The Debate Over Nozick 's Experiment Thought Machine

Pastor Mike has been an ordained minister for the past 11 years with the Center of Spiritual Living of Colorado Springs which is a derivative of Christian Science. During the interview, Pastor Mike waivered somewhat about his beliefs on the subject of voluntary or assisted suicide. He feels that it is patient choice but is only acceptable once the patient has been educated by a team of healthcare providers and has discussed the decision with not only physicians and psychiatric professionals, but with family as well. He feels that it is different than suicide in that the person has made a clear decision and has a well thought out plan. He feels that suicide is caused by mental illness and the person takes their life without being counseled by physicians and psychiatrist. Pastor Mike had a difficult time with the concept of starving someone to death as in the case of Terri Schiavo. He feels this is inhumane and purposefully causing someone to die without them being able to make the choice. He recognizes the importance of a living will and feels that the living will should be honored regardless of what the family would want. In the event the person is conscious and able to make their wishes known, he feels their wishes should be honored. He lists the 3 most important factors to consider are quality of life, a well thought out decision, and the known wishes of the patient. The feeling I got from Pastor

'The experience machine' is one of Nozick’s best-known arguments . The experience machine is a thought experiment which posits the existence of a device that can give its user any experience desired. When one placed in an 'experience machine', it can program any experience, such as traveling to the moon. The experience machine is supposed to allow someone to have all and any of the pleasures in the world. However, Nozick states that even though if such machine exits no one would use it, which shows that there are more important things than pleasure.

IV. Some would say that there are religious issues with suicide, but according to “Clarifying Christianity” the Bible speaks in Exodus (20) verse 1-17 that we should not murder. That is often taken out of context and one cannot simply murder their own self.

In this essay I shall discuss how the film, 'The Matrix' (1999), engages in a form of cinematic philosophy. Specifically, I will discuss how the film can be seen as making an objection to the position held by Sidgwick (1907), who asserts that, positive states of consciousness, or, pleasure, is ultimately the only thing inherently valuable, which in turn becomes the basis of his utilitarian ethics. In doing so, I consider The Matrix to be a cinematic adaptation of Robert Nozick's (1974) 'experience machine' thought experiment, which the film-makers bring to life, developing it into a narrative that pulls heavily on our moral emotions. However, although the film-makers skilfully elicit the appropriate emotional responses from viewers, ensuring

Hamlet's to be or not to be soliloquy, illuminates something that crosses every human's mind, even if only for a split second; to live or die, fight or cry. Sometimes the world can get to a person, and when allowed to manifest, it can be hurtful. Suicide is a choice when things get tough, but a cowardly act. Life is precious and the only way to succeed must be to be in it; therefore, living. Suicide doesn't terminate a problem, but hides it. People will be judged sooner or later by the powers that be.

assisted suicide, see and understand why this practice is wrong morally and humanely. Starting off, Brother Lawson explained that life regularly has its ups and downs, and that God never stated it would be easy, or always pleasant. Secondly, in his editorial response he stated that as people of Faith, and as a human race we should always no matter how extraordinary the situation is choose to support life from the beginning.

Others argue that each person is responsible for making their own decisions or taking their own actions, so who are we to keep them from doing what they please? Many people with terminal illnesses even people without these illnesses don’t understand what it is that they are going through and go into isolation and a mixture of emotions. Therefore, how is a person in this state of mind so sure that they are making the right decision? In some circumstances, terminally ill patients could end up fully recovering and getting well. Every doctor knows that medicine is an art as well as a science. Some people might argue and say that it is rare for someone who is terminally ill to recover. Although it is rare, some terminally ill people can and do get better, and medical breakthroughs for cures seem to be constantly in the works. For example, Stephen Hawking suffers from a rare form of ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) in which the life expectancy is only two to five years after diagnosis and he has lived with this disease for over 40 years. The thought or request for suicide is usually a call for help. In reality suicidal individuals don’t want to actually die; they just want an escape from their pain and suffering. If this is the case, any patient going through pain and

On numerous occasions, the New Testament shared the concept of paradise alluding to a gathering place for the saints of God. When Jesus was on the cross with the criminal, He turned to him and replied, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise” (Lk, 23:43). From this point, Jesus provided an afterlife concept giving the criminal hope and satisfaction that there was more coming after death.

The first section of this paper should properly be named: “The Happy Ending,” as it seems fitting for this point of success for religion. It is not unfair to assert that one of humans greatest fears is death, the thought of become nothingness. Honestly, is there ever a point in ones own life that they can think, or even experience nothingness? Evidently the answer should be no, as we are always something, always being. For a human this is an overwhelming, and at times frightening thought. Especially when science and many atheist comes to the conclusion that when a human dies nothing happens, there is no happy ending -- sadly, nothingness seems to be the answer.

In his 1974 book Anarchy, State and Utopia, philosopher Robert Nozick offers the experience machine as a thought experiment designed to argue the falsity of prudential hedonism. Nozick asks us to imagine an “experience machine” whose sole purpose is to provide individuals with any desirable or pleasurable experiences they want. The problem arises when we must ask ourselves if we would enter the machine. Although Robert Nozick’s experience machine presents us with a realistic virtual reality, it is missing something other than experiences, providing us with no reason to plug into the machine.

The idea of universalizability strongly suits this case. To universalize the patient’s individual maxim, we would see that most if not all will find suicide morally justifiable because everyone at times may feel depressed. At this point, we look at the duty to preserve life at all costs, and find we cannot universalize the patient’s maxim. Kant was tempted with this maxim, but his will finds it immoral. He once said, “I still have strength enough to take my life, but I hold this to be immoral. Whoever deprives himself of life is a beast…” The extreme idea of suicide also looks at self-love. She wants to feel better, so she thinks death will accomplish this. The problem here is with death, you don’t feel anything anymore. Another angle on this case looks at the patient using the

The argument by those who are against using the term suicide believe that in contrast to those patients with impaired judgment, patients who are terminally ill and request medication under the act possess the ability to make a reasonable, autonomous decision to terminate their lives (Chin, Hedberg, Higginson, & Fleming, 1999). Therefore a person’s mental capacity or judgment has not been affected and they are deemed suitable to make this decision (Chin, Hedberg, Higginson, & Fleming, 1999). Proving that a person is capable of making this decision on their own without any outside help is most critical part of this whole entire process (Chin, Hedberg, Higginson, & Fleming, 1999). .

Whatever a religion may offer as it's belief about suicide, the followers of that religion do not always uphold that belief. At Masada, for example, a sect of fervently religious Jews known as Zealots held off Roman invaders for two years. When it became apparent that defeat was inevitable, their leader convinced the remaining nine hundred and sixty of them to commit suicide (Flanders 5). And Michel de Montaigne, a Christian writer living in France in the mid sixteenth century wrote five essays arguing that suicide is a matter of personal choice, and it is a viable option under some circumstances (OCRT 1).

How far will people go to be obedient? While some people are defiant, most people will go beyond imaginable measures to obey authority. Stanley Milgram conducted an experiment that tested human relations and authority. The experiment was scientifically sound and followed procedures but was very flawed. Milgram’s experiment consisted of an experimenter, a naïve subject, and an actor. The naïve subject is a volunteer who saw a public announcement stating that they would get paid four dollars (plus fifty cent carfare) for an hour of their time. Upon arriving the willing participants were told about the experiment’s process which included shocking a person when they gave wrong answers to a set of memory

While the true form of happiness can never truly be known by people, religion claims to explain the true idea of happiness as described by a supreme being. The higher idea of happiness may only exist in heaven, because it cannot be represented in its original, exact form on earth. Because heaven is represented as the holiest, most ideal place, it is where this idea of perfect happiness exists, and it is the only place where it can exist. All happiness on earth that is experienced by humans is only a representation of this perfect happiness, and this is what people strive for.