Plato's Arguments Against Euthanasia

In Plato’s Apology, Socrates takes a stance on death by saying that to die is basically equivalent to being blessed. He backs this statement with two arguments as to the possibilities of death. From his perspective, death with no afterlife is to have a lack of awareness or existence. He states that in this nonexistence, death would be like sleeping an eternity. To him, this would feel like a night of deep, restful sleep with an absence of dreams; something that is favorable in his eyes. His second argument states that death with afterlife would also be the opposite of a punishment. Death with an afterlife would take him to be judged by the Gods, who were righteous in their own lives. To Socrates this would be inherently better than being judged by those who claimed to call themselves “jurors” without being just. In this afterlife, Socrates would also have the chance to speak with far more interesting and relatable people than those he was living among.

Monotheism: The basic definition of monotheism is the belief in one God. The opposite of polytheism, which is the belief in many Gods, who each serve a different purpose. However, for a monotheistic religion, the God is all-knowing, all-seeing and all-powerful; this God would be the sole creator and provider. There are three major religions associated with monotheism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, to be corrupt is, “to become tainted or rotten [or] to become morally debased.” In the play, Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, Macbeth begins the play as the Thane of Glamis and a brave warrior in the battle. As he obtains the position of Thane of Cawdor, he beings to change for the worse. Macbeth changes over the course of the play because he believes that he is becoming more independent and stronger, but in reality, he is actually becoming weaker, more insane, and corrupt.

Euthanasia is defined as, "The act or practice of putting to death painlessly a person suffering from an incurable disease." Euthanasia can be traced back as far back as the ancient Greek and Roman civilizations. It was sometimes allowed in these civilizations to help others die. Voluntary euthanasia was approved in these ancient societies. Today, the practice of euthanasia causes great controversy. Both pro-life groups and right-to-die groups present arguments for their different sides. Pro-life groups make arguments and present fears against euthanasia. I contend that the case for the right to die is the stronger argument.

One of the most ancient mystery yet unsolved is the question pertaining to death and the afterlife. This mystery is one of the fundamental studies in both field of philosophy and religion. Comparing those who believe in a god-existing religion against those who don’t, we often see many differences in the answers relating to death. In the contrary, the similar answers to theist and atheist are evident strongly in two great thinkers and their works. The focus will be on Socrates’ speech in the Apology by Plato setting in 399 BCE and De Rerum Natura by Titus Lucretius 300 years later.

Monotheism is a style or following of religious belief that asserts the existence of only a single God. This may seem easy to understand, but different religions interpret this in different ways. Judaism, Christianity and Islam are considered to be today’s modern monotheistic religions; however they don’t explain their form of “monotheism” in the same way as the others.

Part One Socrates primary emphasis is that death should not be feared as it is the state of nothingness, and unconsciousness, where people’s soul change or migrate from this world to another one. Apparently, many individuals fear this oblivion, but Socrates did not, and he referred it as a significant gain, where a person has that peaceful time to sleep without any disturbances even by their dreams. Again, he viewed it as a heavenly afterlife, where one gets that judgment from those people who are righteous in life. Socrates gives various facts and opinions to support his claim that no one who should ever fear death.

Being one of Socrates’ disciples, Plato adopted his philosophy and style of debate, and focused his studies toward the question of virtue and the formation of a noble character. According to Aristotle, Plato developed the foundations of his metaphysics and epistemology by studying the doctrines of Cratylus, and the work of Pythagoras and Parmenides. When Plato met Socrates, however, he had met his definitive teacher.

An unfortunate truth about mankind is that there are many ways in which we cause harm to one another. Sometimes we even end the life of another human being. These killings are known as homicide. “Homicide” means something such as justifiable homicide, manslaughter, and murder (Denotative, definition by subclass). Murder, when considered in a legal context, is a type of killing motivated by malicious intent (Precising, genus and difference definition).

Socrates’ reasoning for not fleeing from death had to do with his concern for his friends being punished for helping him escape, and also because of the fact that doing so would violate his teachings. Socrates’ concern for his friends being punished can be found on page 47 where Crito asks Socrates’- “…Are you anticipating that I and your other friends would have trouble with the informers if you escape from here, as having stolen you away, and that we should be compelled to lose all our property or pay heavy fines and suffer other punishment besides? (47).” Socrates replies to him that he does have these things in mind as he does many other others (47). However, this is not the main reason for why Socrates’ does not choose to flee with his

Plato's views on life after death were manifold, and developed over time as an examination of a bevy of his literature readily indicates. However, during all phases of his writing he does demonstrate that there is in fact life after physical death, which is widely attributed to his notion of the soul. Plat always viewed the soul as an entity that was distinct from the physical body. Moreover, while the physical body was destined to die, the soul was enduring, interminable, and destined to go on somewhere in some state of being. In just what sort of way the soul would endure was a matter of question, in which at various points in his career as a writer Plato offered different accounts. Yet the most consistent part of this conception of the author's was the fact that the soul was everlasting.

Euthanasia is the practice of ending an individual's life in order to relieve them from an incurable disease or unbearable suffering. The term euthanasia is derived from the Greek word for "good death" and originally referred to as “intentional killing” ( Patelarou, Vardavas, Fioraki, Alegakis, Dafermou, & Ntzilepi, 2009). Euthanasia is a controversial topic which has raised a great deal of debate globally. Although euthanasia has received great exposure in the professional media, there are some sticky points that lack clarity and need to be addressed. Euthanasia is a divisive topic, and different interpretations of its meaning, depend on whether the person supports it or not. While a few societies have accepted euthanasia, there are

The early Christians agree that it was essential to explain the relationship between Jesus and God. Yet their assertions about Christ raised questions about the unity of God. Trinitarian theology provided an important solution; it kept Christians from backsliding into superstitious polytheism, but it also prevented Jewish monotheism from undermining the significance of Christ

More than likely, a good majority of people have heard about euthanasia at least once in their existence. For those out there who have been living under a rock their entire lives, euthanasia “is generally understood to mean the bringing about of a good death – ‘mercy killing’, where one person, ‘A’, ends the life of another person, ‘B’, for the sake of ‘B’.” (Kuhse 294). There are people who believe this is a completely logical scenario that should be allowed, and there are others that oppose this view. For the purpose of this essay, I will be defending those who are for euthanasia. My thesis, just by looking at this issue from a logical standpoint, is that if someone is suffering, I believe they should be allowed the right to end their

From what I know, Marijuana is slowly but surely becoming legalized. There are now 29 states that have legalized it in some form. Marijuana is in the same schedule with heroin. I believe marijuana should not be in the same schedule as heroin. There are no cases of death directly associated with marijuana. Marijuana has been most known for its incredible medical purposes. It has treated seizures with amazing success. Research on marijuana continues, but the government also makes it very difficult; marijuana is illegal federally. States that have legalized marijuana for recreational sale and use must take a great deal of legal measures to protect themselves federally. Families have had to fight hard to get laws for medical marijuana passed to help their children with epilepsy. It also is used to reduce pain, inflammation, and muscle control problems. Marijuana has also help drastically to lower opioid addictions and deaths from opioid overdose.