Critical Analysis Of Human Dignity Must Figure In Decisions To Prolong Life

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Tom Harpur, in his 1990 article in the Toronto Star - "Human dignity must figure in decisions to prolong life" - presents numerous arguments in support of his thesis that the use of advanced medical technology to prolong life is often immoral and unethical, and does not take into consideration the wishes of the patient or their human dignity. However, it must be noted that the opening one-third of the article is devoted to a particular "human interest" story which the author uses to illustrate his broader argument, as well as to arouse pity among readers to support his view that human life should not always be prolonged by medical technology. This opening section suggests that a critical analysis of Harpur 's arguments may find widespread use of logical fallacies in support of the article 's thesis. In this essay I will argue that, given how greatly …show more content…

human dignity" to apply pills and tubes to an old woman who is brain-damaged and unconscious? Why should "conscious" or "unconsciousness" even be an issue of concern in this argument? Are doctors not allowed to perform emergency surgery on people who are unconscious, and therefore unable to approve the doctor 's decision. Harpur never proves this view, but only invokes emotionally-charged language to justify it. In the author 's next argument he uses a long illustration in support of a complex argument:
a) The premise of this argument is that "At times it 's simply because of human error" with the conclusions being that "It goes on all the time" and "it 's not easy to stop".
b) The fallacy that Harpur uses here is the fallacy of the complex question. By "assuming the conclusion at issue" this fallacy leads one "to believe that a particular answer to a prior question has been answered in a certain way when this is not the case" (Engel, 167). In this case, Harpur declares that such incidents happen all the time and is not easy to stop, but he has not proven this to be

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