Of Stewardship, Suffering and the “Slippery Slope”: A Vattimian Analysis of the Sanctity of Life Ethos in Canada (1972–2005)

This dissertation examines from a Vattimian perspective the challenge that euthanasia and assisted suicide posed to the sanctity of life ethos in Canada from 1972–2005. Gianni Vattimo’s central themes—metaphysics (absolute values), “event of being” (lived experiences that call absolute values into q...

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Main Author: Chambers, Stuart
Language:en
Published: 2011
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10393/20221
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spelling ndltd-LACETR-oai-collectionscanada.gc.ca-OOU-OLD.-202212013-04-05T03:20:44ZOf Stewardship, Suffering and the “Slippery Slope”: A Vattimian Analysis of the Sanctity of Life Ethos in Canada (1972–2005)Chambers, Stuartsanctity of life ethosquality of life ethoseuthanasiaassisted suicidestewardshipsufferingslippery slopemetaphysicsevent of beingpassive-reactive nihilismNancy B.Sue RodriguezRobert Latimerreligious attitudesChristianmetaphysiciansVattimian postmodernistsThis dissertation examines from a Vattimian perspective the challenge that euthanasia and assisted suicide posed to the sanctity of life ethos in Canada from 1972–2005. Gianni Vattimo’s central themes—metaphysics (absolute values), “event of being” (lived experiences that call absolute values into question), and passive-reactive nihilism (the use of “masks” or “disguises” to prevent the dissolution of metaphysics)—are pivotal to understanding the way religious and secular beliefs are interwoven within ethical, medical, legal and political discourses in Canada. Vattimo’s philosophico-ethical approach was specifically chosen because as a theoretical tool, it helps to illuminate the presence, weakening, and resilience of metaphysics in discourses surrounding an intentionally hastened death. To demonstrate how Vattimo’s major themes apply empirically to the research, a social constructionist approach was adopted in the form of a discourse analysis. Particular emphasis was placed on an examination of the three most important cases of death and dying in Canada, namely, Nancy B., Sue Rodriguez and Robert Latimer. The bulk of the evidence suggests that when these “events of being” challenged the sanctity doctrine as the ultimate foundation for life-terminating decisions, ethical, medical, legal and political discourses converged to promote three normative positions or authorizing discourses used in the tradition of Christian ethics: (1) stewardship—the view that since life is a “loan from God,” sacred, and of infinite worth, death cannot be intentionally hastened (“nature must take its course”); (2) value in prolonged suffering—the view that since suffering possesses transcendent meaning or purpose, its prolongation is justified in individual circumstances; and (3) the “slippery slope”—the view that any weakening of the sanctity of life ethos inevitably harms or threatens the community. Generally speaking, religious and secular advocates of the sanctity of life ethos reacted similarly in cases involving an intentionally hastened death. In other words, both the religious and the secular embraced metaphysics (absolute values), condoned and rationalized the prolongation of suffering, and relied on the “slippery slope” as a “mask” to maintain the sanctity of human life as first principle. The research strongly suggests that Canada is still significantly indebted to Christian notions when it comes to discussions surrounding the decriminalization of euthanasia and assisted suicide.2011-09-15T14:05:05Z2011-09-15T14:05:05Z20112011-09-15Thèse / Thesishttp://hdl.handle.net/10393/20221en
collection NDLTD
language en
sources NDLTD
topic sanctity of life ethos
quality of life ethos
euthanasia
assisted suicide
stewardship
suffering
slippery slope
metaphysics
event of being
passive-reactive nihilism
Nancy B.
Sue Rodriguez
Robert Latimer
religious attitudes
Christian
metaphysicians
Vattimian postmodernists
spellingShingle sanctity of life ethos
quality of life ethos
euthanasia
assisted suicide
stewardship
suffering
slippery slope
metaphysics
event of being
passive-reactive nihilism
Nancy B.
Sue Rodriguez
Robert Latimer
religious attitudes
Christian
metaphysicians
Vattimian postmodernists
Chambers, Stuart
Of Stewardship, Suffering and the “Slippery Slope”: A Vattimian Analysis of the Sanctity of Life Ethos in Canada (1972–2005)
description This dissertation examines from a Vattimian perspective the challenge that euthanasia and assisted suicide posed to the sanctity of life ethos in Canada from 1972–2005. Gianni Vattimo’s central themes—metaphysics (absolute values), “event of being” (lived experiences that call absolute values into question), and passive-reactive nihilism (the use of “masks” or “disguises” to prevent the dissolution of metaphysics)—are pivotal to understanding the way religious and secular beliefs are interwoven within ethical, medical, legal and political discourses in Canada. Vattimo’s philosophico-ethical approach was specifically chosen because as a theoretical tool, it helps to illuminate the presence, weakening, and resilience of metaphysics in discourses surrounding an intentionally hastened death. To demonstrate how Vattimo’s major themes apply empirically to the research, a social constructionist approach was adopted in the form of a discourse analysis. Particular emphasis was placed on an examination of the three most important cases of death and dying in Canada, namely, Nancy B., Sue Rodriguez and Robert Latimer. The bulk of the evidence suggests that when these “events of being” challenged the sanctity doctrine as the ultimate foundation for life-terminating decisions, ethical, medical, legal and political discourses converged to promote three normative positions or authorizing discourses used in the tradition of Christian ethics: (1) stewardship—the view that since life is a “loan from God,” sacred, and of infinite worth, death cannot be intentionally hastened (“nature must take its course”); (2) value in prolonged suffering—the view that since suffering possesses transcendent meaning or purpose, its prolongation is justified in individual circumstances; and (3) the “slippery slope”—the view that any weakening of the sanctity of life ethos inevitably harms or threatens the community. Generally speaking, religious and secular advocates of the sanctity of life ethos reacted similarly in cases involving an intentionally hastened death. In other words, both the religious and the secular embraced metaphysics (absolute values), condoned and rationalized the prolongation of suffering, and relied on the “slippery slope” as a “mask” to maintain the sanctity of human life as first principle. The research strongly suggests that Canada is still significantly indebted to Christian notions when it comes to discussions surrounding the decriminalization of euthanasia and assisted suicide.
author Chambers, Stuart
author_facet Chambers, Stuart
author_sort Chambers, Stuart
title Of Stewardship, Suffering and the “Slippery Slope”: A Vattimian Analysis of the Sanctity of Life Ethos in Canada (1972–2005)
title_short Of Stewardship, Suffering and the “Slippery Slope”: A Vattimian Analysis of the Sanctity of Life Ethos in Canada (1972–2005)
title_full Of Stewardship, Suffering and the “Slippery Slope”: A Vattimian Analysis of the Sanctity of Life Ethos in Canada (1972–2005)
title_fullStr Of Stewardship, Suffering and the “Slippery Slope”: A Vattimian Analysis of the Sanctity of Life Ethos in Canada (1972–2005)
title_full_unstemmed Of Stewardship, Suffering and the “Slippery Slope”: A Vattimian Analysis of the Sanctity of Life Ethos in Canada (1972–2005)
title_sort of stewardship, suffering and the “slippery slope”: a vattimian analysis of the sanctity of life ethos in canada (1972–2005)
publishDate 2011
url http://hdl.handle.net/10393/20221
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