Thursday, November 14, 2013
Continuation of today's class discussion...
We were discussing the effects of cost-benefit analysis applied to issues of morality. Our basis for discussion stems from Jeremy Bentham's principle of utilitarianism. Two issues discussed were from Professor Sandel's lecture - 1. dollar value on human life with the Ford Pinto and 2. Throwing Christians to the Lions in the coliseum.
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There can be no dollar value on human life. We are human. We are not meant to have a price tag on us.
ReplyDeleteNo matter how much money Ford company would have lost or not made, they should have either discontinued the car or warned the consumers of the dangers of the car. Sure many people die in car accidents and the death of people in a car accident with a Ford Pinto could have happened to anyone in any car in any accident. But the rate of deaths in car accidents would significantly decrease if a) the company put in a protective shield to prevent the explosion or b) discontinued the car. It looks as if the company acted selfish and because of this act, consequences perhaps followed. People learned about the dangers of the car and the cost-benefit analysis when the company was taken into court. With this knowledge, people may have never been able to trust Ford again. This would cause the company to suffer more in the long run.
I too agree that there is no possible way you can add a price to the life of a human. The Ford company put a $200,000 price tag on human life. This is completely nonsense. Once a price is assigned to a human, it is like all people are slaves, who can be bought and sold at a price. But, this is not how life is viewed anymore. All people have some value to their life and are entitled to their opinion. Whether this value be committing crimes or helping others, no one should tell someone else how to live and enjoy life. Back to the Ford Pinto, saving a human life is always the better option than trying to buy it back after someone is already dead. The value of life is kind of similar to love. There is no way to buy love, or how much you love someone, so that mens that since love and value are the same, you cannot buy human life. It is impossible to be able to say that human life has a value, because in the long run, nothing will outweigh the cost of life. Therefore, I strongly believe that Ford made the complete wrong decision in knowing that people would be killed in a car that they had control over changing to save those innocent human lives.
ReplyDeleteAlthough putting a price on human life is nonsense, I will argue it just for the sake of debate. First of all, humans are afraid of the unknown. That is the major fear of everyone on Earth. Ideas such as other planets and civilizations scare mankind, because it is something we do not understand. Therefore, we as humans try to specify and understand EVERYTHING we can so that it eliminates our idea of the "unknown." When people mention, "what is the meaning of life," it may seem like a topic that is unknown and people do not fear it. However, if people knew that there IS an answer to the question, wouldn't they try and figure out the answer as quickly as possible? This is the same thing with human life. Everything needs to be specify in our minds, just like how the price of a human life needs to be specified also. It does not necessarily have to be $200,000. It could be 2 million, 200 million, etc. There definitely IS a price tag on human life though.
ReplyDeleteJulian,
ReplyDeleteHow do you know that ALL humans are afraid of the unknown? You may be afraid of the unknown, I may be afraid of the unknown, but Bob may not be afraid of the unknown. People are trying to understand everything in life so that they can excel and live better quality lives. For example, the discovery of different functions of body parts of animals or insects, has led to inventions that were based off of the functions. These inventions have helped humans excel in many things. A specific invention is the shark suit. It was discovered that wearing a swimsuit that has similar material to that of a shark's, cuts the swimmers time by a significant amount of seconds.
How can you put a definite price tag on EVERY individual. What would make someone worth two hundred million dollars and another person one hundred ninety-nine million dollars? Who would determine the price tags? What would it be based on? Every person is ultimately a human being, whether they are a good one or a bad one. We are all the same. Why would there be a need to put a price tag on humans? Ultimately, what benefit would it have for everyone?
Why can't we put a price on human life? What makes human life more important than anything else's? We buy and sell live and once living things on a daily basis. Now some will claim that a human is more value. Regardless of the conceited things that person will say, there is no difference between human life and anything else's life. Whatever causes life is that same in both things the only difference is the vessel that they are in. Using a metaphor to concentrate this point I could easily ask if there is a difference in the value of the person that drives a motorcycle or a Prius. No, there is not is the only answer. Therefore life, as our society currently has it, has no value only the corpse does. This is simply fact.
ReplyDeleteYou state that life has no value. You make the comparison that we sell other living things on a daily basis. In this you contradict yourself: you state that life has no value unless it is sold. In addition, if life has no value, do you look upon mass murder with indifference? Is any cause for the greater good worth thousands of deaths? For example, let's look at human overpopulation. In this case, mass murder would help to solve this issue. However, there is a reason any such action would be looked upon with supreme hate. It is because, in our society, we value the human life. For example, we negotiate with murderers in an effort to free hostages. It would be easier to just burst in and take down the murderer regardless of the consequences. However, we don't do that in an effort to save the lives of the hostages. We are compassionate people. And like compassion cannot be monetized, the human life cannot be monetized. There is no way to put a price on family bonds or the love of the victim's peers. We would be utterly heartless if we tried to do so. You may argue that we do it all the time for other life forms. However, I would argue that we don't. The price we put on a pet is not the price of its life.It is the price of entry into our world, just like medical bills that accompany pregnancy. There is no way to monetize the love I have for my dog.
ReplyDeleteRomina, what you are saying is correct. However, I could argue that a person's value is determined by themselves. If they succeed in life and become very successful, helping thousands of people, then their value would increase. I could add in a lot of variables, just to please you. (Their perseverance, their contribution to society, etc) From a utilitarian point of view, the people who make the MOST positive impact on a society are more important than the ones that makes a lesser impact! It is somewhat true today! How come the President has body guards while we don't? It is because he is MORE valued than us, as he makes a bigger contribution to the nation as a whole. Therefore, a price tag CAN be put on people depending on their accomplishments and goals in life.
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