2. Issues of Life & Death Flashcards
Overview of Generic Key Terms for Theme 2
Afterlife
Life after death; the belief that existence continues after physical death.
Environmental Sustainability
Ensuring that the demands placed on natural resources can be met without reducing capacity to allow all people and other species of animals, as well as plant life, to live well, now and in the future.
Euthanasia
From Greek, eu ‘good’ and thanatos ‘death’. Sometimes referred to as ‘mercy killing’. The act of killing or permitting the death of a person who is suffering from a serious illness.
Evolution
The process by which different living creatures are believed to have developed from earlier less complex forms during the history of the earth.
Abortion
When a pregnancy is ended so that it does not result in the birth of a child.
Quality of Life
The extent to which life is meaningful and pleasurable.
Sanctity of Life
The belief that life is precious, or sacred. For many religious believers, only human life holds this special status.
Soul
The spiritual aspect of a being; that which connects someone to God. The soul is often regarded as non-physical and as living on after physical death, in an afterlife.
Creation
The idea that the universe was planned and brought into being by a divine power.
Karma
The ‘energy’ stored in your soul reflecting good and bad deeds.
Evolution [Natural Selection]
The idea that the species that flourish are those which are best suited to their environment.
Interpretation
The way we make sense of a piece of writing. Different
believers interpret passages from the holy books in different ways.
Literal
Understanding something exactly as it’s written.
Liberal
Free-thinking.
Intelligent Design
The idea that certain features of life are best explained by an intelligent cause, rather than an undirected process, such as natural selection.
Illusion of Design
That the world might appear to have been designed, but that raises the question: who designed the designer?
Stewardship
Caring for the planet and managing its resources. A steward is like a trustee or a caretaker; they are responsible for looking after someone’s property while that person is away.
Responsibility
Humans have a responsibility to care for the planet.
Global Citizenship
The idea that we should see ourselves as part of a world community. We should view the whole world as our home, not just the town where we live or our country of birth. We have a responsibility to care for
the Amazonian rainforests and for global climate change as much as for pollution in our own local communities.
Medical Ethics
The process of deciding what is good and acceptable in medicine.
Pro-Life & Pro-Choice
If you don’t know what this means, leave. Now.
Situation Ethics
Judging the rightness or wrongness of an act on a case-by-case basis.
Living Wills
A living will is a legal document. It outlines for medical professionals and next of kin what a person wants to happen if they find themselves critically or terminally ill.
Hospice
A place where people with terminal illnesses can go to
die with dignity. A hospice focuses on relieving the symptoms and pain of a terminal illness.
Palliative Care
Care that focuses on relieving pain and suffering.
Dualism
The belief that we are made of two separate parts:
a physical body and a spiritual soul. Dualists believe that our soul (or spirit) lives in our physical body. This soul is the true, inner part of us and it will live on after our material body dies.
Materialism
The view that nothing else exists apart from matter. All we have, as human beings, is a physical body; there is no soul or spirit.
Ensoulment
The moment when the human soul is said to enter the
baby’s body.
Rite
A ritual or solemn ceremony.
