Animal Rights: A Very Short Introduction by David DeGrazia

Author:David DeGrazia
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Published: 2002-05-09T04:00:00+00:00

Is death a harm?

Death is distinct from dying. Dying, a process involving a still-living individual, typically involves suffering, especially if the dying process is protracted. Suffering that may occur in dying is one reason to fear our own demise. But death itself precludes suffering along with all other experiences. It has no effect on experiential well-being except to end it. Is death a harm?

Our common-sense judgements suggest that death ordinarily harms human beings (at least postnatal human beings, foetuses being a controversial case). Perhaps death does not harm one who has lived very fully for ninety-five years. Surely death does not harm those who suffer pain they cannot bear, with no prospect for an improved quality of life. But ordinarily, we think, death harms the human being who dies, helping to explain why murder is such an atrocious crime. But why is death a harm in the case of human beings? And what does the answer imply about animals?

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