After reading several articles published by the Immortality Institute, it is certain that their profound goal is to conquer physical immortality and surmounts involuntary death.
This article is adapted from The Scientific Conquest of Death: Some Ethical and Theological Considerations (Brad F. Mellon, 2004). It explores the moral aspect of immortality. In other words, a lucid explanation of both theological and ethical dilemmas must be comprehended while pursuing grand projects such as eternal life.
When speaking about ethical consideration the classic Georgetown principles of modern bio-ethics will be applied. It is known as beneficence, autonomy, non-maleficence & justice. Together with the four interest laid out by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania namely to prevent suicide, preserve life, protect third parties and uphold the integrity of health care facilities will also be addressed.
For theological considerations, current studies have been associated to Judeo-Christian tradition. This includes Christian and Hebrew Scriptures as well as thoughts by theological scholars. Finally, the Delkeskamp-Hayes must be considered to understand that ethics are a primordial element of theology. In reality, ethical dilemmas are commonly embedded into theological issues, and thus they should be considered in communality, instead of in isolation.
Positive Consideration of Ethical and Theological Principles
Human physical immortality has a bunch of ethical and theological principles bundle with its implications. A relationship that exists is that several theological scriptures support life and even eternal life. An extracted example from Ecclesiastes 3:11, God has placed immortality in our hearts (but we are not capable of understanding it). Moreover, wisdom of proverbs 12:28 says that the ‘path’ to salivation lead to eternal life. Even in the Genesis 9:1–6, the holiness of human life is an integral part of God’s covenant agreement with Noah, and ancient writing does even associate life as being sacred and god’s creation (human) in the Imago Dei (in the image of God).
In the Hebrew Scripture, Psalm 139:13–16, a poetic description of life is given to elaborate on the creative doings of God:
“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”
Additional scriptures purport the Institute goal of extensive longevity. This is revealed in Psalm 116, as the author is grateful to God for allowing him to live a bit longer.
In the Christian Scriptures, there is a dozen of text saying the same. Several parts support the idea of upholding and prolonging life. In Matthew 6:25, Jesus says that human life is beyond the value of the resources essential to support it. Pope John Paul II did a reflection which was entitled as the Gospel of Life, and it included sayings by Jesus and much more.
The message is quoted below:
“The Gospel of life is at the heart of Jesus’ message. Lovingly received day after day by the Church, it is to be preached with dauntless fidelity as ‘good news’ to the people of every age and culture…. When he presents the heart of his redemptive mission, Jesus says: ‘I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly’ (John
10:10). In truth, he is referring to that ‘new’ and ‘eternal’ life which consists in communion with the Father, to which every person is freely called in the Son by the power of the Sanctifying Spirit. It is precisely in this ‘life’ that all aspects and stages of human life achieve their full significance….”
The speech continues portraying the “inestimable value” that good has placed on temporary life on earth. Moreover, life is said to be a “sacred reality” which has been delegated to humans, making it our deed to both preserve our lives and those of others.
The far-reaching mission of achieving the demise of involuntary death is coherent with two of the interest established by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. We are referring to the idea of making every-effort in our possibility to avoid premature death, which is, likewise, to Commonwealth interest of preserving life as well as protecting third parties. When referring to “third parties” we are considering individuals who are currently financially dependent on parents, family members or other guardians.
It is easy to comprehend the benefit for dependents as one tries to preserve and extend their physical life. Also, the current ‘culture of death’ is challenged by the Institute’s mission to uphold life.
Moreover, Peter Singer, have given elaborate examples saying that the importance of human should be aligned with other forms of life. He illustrates this by giving examples of animals, saying that a pig or dog can have rationality above a relentless handicapped human infant. He even says that it might be better to offer ‘euthanasia’ to such an infant instead of treatment. According to Singer, the decision should be up to the parents. He believes that it would be ethical to let a rational human decide whether to give a deadly injection or not. As in some cases merciful death is better than an agonized one.
There are many who are in favour of euthanasia or so called assisted suicide for people who are painfully suffering. Jack Kevorkian considers that such measure should already be legal in modern society. He says that arbitrary laws have been established to prevent assisted suicide and euthanasia due to extreme pressure from religious beliefs.
We all know that the intent of euthanasia is to ‘do good’ (beneficence) however, advocates says that it can have some dangerous implications. The Christianity Today, have scrutinized laws in Holland concerning right to die, which is applied for everyone. Even a teenager of 16 years is allowed to die without parental consent. In Germany, the ethical memory of Aktion T4, Hilter’s law of euthanasia is still active. Ostensibly, the Dutch does not remember that Hitler’s effort to perform euthanasia with gas chambers was from 1939 to 1941 tested on disabled and sick children before used for the Jews at Auschwitz and Treblinka. This is one of the major reasons why ‘preventing suicide is incorporated as one of the four interests of Commonwealth Pennsylvania. In other words, the argument for ‘right to die’ must be analysed in connection with the steps taken towards radical life extension. The institute is motivated to prevent purposeful premature death, or rather unlawful annihilation of life (non-maleficence). The institute is against involuntary death but considering voluntary death in the institute’s perspective makes both death and life fundamentally to society.
Negative Consideration of Ethical and Theological Principles
There are several ethical and theological principles that purport the institute’s mission to prolong life. However, some Judeo-Christian traditions do contradict with physical human immortality. For instance, American proverb states that in life, there are only two certainties ‘death and taxes’. This does equally apply to Christian and Hebrew Scriptures, signifying death as a confirmed reality. In all scriptures promoting life, there are some parts associated with death.
Refuting Immortality Mentioned Above
For instance, in the testimony concerning immortality of the human soul, Ecclesiastes 3:11 in the later part of the passage we are confronted with the aging process that leads to the demise of life. Moreover, in Ecclesiastes 12:1–7, Jesus affirms to John 10:10 that eternal life comes only after this one. According to Pope John, the inherited life on earth is drafted in the image of God. As Drane re-assures that from a Christian perspective, human life is considered as being a gift drafted and sculptured in the image of God, being a divine providence and also having our death ordained by God. According to scriptures, how one dies is associated to the divine order of happenings.
In Scriptures Death is portrayed as having positive and negative boundaries associated with divine and human.
The brief description on death provided by Clowney depicts its seriousness:
The brevity of man’s life [stands] in fearful contrast with God’s eternity…. Death’s shadow flies upon us and blots out today’s sunlight with tomorrow’s darkness.
In other words, death is as a reminder to humans that God exists (cf. Acts 17:28), and Barth says that death is the barrier between humankind and God. As the writer of Psalm 116 is grateful for having life extended, he also says that death of God’s people is something valued in God’s view.
In many contexts dying of old age, releases one from agony while having the presence of family and friends. In somehow, death reconciles one with people before departing with God. It can’t be denied that other occurrences do exist such as death at young age from violent accidents. Nevertheless, let’s say that a ‘good death’ does exist, then why should we go beyond this and seek for eternal life. It would be hard to understand the value of prolonging physical life as death (good death) is foregone.
Daniel Callahan as well as James Drane has also valuable contributions to the study of conquering death. As Callahan puts it, death is considered as being evil, in and of itself. The war of survival must be addressed with significance. There is an extreme dilemma with this war for longer lives. This is experienced by doctors who are faced with patients’ in a terminal illness phase; it is hard to understand what is best to do. Should the patient’s wise to die be granted or should modern technology be used to prolong life?
Callahan noted that fear for death does support the idea of prolonging life. However, it does in no way clarify on the meaning of death. It does also not deal with some quality aspect of life as Callahan says that it is not sure whether physical immortality would prevent boredom and assure total freedom. This is where Drane recalls a frequent problem related with aging, which is depression. The fight against numerous diseases has not been solved until now for elders. Forgetting death could extend the problem of depression to a further height. In somehow, if we are able to ignore death for a moment, it can indeed come at an unexpected time.
According to both Drane and Callahan, regardless of the means and method adopted to stop involuntary death, death will still be the final conclusion. Their viewpoint on the war on aging is that some victories might be sealed upon death but people will perpetually continue to decease.
Death is still a questionable possibility. Some refer aging as a disease which can be solved through curing aging diseases such as cancer and cardiovascular problems. We all know that death is neither fixed nor known. If eradicating diseases will help to surmount death than human physical immortality might be a potential outcome.
Conclusion
We can say that the idea of eliminating involuntary death is twofold; it is supported as well as challenged by Judeo-Christian ethical and theology principles. The Holy Scriptures purport eternal life but ostensibly human immortality is not supposed to occur to earthlings. This is why new ethical formulations try to tackle both the issue of understanding the truth of death while trying to preserve life.
References:
1. Brad F. Mellon, Ph.D.(2004) The scientific conquest of Death, Imminst.org
Wed, Aug 18, 2010
Immortality, Longevity