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Organ donation Question

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Wodger

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Sorry i dont know how to quote,

"and donating is the sacrifice of that value (freedom) which might have been restored to me not donating" But this is only correct if preceded by "I argued that if, by refusing to donate ones organs, the government will be persuaded to end the prohibition" and its this premis of your agument that i'm having a problem with. I think it the "If" part.

You would not use that premis without the "if" and If you did retract it, then I could easily disagree with that statement.

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Sorry i dont know how to quote,

"and donating is the sacrifice of that value (freedom) which might have been restored to me not donating" But this is only correct if preceded by "I argued that if, by refusing to donate ones organs, the government will be persuaded to end the prohibition" and its this premis of your agument that i'm having a problem with. I think it the "If" part.

You would not use that premis without the "if" and If you did retract it, then I could easily disagree with that statement.

I'm not sure if I'm following you, but I think you are saying that if (a) there was no reason to believe that refusing to donate organs could cause the government to restore my freedom of choice with respect to the terms of organ transplants, then ( b ) donating my organs would not constitute the sacrifice of my freedom. I agree with that.

However, (a) I do not share the view that such a refusal to donate would put no pressure on the government to allow me to set the terms of my organ distribution (i.e., I think a widespread refusal to donate would pressure the government to allow the sale of organs); and ( b ) quite apart from the wrongfulness of giving up the pursuit of the value freedom, where such trade is illegal, sacrificing the value of ones organs will enable the government to continue providing organs to those who need them. It's right, in other words, to go "on strike" (or, in the parlance of the day, to "Go Galt" with respect to ones own organs).

Edited by Paul McKeever
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Alright, so we just disagree with the premise.

"There are currently approximately 1,731 people on Ontario's waiting lists for organ transplants. It is estimated that in 1999 over 100 Ontarians died waiting for a transplant. All predictions are that the waiting lists will continue to grow, the wait for a transplant will become longer and more people will die waiting if nothing is done to improve organ and tissue donation in our Province. (7) "

http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summa...86-15534050_ITM

Organ shortage as a stratagy is not working.

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Alright, so we just disagree with the premise.

"There are currently approximately 1,731 people on Ontario's waiting lists for organ transplants. It is estimated that in 1999 over 100 Ontarians died waiting for a transplant. All predictions are that the waiting lists will continue to grow, the wait for a transplant will become longer and more people will die waiting if nothing is done to improve organ and tissue donation in our Province. (7) "

http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summa...86-15534050_ITM

Organ shortage as a stratagy is not working.

That's right.

Here's the government's answer to the impracticality of evil (i.e., altruism): http://www.recycleme.org/

"Hey kids, guts are cool, so sacrifice them".

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Two things:

1. Sales of Atlas Shrugged have greatly increased - hence awareness of Objectivism as increased - because, in this crisis, many have done exactly what one person should do: take every opportunity to advocate the ethically correct response and to ethically condemn the cause of the mess.

That's good. But Atlas has been popular before

2. Self-ownership is a false concept. Your body is not your property. Your body is you. A rock does not belong to itself: it is itself. The mind and the body are one: the mind does not own the body.

I do own myself, right? Both mind and body. The mind will be gone when I die. The body won't (not right away). Therefore I can sell parts of myself, such as organs or tissues, or give them away, if I so desire.

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I do own myself, right? Both mind and body. The mind will be gone when I die. The body won't (not right away). Therefore I can sell parts of myself, such as organs or tissues, or give them away, if I so desire.

Well, technically, no. The objection to the concept "self-ownership" isn't about freedom or property. It's about the nature of ownership. Property is a relation. A thing does not have a relationship with itself: it simply is itself. To say: "I own my body" implies that there is an "I" which is not "my body"; ownership - a relation - implies that "I" is not "my body". "Self-ownership" implies a mind ("I") body ("my body") dichotomy.

If you want to keep it clear: rather than speaking of what will be done with "your body" after "you" die, speak of what will happen to the "organs" that will continue to exist after "you" do not.

That said, I do not object per say to a person speaking about "my hands", "my kidneys" etc., because those are references to parts of oneself. The problem arises when the concept of "ownership" is used as "ownership" per say; as property.

Edited by Paul McKeever
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Paul, I don't understand what you are on about. It seems to me you are seeing a philosophical mistake where it doesn't exist.

A person's body is made of parts. There are parts that can be replaced without hurting the person. The body is not a solid whole. We say "my body" so we do not have to say "my heart is mine, my liver is mine" etc.

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