The Purpose of Law

I think people will differ in their opinions on rights that deal with the freedom of choice for an individual basis depending on what they believe the purpose of law is. They may view law as something that should evolve to fit moral or social norms or they may view law as something that should not be made to bend to its citizen’s desires. In other words some may think law is made to adapt to people and other feel that law is or should be above reproach. Personally, I think that law should be treated as if it were clay that needs to be slightly molded in order to meet the needs of an evolving society.

With regard to the last class discussion, I think that euthanasia should be determined by the individual rather than legislature. I think that laws should legalize it because it allows people to die on their terms with dignity. Tyler brought up a good point about how people can take advantage of a law that promotes euthanizing in the same way the Nazis killed the mentally ill and disabled. However I think that it is important to understand that the individual who undergoes the process needs to be fully competent at some point to agree to it. In other cases where the parents or guardians chose to do this, they follow through because their child is incapable of any cognitive function and what made them who they are is already lost. I don’t think it is fair to compare this to what the Nazis did; their purpose was to “better” the human race by eliminating those that did not fit into their ideals. To legalize euthanizing would not equate the two situations.