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When societies will intervene to stop suicide while simultaneously allowing for government sanctioned assisted suicide, it means that the morality or "rightness

When societies will intervene to stop suicide while simultaneously allowing for government sanctioned assisted suicide, it means that the morality or "rightness" of an act is only now defined by whether the proper paperwork was filled out.

polygamous_bat 4y ago
> ... it means that the morality or "rightness" of an act is only now defined by whether the proper paperwork was filled out. I do not understand your point. How is that any different than, say, driving my car down the highway? The same act can be fine if I have a driving license and not fine if I do not.
kbenson 4y ago
Sometimes, paperwork is there to force some other condition to have been met, such as time and review and notification of others. So, it it more "right" to make people that want to commit suicide take a bit of time to consider whether that's actually the decision they want, and not something being influenced by a temporary situation, whether external or internal (such as a hormone imbalance that ebbs and flows)? I think yes, generally, even if edge cases exist.
fellowniusmonk 4y ago
It's moral to have an unsubscribe button, it isn't moral to require me to fax in an unsubscribe form after signing up with one click. It's moral to ensure charges go before a court quickly, it's immoral to allow a person to languish in jail for decades without trial. Time and effort are a components of everything including morality. To dismiss time and effort as trite or irrelevant in nearly any situation seems abusurd.
itishappy 4y ago
I don't think those are fundamentally equivalent categories. Assisted suicide is (to my knowledge) aimed at end of life patients with terminal outlooks. People who have little chance of improving their outcome. Self inflicted suicide is a much broader category including bullied high schoolers and unlucky stock traders. People who's current situation might look grim but who could potentially change that situation. I won't comment on the morality of either, but there's more at play than just bureaucracy.

polygamous_bat 4y ago

> ... it means that the morality or "rightness" of an act is only now defined by whether the proper paperwork was filled out. I do not understand your point. How is that any different than, say, driving my car down the highway? The same act can be fine if I have a driving license and not fine if I do not.

kbenson 4y ago

Sometimes, paperwork is there to force some other condition to have been met, such as time and review and notification of others. So, it it more "right" to make people that want to commit suicide take a bit of time to consider whether that's actually the decision they want, and not something being influenced by a temporary situation, whether external or internal (such as a hormone imbalance that ebbs and flows)? I think yes, generally, even if edge cases exist.

fellowniusmonk 4y ago

It's moral to have an unsubscribe button, it isn't moral to require me to fax in an unsubscribe form after signing up with one click. It's moral to ensure charges go before a court quickly, it's immoral to allow a person to languish in jail for decades without trial. Time and effort are a components of everything including morality. To dismiss time and effort as trite or irrelevant in nearly any situation seems abusurd.

itishappy 4y ago

I don't think those are fundamentally equivalent categories. Assisted suicide is (to my knowledge) aimed at end of life patients with terminal outlooks. People who have little chance of improving their outcome. Self inflicted suicide is a much broader category including bullied high schoolers and unlucky stock traders. People who's current situation might look grim but who could potentially change that situation. I won't comment on the morality of either, but there's more at play than just bureaucracy.