of self-other relations, Mann points out that we need to observe "three dimensions of any individual action" in order for us to understand our individual desires. Those three dimensions are: "Individual agency may be comprised of self-referential desires, of other-directed feelings of responsibility, as well as by expectations of recognition and reward that are directed toward others while also fering to ones self." Mann gives an example of the second dimension (responsibility) and through that example we see part of her "feminism". The example is when she refers to women's traditional roles in society which included responsibility but no recognition. Therefore, they didn't have autonomy since one or more dimensions of individual action wre lacking. I agree with Mann when she explains that "autonomy " loses it's meaning or value if it ignores the relations within which our actions occur.
In order to see how our social relations to others affect our decisions in life Mann looks at a specific case where one becomes very sick and chances are he or she will die (and is under the care of a qualified doctor). Mann shows that, now, for a doctor, "everything in her medical training and practice promote in her a strong desire...to find a method of returning the patient to health." However, if assisted suicide would become a part of "daily life", some doctors may reccomend assisted suicide "enthusiastically" as an option. But this wouldn't only change the behaviour of doctors (and/or the way in which they may be recognized) in our society but also individuals in general. Family members might not feel burdened to discuss this "option" if the illed person takes it into consideration and ultimately reactions would vary depending on the individuals involved. Mann's point is that we would have more options, more variety, and we will have thought more widely and openly about an area of life wich is illegal right now and which also means unexcepted in front of many people in our society. As a result there would be an overall change in peoples mentality as a whole. Mann isn't saying that this change would occur right away (if assisted suicide is legalized) as she states (also showing feminism): "If you doubt that our views on death could change so rapidly, remember, or try to remember, how strong the expectations were for even higly educated women to become full-time homemakers during the '50 and '60." Overall, Mann concludes that we can be pretty sure that our thoughts in relation to death will change "radically" if assisted suicide is legalized.
Mann, therefore, makes a very good point in regards to Euthanasia, which is that our thoughts in regards to death as a society would change if assisted suicide is legalized. Although I believe people can change if they want to, and that we as a society would change if assisted suicide were to be legalized, I don't feel that it should be legalized and this because of the changes that would result due to such legalization. I'm opposed to assisted suicide for many reasons one of which includes my religious beliefs. God put us on this Earth and God is the one that must decide when we should leave it. Although many would argue against this point and probably refer to suffering at the same time, I believe that everything has a purpose (although we dont always know that purpose). Even if we were to die a painful death through suffering (and at the same time cause loved ones to suffer as a result of ones suffering), this suffering I believe has it's own part and purpose in our lives. But supporting the legalization of assisted suicide wasnt Manns goal in her essay.
I totally agree with Mann, however, when she says: "I do not believe that individual autonomy is any sort of possibility for dying patients...insofar as our individual agency in this situation is necessaritly intertwined with that of various relevent others." It's interesting to me because I've spoken to my parents various times regarding my life and goals and they always tell me that their goal is to have me (and my brother and sister) brought up the right way...etc...and to have a secure life. If one of my parents were to have an illness (God forbid.) I would think that they would fight death to the end and part of their fighting would be because they always want to be there for me (and my sister and brother). This is only an example which proves Mann's point that many of our decisions are relative to the people in our lives (self-other relations).
In regards to death alone, Mann clearly said that (even with the legalization of assisted suicide) "the ultimate mystery surrounding death will remain." This, I also agree with. Even though philosophers such as Epicurus (who said that death is a matter of cesing to experience pleasure and pain) or Socrates (who suggested that death may be a dreamless sleep) have tried to give some type of accurate (perhaps descripitive) meaning to death, they cannot do so unless they either refer to life or more plainly make supositions not based on something they can experience. For as Mann wrote in response to Socrates suggestion for death's meaning: "it is only when I awake from sleep that I experience my dreamless sleep."
Mann's goal in this essay wasn't to show whether legalizing assisted suicide may be a good or bad thing because clearly there are arguments on both sides, however, it was to point out that individual autonomy isn't what should be the focus, but instead the changes that would occur in social relations as a result. I agree because I feel that we must analyze the changes that might occur as a result before we may make a decision (if considering to legalize), because in many cases, for me at least, those changes may be part of the reason why I am opposed to legalization of assisted suicide, and because it is ipmortant to think about whether those changes in general would benefit society as a whole or not. Yet above that issue is the "meaning of death" would be interpreted in different ways altogether. So Mann makes an excellent point which I agree with. We must consider the social changes that would take effect if assisted suicide were to be legalized.
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