Friday, February 14, 2020

Euthanasia Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Euthanasia - Term Paper Example The American Medical Association holds that active euthanasia is impermissible due to its involving the intentional ending of human life by another human being and many contemporary philosophers have argued for and against this view discussing the moral permissibility of such an action and some of the most notable arguments come from James Rachels and Thomas Sullivan. Rachels states that a strong case can be made against the American Medical Association’s doctrine and his main point is that passive euthanasia is not always preferable to active euthanasia. He states that in some cases, there is simply no moral difference between active and passive euthanasia because they are morally equivalent at that time and that active euthanasia may actually be better than passive euthanasia. He says that once the decision has been made not to prolong the patient’s agony, active euthanasia would be preferable because the latter would lead to an unnecessary period of suffering. His mo st vivid example is the case of severe Down’s syndrome babies born with intestinal obstructions about whom he states that sometimes in such cases, the babies are allowed to die. Even though if this matter were considered deeply, we would find compelling moral grounds for preferring active euthanasia to passive euthanasia in the vastly greater degree of suffering involved in letting the baby die (Rachel pp.78-80). The doctrine that passive euthanasia is preferable to active euthanasia is challenged by Rachels who declares that it leads to decisions concerning life and death based on irrelevant grounds as to whether a person’s life should continue or not. He argues that ordinarily, an intestinal obstruction can be fixed and is not a life or death matter but in the case of a baby with Down’s syndrome who has an intestinal obstruction, the baby is allowed to die because of the Down’s syndrome and not the intestinal obstruction. The presence of the intestinal obstruction in the baby becomes irrelevant due to its having down’s syndrome and it is this argument which justifies allowing the prolonged suffering of the baby before it dies instead of fixing the intestinal obstruction which would relieve it of the pain. This justifies Rachels’ argument against the American Medical Association’s doctrine that this doctrine rests on a distinction between killing and letting die that itself has no moral importance because they both lead to the same end and the means of getting there is inconsequential (Rachel pp.78-80). Sullivan, on the other hand, states that Rachels’ interpretation of the American Medical Association’s doctrine is flawed and argues that Rachels’ interpretation that this doctrine draws a distinction between killing and letting die is misplaced and that in fact, it does not draw a distinction between intentionally killing and not intentionally killing. Despite his disagreement with Rachels on this matter, he agrees with Rachels that killing is not always worse than letting die. He states that it is true that if someone is trying to bring about the death of another, then it makes little difference from the moral point of view if his purpose is achieved by action or by malevolent emission. He further agrees with Rachels that passive euth

Saturday, February 1, 2020

Roman Architecture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

Roman Architecture - Essay Example It could hold 45-50,000 spectators who would queue for tickets days in advance. There would have been a wooden floor covered in sand to soak up the blood (Augent 25). The underground corridors of the Colosseum The arena floor measured 228 feet by 177 feet (crystalinks 3). A wooden construction had existed from the year 29 BC but it was burnt down in the fire of 64 AD (Caggia 1). Nero had not been interested in listening to the demands of his people and following the fire he built a huge palatial palace, known as the Golden House (Domus Aurea), on large expanses of Roman land. After Nero's death Vespasian wanted to offer the Roman people a gesture and set about draining a large lake near the site of Nero's palace and knocking down the great Golden House for its rich source of materials for the amphitheater (Caggia 1). It is understood by historians that the name Colosseum actually referred to the 'collosus', (crystalinks 2) due to a huge statue of Nero that once stood nearby which was 130 foot high (crystalinks 2). A Spectators view of the arena The class system was used to determine the seating arrangements of the audience. The 'first level, called the podium, was for the Roman senators' (crystalinks 3) and the seating would have been quite lavish with cushions and marble coverings. Above this on the 'maenianum primum' (crystalinks 3) there would have been Roman aristocracy and then above them the 'maenianum secundum' (crystalinks 3) was split into two separate areas; the wealthy people in the lower section and the poor citizens on the upper section. Domitian had a further wooden section added at the highest position for the very poor and lower class women (crystalinks 3). The entrance would have been on the... Exterior walls of the Colosseum showing the many arches within the Construction Concrete were a good material to use, as it is stronger in resisting compressive stresses whereas it is very weak when dealing with tensile stress. Spanning an open space or doorway, where forces on the arch are not vertical would provide the most suitable circumstance to use an arch, as it would be at its strongest. The correct formwork had to be used to ensure that the structure would remain intact. Wood was built in a frame to support the underside of the arch and form its basic structure. The Romans used a ‘Voussoirs’ technique, which involved the placing of a stone at the uppermost point of the center of the arch. It was understood that they learnt this technique from the Etruscans; however, they were the first to adopt the structures for above ground use as previously they had been used for drainage systems and vaults underground. The technique was not the strongest of the arch types, however, it was simple for them to build. There were eighty arches on every floor of the building; each of the arches was numbered and divided by half columns of a different style on each floor. There was a Doric style on the ground floor where the arches measured 13’9’’ in width and 23’1’’ in height, followed by Ionic on the second and Corinthian in the third where the arches were lower at 21’2’’ in height. The upper wooden flo or had windows with panels separated by Corinthian style columns at every second panel.