The Ethics of Medical Homicide and MutilationO'Malley, Austin
Religion
The Ethics of Medical Homicide and Mutilation
O'Malley, Austin
Medical ethics
This is the argument used by De Lugo; Molina follows the same line of
thought; but both authorities finally reach the conclusion, in the
case of the enemy and the citizen whose life is required, that the
state may at least drive this citizen out of the city to save its own
existence. Molina also draws attention to the fact that there is a
great difference between a member of a body politic and a member of
the human body; this identification, if pushed far enough, becomes
an analogical quibble.
Some hold that a judge or the civil authority in general may kill
or maim a criminal by gubernatorial power alone, prescinding from
dominative power, and this not to the utility of the criminal but for
the utility of society. The killing of a criminal, these objectors
say, is not for the good of the criminal; it is a deterrent, a
protective act, for the good of society. This is not true. The penal
law which the criminal breaks was not made solely for society; it was
intended also for the utility of the person who becomes a criminal.
The law was made and the punishment established that all subjects
indiscriminately should be helped to live honestly and blamelessly,
and to this end it was necessary to decree and inflict punishment as
affecting all offenders. The obligation to receive punishment is in
a manner essential to man. As he naturally requires direction and
government unto virtue in his political and social life, he has a
connatural obligation to endure punishment when he violates the law
made for his advantage--one condition cannot exist without the other.
Hence punishment really is to the utility of the criminal.
CHAPTER III
WHEN DOES HUMAN LIFE BEGIN?
By the embryologists from the moment the spermatozoön joins the
nucleus of the ovum until the end of the second week of gestation
the product of conception is called the _Ovum_; from the end of the
second week to the end of the fourth week it is the _Embryo_; from
the end of the fourth week to birth it is the _Fetus_. At what moment
during these three stages does the human soul, the substantial form
of a man in the full comprehension of the term, enter the product of
conception? When does the thing become a human being?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account