Why we should not legalize euthanasia. The foundational ethical principle obliging us to protect life must be translated into a concrete norm.
The euthanasia debate is really the backdrop for a discussion within our society about the very nature of human life and meaning. Because the origin of life is in God, human beings do not have dominion over life but are stewards of life. The powerful combination of sanctity and stewardship is expressed in the foundational ethical principle. This principle says that no person has the right to directly take innocent human life and in fact there is a positive obligation to nurture and protect life. In our secular society there is a need to develop a "natural" metaphysic of sacredness. Such a metaphysic can serve as bedrock from which a foundational principle can be developed and then applied in concrete moral norms. It can show that life contributes to the full dignity of the human person. For this perspective to be effective in countering the movement to legalize euthanasia, this sense of integral wholeness of human personhood must be demonstrated in a convincing manner. It can be because a dualistic philosophical bias has been found wanting by Western culture. We must arrive at what ethicists would call concrete norms that guide individual choices. At issue is how we translate our foundational principle--Do not directly attack innocent human life--into a concrete norm when confronted with the possibility of death. Some persons question whether the concrete norm opposing euthanasia should be a matter of public morality. To answer this question, we must turn to our foundational principle.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)