ETHICS |
Chapter 6. Teleological Theories : Utilitarianism |
Section 8. Example: Christopher Reeve |
BreakPoint with Charles
Colson
Commentary #020313 - 03/13/2002
Superman and Utilitarianism: Kindly Ignoring the Argument
In 1995, Christopher Reeve tragically injured his
spinal cord in a riding accident. The actor, who once
portrayed Superman, is a quadriplegic. His life is
now entirely dependent. Not only is Reeve unable to
eat or wash or dress by himself, he can't even
breathe by himself requiring technology and constant
supervision to stay alive.
Reeve wants to walk again. Stem cells torn from
cloned embryonic humans, he believes, will heal his
spine. And so Christopher Reeve has become a vocal
advocate of cloning and stem cell research.
On March 5, Reeve testified at the U.S. Senate.
Echoing Jeremy Bentham, he made a thoroughly
utilitarian argument in favor of cloning and
embryonic stem cell research. Reeve said, "Our
government is supposed to serve the greatest good for
the greatest number." This is, at best, a naive and,
at worst, a dangerous argument coming from a man in a
wheelchair.
Jonathan Imbody, of the Christian Medical
Association, pointed this out in a letter to the
WASHINGTON TIMES. Imbody wrote, "Sadly, Mr. Reeve did
not seem to grasp the grim irony that severely
disabled individuals like him would hardly fare well
in the utilitarian calculus of anticipated benefit
for the most people. Spending limited healthcare
resources on intensive and expensive therapies to
benefit a few would simply never pass the test. If
public policy truly were reduced to 'the greatest
good for the greatest number,' racism and
exploitation would flourish, eugenics would rule, and
the fittest and favored would be released once and
for all from the burden of 'useless eaters.'"
Sound cold and calculating? It is! In
utilitarianism
cold calculations determine life and death. And if
this were the utilitarian society Mr. Reeve
advocates, he wouldn't be here to make his arguments.
He would have been taken off life support, and the
millions spent to sustain him would have helped
thousands of other people with a better chance of
being cured. And if money is to be used for the
greatest number of people, medical help wouldn't go
to people with spinal cord injuries; it would go to
the millions with cancer.
Thankfully we don't live in that kind of
utilitarian
society. We live in one that still retains the
dignity of life assured in the Christian worldview.
As Richard Doerflinger of the U.S. Council of
Catholic Bishops puts it, "Our government is not
supposed to serve the greatest good for the greatest
number. Totalitarian governments are supposed to do
that. Our government is supposed to protect the
vulnerable INDIVIDUAL from the rich and powerful who
may find it expedient to forget his or her dignity."
So when your neighbors talk about all the
emotional
arguments by Reeve and others made for embryonic stem
cell research, you can explain the irony -- that the
people making these arguments wouldn't be around to
make them, if we embrace the worldview they advocate,
which cheapens human life. The funny thing about the
secular worldview, as Mr. Reeve makes plain, is that
the people advocating it can't live by it.
Take Action:
Urge your senator to cosponsor the
Brownback-Landrieu
total cloning ban, S. 1899. Call the Capitol Switchboard at
202-224-3121 to connect to your state's Senators' offices.
For further reading and information:
Visit the Council for Biotechnology website
http://www.biotechpolicy.com. To receive the
Biotech Policy Update e-newsletter, send your request
to biotech@wilberforce.org>.
"Bioethics in the New Century Resource Kit"
http://www.pfmonline.net/products.taf?_function=detail&Site=BPT&Item_Co
de=BNCRK
Lynne M. Thompson, "Those
Who Would Be King: The
Perils of Man-Made Ethics," PHYSICIAN MAGAZINE,
March/April 2002.
http://www.fotf.org/physmag/issues/a0019824.html
Jonathan Imbody, "Utilitarianism is not 'the
American
way,'" Letter-to-the-Editor, WASHINGTON TIMES, 8
March 2002.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/op-ed/20020308-29655056.htm
Christopher Reeve's testimony can be read here
http://www.senate.gov/%7Elabor/Hearings-2002/mar2002/030502wit/reeve.pdf
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© Copyright Stephen O Sullivan and Philip A. Pecorino 2002. All Rights reserved.
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