Exam prep

Question 1

Instrumental value

Answer 1

Value as a means to something else (e.g money)

Question 2

Intrinsic value

Answer 2

Something that inherently has value

Question 3

Disvalue

Answer 3

Something with negative value

Question 4

Requirements for Theory of well being

Answer 4

1) Completeness: It must cover all cases
2) structure: things can be easily classified into well-being, neutral, ill-being

Question 5

Experience condition

Answer 5

You must experienced X to say that you have X. Mainly for X=well-being (so you cannot experience well-being while being unconscious/dead). Refutation is that you can experience well being when others are doing well

Question 6

Well-being theory: Hedonism

Answer 6

Pleasure is good, is a mental state theory

Question 7

Experience machine/deceived businessman

Answer 7

Does something have to be real for it to have well-being? Or is the experience itself all that it needs.

Question 8

well-being theory: Desire theory. Give one of it’s problems, and it’s stance on the experience machine

Answer 8

Fulfilling your desires increases your well-being.

Problem with not considering failure (does not fulfilling desire =ill being or no change?)

Desire theory doesn’t support experience machine hypothesis

Question 9

Well-being theory: Objective list theory

Answer 9

List of things that are objectively good. But seems weird to say that if someone doesn’t like X, they still gain well-being from it.

Question 10

Comparative harms: Standard harm vs preventative harm

Answer 10

Standard harm: Harm that absolutely lowers well being

Preventative harm: Harm that lowers well being for future self (e.g someone steals your medications)

Comparative harm means we can compare it across an event/state.

Question 11

Noncomparative harm

Answer 11

Harm which cannot be compared with an event/state. e.g) Child born with disabilities

Question 12

Nagel’s deprivation account

Answer 12

Life is inherently good, and death deprives us of this good.

Life is good even when there’s pain and suffering.

Dying is deprivation of infinite goods.

Question 13

Jeff McMahan on Nagel’s deprivation account, and “essence”

Answer 13

Dying is not deprivation of infinite goods, but rather of a reasonable lifespan.

Also some features are essential for us to exist as we are (e.g the right sperm and egg meeting). Thus some genetic disabilities aren’t bad for the person, bc they wouldn’t be the same person otherwise/wouldn’t have existed (weird theory tho)

Also you are not necessarily the same person as future you, if there’s no psychological continuity

Question 14

Epicurus on death

Answer 14

Death isn’t good or bad, it just is what it is.

Idea: minimize desire prevents suffering, and main source of suffering is anxiety about death

But since we won’t experience death, we shouldn’t be bothered by it.

Question 15

Epicurus’ dilemma on death, and Nagel/Broome’s response

Answer 15

Epicurus: When we’re alive then we haven’t died, but when we’re dead we don’t exist. Therefore it never harms us.

Fischer: Nah, it’s always bad via the deprivation account.

Broome: There’s no time when death harms you. Agrees with Epicurus for the dilemma, but says that it’s bad for us via deprivation account, since it would’ve been better if you lived longer

Question 16

Lucretius on prelife/death and Nagel/Parfait’s response

Answer 16

Lucretius says that we don’t worry about pre-life, therefore shouldn’t worry about death.

Nagel says that we can die sooner but couldn’t have been concieved earlier. Therefore there’s an asymmetry

Parfait says that future pain is worse than past pain. Therefore pre-life non-existence was bad, but not as bad as dying

Question 17

Types/variations of immortality

Answer 17

1) Invincibility
2) Biologically immortal, but not immortal

There’s also some variations on it:
3) Knowledge of immortality, do we know about it?
4) Serialized vs continuous immortality. reincarnation vs single life

Question 18

Immortality dilemma (2 problems with immortality)

Answer 18

1) You become so bored with everything
2) Your identity would change and become unrecognizable

Question 19

bernard williams on death and immortality

Answer 19

Death is only bad bc it prevents fufilling categorical desires. But if we were immortal then we’d exhaust our categorical desires, so immortality isn’t desirable either.

Question 20

Fischer on boredom

Answer 20

There are repeating and self-exhausting pleasures. We can always change up our interests/projects to create new desires.

Question 21

Jeff Mcmahan on identity

Answer 21

Identity is based around psychological continuity, which goes forwards and backwards in time. Once you lose the continuity you’re no longer the same person. Thus present you isn’t necessarily future you.

Question 22

Fischer on pros/cons of immortality

Answer 22

If immortal then you get to experience a lot more, and eliminate many regrets. Problem is that you will probably experience problems with relationships, since they’re less meaningful.

Question 23

5 Good/Bad attitudes towards different aspects of death

Answer 23

1) Inevitability
2) Universality
3) Variability
4) Unpredictability
5) Ubiquity

Question 24

Scheffler on death and afterlife conjecture

Answer 24

We care a lot about what happens after we die. A lot of the value we have in our lives is based on projects that continue after we die (e.g research)

Question 25

3 Levels of dying

Answer 25

1) Organism dies
2) Human dies (e.g brain dies but heart keeps working)
3) Person dies (dimentia/lost of identity)

Question 26

Cardipulmonary view of death

Answer 26

Death is when heart and lungs stop working

Question 27

Whole brain view on death

Answer 27

When your brain and spinal cord fail irreversibly. This is the status quo view of death

Question 28

Higher brain view on death

Answer 28

Irreversible unconsciousness = death, since you are your consciousness. Problem with testing it though.

Question 29

2 Problems with people on ventilators

Answer 29

1) Expensive for the hospital
2) Makes it hard to harvest their organs

Question 30

UDDA: Uniform determination of death

Answer 30

US Act that defined death to include both whole brain view and cardiopulmonary view

Question 31

Jahi McMath case/ death pluralism

Answer 31

Problem with defining death in multiple ways is that you can choose which version you want.

Question 32

Suicide definition

Answer 32

Voluntary and intentionally killing yourself

Question 33

Rational suicide zone of uncertainty

Answer 33

There is a big zone between rational and irrational suicide, and hard to classify many cases of suicide as either one.

Question 34

Jointed view of assisted dying requirements

Answer 34

Requires
1) Suffering
2) Consent for assisted dying

Question 35

Passive vs active euthanasia

Answer 35

Passive = denial of treatment, active = injecting poison to kill. Common arg is that both are equivalent to each other

Question 36

Oregon model of MAID

Answer 36

Legalized in 1997. Needs:
1) Patient likely to die in 6 months
2) Patient must be an 18+ with capacity
3) Patient must self-administer (i.e take the pills)
4) Physician must agree that patient meets all the criteria above

Note that there’s no suffering condition

Question 37

Netherlands model of MAID

Answer 37

Needs:
1) Voluntary
2) Suffering is lasting and unbearable (this isn’t in the oregon model)
3) No reasonable treatment options, as determined by patient
4) Independent physician agrees with diagnosis

Most notable thing is that Netherlands allows mature minors to have MAID. It’s 12+ with parental consent and 16+ without parental consent, but both require capacity.

Question 38

Canadian model of MAID, and reasoning behind the legalization of MAID

Answer 38

Allowed by supreme court decision. (Carter decision)

Idea is that the right to liberty and security of the person is infringed upon. Also right to life infringed upon bc a ban pushes ppl to go to another country to die there.

Needs:
1) 18 years or older
2) Grevious medical condition (illness that cannot be reversed AND illness causes serious pain AND no tolerable treatment options AND death has to be ‘reasonably foreseeable’)
3) Requested by patient
4) Informed consent via doctors

Question 39

Oregon vs Canadian model

Answer 39

Oregon requires 1) Terminal illness and 2) self-administration and 3) Canadian model requires suffering

Question 40

Carter decision and bill C14, and further progress

Answer 40

Carter decision was the thing that supreme court decision that said MAID must be allowed, and bill C-14 was the legislation for it. It leads into Truchon decision, and then bill C-7

Question 41

Truchon decision for MAID

Answer 41

Occurred after C-14, removed the requirement for “reasonably foreseeable”. This was vague, and brings on suffering for those who aren’t likely to die.

Question 42

3 Models for disabilities, and WHO stance

Answer 42

1) Medical model: It’s your biological/medical condition
2) Social model: It’s the way you are treated by society
3) Welfare model: It’s how much of a decrease in well-being your condition brings (hard to assess though)

WHO says it’s a mix of the medical and social model

Question 43

Disability as a difference (Barne’s view)

Answer 43

Disability is just difference between people, similar to race. No good or bad. This extends the social model.

This is easily refuted though, as some disabilities are just bad.

Question 44

Diane Coleman’s weird opinion on MAID (CEO of not-dead-yet)

Answer 44

MAID is determined by doctors, and she doesn’t like that. Thus she wants to ban MAID for all.

Question 45

Bill C-7 changes to MAID

Answer 45

It allows people who don’t have a “reasonably foreseeable death” to get MAID, and created 2 tracks:

Track 1) For ppl with reasonably foreseeable death
Track 2) For ppl without reasonably foreseeable death (around 3.5% of MAID is via track 2)

Note that C-7 doesn’t support MAID for mental illness though (if mental illness is the only medical condition)

Question 46

MAID in advance (for Canada):

4 requirements for regular MAID and 4 additional requirements for MAID in advance.

Answer 46

MAID already Requires:
1) 18+
2) Grevious/irremdiable medical condition
3) Voluntary request
4) Informed consent

We also need:
5) Two independent medical assessments
6) Written witnessed request
7) Knowledge that patient can withdrawl at any time
8) Provide final consent

Question 47

Mature minors

Answer 47

Ppl who are <18 and have capacity.

Note that almost all medical decisions in Canada is based off capacity, not age (except for MAID).

Question 48

4 Medical capacity requirements

Answer 48

1) Ability to communicate a choice
2) Show understanding of the treatment
3) Appreciate the situation
4) Reason about treatment options

Question 49

MacCAT-T

Answer 49

Tool for assessing patients capacity. Note that this is imperfect, and doctors can often disagree about the diagnosis

Question 50

2 Types of advanced request for MAID

Answer 50

1) Advance directive for MAID anytime in the future, when requirements are fulfilled
2) Advance directive once you have a diagnosis. Prob is that you may not be able to give an advance directive in time (e.g you’re in a coma)

Note that a patient can refuse MAID at any time, even if they lose capacity. Canada’s parliamentary committee recommends type 2.

Question 51

3 Advance request problems

Answer 51

1) Request either too vague or specific
2) Might be based on false info (e.g you think that ventilators give you cancer)
3) We shouldn’t use any advanced directives arguments, such as the person you are in the past isn’t the same one as the person in the present/future.

Question 52

MAID MD-SUMC

Answer 52

MAID MD-SUMC is MAID with mental illness as the only underlying condition. Canada is considering adding MAID-SUMC next year.

Idea is that mental illness can cause intolerable suffering, and may be resistant to treatment. Also note that mental illness does not necessarily affect capacity.

Question 53

2 Rational suicide requirements

Answer 53

1) Life is no longer worth living, as determined by the patient
2) Likelihood of improvement is very low, and this belief is justified.

Question 54

4 Objections to MAID MD-SUMC (most are bad objections)

Answer 54

1) But-for objection: “If he didn’t have depression he wouldn’t have wanted suicide”. Bad objection, bc same logic goes with disabilities

2) Future new treatments objections for mental illness: There might be a cure in the future. But this is unlikely and defeats the purpose of MAID

3) Psychiatry is a mess objection: we don’t understand mental illness, so better not kill ppl

4) Better world objection: Keep ppl alive and suffering to lobby the government to improve mental health services.

Question 55

David Velleman on MAID and dignity

Answer 55

Is against MAID bc it violates the dignity of the person.

He notes that pain means that a person is no longer in a state of rationality, and so you are no longer capable of self-determination. Thus MAID isn’t based on self-determination

Question 56

What is dignity, and what are the 2 requirements for dignity?

Answer 56

Hard to define, but it’s considered the “value in us”, vs well-being which is “for us”.

So for example, you cannot sell yourself into slavery bc of dignity.

Dignity remains so long as you are 1) alive and 2) rational

Question 57

Phillip Nitschke on MAID

Answer 57

Thinks that it’s too restricting to have doctors approval for it. Instead wants to give ppl the ability to kill themselves. He believes that suicide is a fundamental right, whereas in Canada MAID isn’t a fundamental right but rather a privilege granted by medical providers.

Question 58

Swiss MAID model

Answer 58

Legal for any regular person to help a patient die, as long as it’s not malicious

Question 59

Eric Mathison Paper on MAID

Answer 59

Rejects the joint view (requiring both suffering and consent/intent). Eric argues that autonomy is sufficient.

Wants to expand MAID to other ppl without suffering, such as those who wanna donate organs or wanting to die with their spouse.