A life in need of “neither protection nor preservation”: Joseph Fletcher, Down’s syndrome and euthanasia

• Authors: Rikard Friberg von Sydow
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

Joseph Fletcher claims in his Christian situation ethic developed in the nineteen sixties that there is nothing wrong with the use of euthanasia on children born with Down’s syndrome. But is it possible to use his claim of non-persons as non-moral subjects in an ethic that claims not to be legalistic? This paper affirms that Fletcher’s claims are wrong, and that questions motivated by a lack of resources should be answered with a critical discussion regarding those resources. Not with an ethic that supports euthanasia.

Keywords

EN

Euthanasia; Down’s syndrome; Situation ethic; personhood; neo-casuistry; resources; philanthropy

• Publisher: Sciendo
• Journal: Review of Ecumenical Studies Sibiu
• Year: 2014
• Volume: 6
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 246-258

Dates

published

2014-12-01

online

2015-01-27

Contributors

author

Rikard Friberg von Sydow

• Dr. in Theological ethics, Uppsala University, address: Luthagsesplanaden 8A, 752 25 Uppsala, Sweden

Identifiers

DOI

10.2478/ress-2014-0119