Life's Dominion: An Argument About Abortion, Euthanasia, and Individual Freedom

by Ronald Dworkin

Book Overview

Internationally renowned lawyer and philosopher Ronald Dworkin addresses the crucially related acts of abortion and euthanasia in a brilliantly original book that examines their meaning in a nation that prizes both life and individual liberty. From Roe v. Wade to the legal battle over the death of Nancy Cruzan, no issues have opened greater rifts in American society than those of abortion and euthanasia.
At the heart of Life's Dominion...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0679733191
• ISBN13: 9780679733195
• Release Date: June 1994
• Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.2" x 8.1"

Customer Reviews

Not for the Pro-Life crowd.

This book is one of the most amazing and critical inquiries into a socially relevant topic of the 20th century. The arguments are almost flawless, beautifully interwoven with examples, anecdotes and personally relevant stories spanning the whole spectrum of human emotion. This book will not bore you. It will be quite interesting from a humanistic, legal and historical point of view. However, Ronald Dworkin is indeed a liberal philosopher who believes that liberal social policy (in regards to abortion and euthanasia) can coexist with one's belief that life is ever precious. Naturally, conflicting and strict moral belief systems divide conservatives and liberals in regards to such hot-button issues. If you are truly willing to read this book with an open mind, you will not be disappointed and perhaps will become a better and more informed advocate. On the other hand, if you read this book while conceptualizing some circular reasoning debasing Dworkin's every word - in favor of a verse from the bible - this book is certainly not for you!

carefully and closely reasoned investigation

Not light reading or a polemic, but rather a carefully and closely reasoned investigation of how one comes to decisions about matters involving the taking of life, with particular emphasis on doing so under the US Constitution >>>><br> <br>Starting with an in-depth look at the arguments about abortion, Dworkin moves out to wider considerations of euthanasia and suicide. He shows how many of the classic arguments in these areas are actually closer to each other than most participants would think or admit, and then shows where continued dialog and discussion might be useful, without asking either side to compromise basic principles. One of Dworkin's main concerns is to show that a principled interpretation of the constitution should be both a liberal and a conservative mandate. Even in the divisive issue of abortion, principled stand based on the inherent value of life helps both sides:<br> <br><<<<< <br>Of course, if we centered the abortion controversy on the question of whether a fetus is a person with a right to live, then one state's having the right to forbid abortion would not mean that another had the right to require it. But that does follow once we recognize that the constitutional question at stake is whether a state can impose on everyone on official interpretation of the inherent value of life. It would be intolerable for a state to require an abortion to prevent the birth of a deformed child. In the United States, no one doubts that such a requirement would be unconstitutional. But the reason why - because it denies a pregnant woman's right to decide for herself what the sanctity of life requires her to do about her own pregnancy - applies with exactly equal force in the other direction. A state just as seriously insults the dignity of a pregnant woman when it forces her to the opposite choice. That the choice is approved by a majority is no better justification in the one case than in the other. >>>><br> <br>Some further examples demonstrate the depth of his discussions, but can only hint at the fully developed arguments present in the book. <br><<<<<<.. the distinction between the question of what acts or events are in some creature's interests and the question of what acts or events respect the sanctity of that creature's life.<br> <br><<<<<...the appeal to the sanctity of life raises here the same crucial political and constitutional issue that it raises about abortion. Once again the critical question is whether a decent society will choose coercion or responsibility, whether it will seek to impose a collective judgment on matters of the most profound spiritual character on everyone, or whether it will allow and ask its citizens to make the most central, personality-defining judgment about their own lives for themselves. <br> 

An Excellent and Thought-Provoking Book

Amazingly, Dworkin offers a new take on the abortion dispute--and I think a correct one. I don't agree with everything he says, but this book sheds more light on these issues than any other that I have read. I would say that it is the best philosophical book I have read in a long while. Among the many things that I appreciate about this book is that Dworkin along the way also has interesting and insightful things to say about the philosophy of mind, the meaning of life, and the nature of human dignity. If you are at all interested in bio-ethics, the philosophy of the abortion dispute, euthanasia, or the meaning of life--read this book. I plan to re-read it soon.

Good moral introspective

I'm reading this book as part of and Ethics and Health Care course and find Dworkin's argument to be a concise moral overview of the current debate on abortion and euthanasia. He does equal justice to views from the Catholic Church to the Women's movement on aspects of abortion and gives those with a less extensive legal background an easily understandable assessment of important precedents and pending legislation. I found his coverage on other other systems outside of the US to be lacking, but realize this is not the primary focus of his work. For a better analysis of the current acceptability and status of PAS and euthanasia in the Netherlands look for articles by Van der Maas and Angell in JAMA or the NEJM. Overall, Dworkin does justice to a highly controversial issue with adequate research and moral reasoning. An excellant beginner to understanding abortion and euthanasia.

The Search for Intrinsic Value

Dworkin has the right idea in given reason to believe that some things have intrinsic value because our intuitions about certain values cannot be explained with only subjective and instrumental values. However, his idea that creative process is what gives something intrinsic value seems wrong to me. The value of some of the things that Dworkin says have intrinsic value seems to be value that can be explained otherwise. Dworkin claims that the flag has intrinsic value, but its value can be explained by instrumental alone--the U.S. flag serves the purpose of representing a country. However, Dworkin's argument is interesting--the idea he has as to how to arrive at intrinsic value through unexplained intuitions is a good one.