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

Dworkin, Ronald

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0394589416 ISBN 13: 9780394589411

Publisher: Knopf, 1993

Synopsis

One of the country's most distinguished scholars presents a brilliantly original approach to the twin dilemmas of abortion and euthanasia, showing why they arouse such volcanic controversy and how we as a society can reconcile our values of life and individual liberty.


From the Trade Paperback edition.

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ountry's most distinguished scholars presents a brilliantly original approach to the twin dilemmas of abortion and euthanasia, showing why they arouse such volcanic controversy and how we as a society can reconcile our values of life and individual liberty.<br><br><br><i>From the Trade Paperback edition.</i>

Reviews

Dworkin's landmark philosophical essay brings a new dimension to future debate about abortion and euthanasia. The conventional view of the abortion controversy hinges on whether a fetus is a helpless, unborn child with rights and interests of its own. Yet many people who oppose abortion, claims Dworkin ( Taking Rights Seriously ), actually do so for a very different underlying reason--their view that human life, in any form, has intrinsic, sacred value. To this New York University law professor, the critical question in Roe v. Wade is whether state legislatures have the constitutional power to decide which intrinsic values all citizens must respect. He defends a woman's right to free choice as a necessary implication of the religious freedom guaranteed by the First Amendment. As for euthanasia, the key issue, he argues, is whether a free society will seek to impose its collective judgment on individuals, or instead allow them to make the most profound spiritual judgments about their own lives for themselves.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

An eloquent attempt to clarify the abortion and euthanasia debates by seeking to articulate and analyze the unspoken assumptions underlying them. To Dworkin (Law/NYU and Jurisprudence/Oxford; A Matter of Principle, 1985), the view of many antiabortion proponents--that a fetus is ``a helpless unborn child with rights and interests of its own from the moment of conception''--is absurd and untenable. Dworkin goes further: He argues that ``very few people...actually believe that, whatever they say.'' Instead, he contends that most people who oppose abortion do so not because they view a fetus as a person but because they believe that a human life has a ``sacred'' quality when its biological life begins. The author uses this distinction to explain the contradictory feelings (as reflected in polls) that many have about abortion: Most people, Dworkin reports, feel that although abortion is sometimes justifiable, it's ``a kind of cosmic shame when human life at any stage is deliberately extinguished.'' The author expands this insight into a wide-ranging constitutional argument: ``that because opinions about abortion rest on differing interpretations of a shared belief in the sanctity of human life, they are themselves essentially religious beliefs.'' Thus, he argues, prohibitions of abortion amount to an unconstitutional establishment of religion. This dovetails with his rejection of the ``originalism'' espoused by conservative legal scholars: Dworkin argues that the Bill of Rights was intended not as a rigid system of limited rules but as an invitation to reinterpretation by successive generation of judges. The author also applies his analysis to euthanasia in cases of terminal illness and debilitating disease, arguing--without resolving the issues presented--that each person's particular reasons for living will determine his or her point of view on this question. Dworkin won't convince ``pro-lifers'' or advocates of strict constitutional construction. Nonetheless: an original contribution to the abortion debate, as well as a stimulating discussion of our contradictory feelings about the meaning of human life. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Today's debate over the proper place of abortion in an ethically committed society has proven every bit as divisive as was slavery in 19th-century America. Dworkin, an eminent lawyer and legal philosopher, believes that a new way of examining the central issue is now required. He argues that the key question to be resolved is how far society can go to impose a single official view upon personally held convictions of the inherent value of all life. Dworkin's analysis requires that the abstract moral principles set out in the U.S. Constitution be interpreted to insure equal concern for the dignity of all human life, and he analyzes other issues, such as euthanasia, in the same framework. Continuing the examination of moral issues raised earlier in Dworkin's A Matter of Principle (Harvard Univ. Pr., 1985), his new book can be favorably compared with other recent works about abortion such as Lawrence Tribe's Abortion : A Clash of Absolutes ( LJ 2/1/91) or Roger Rosenblatt's Life Itself ( LJ 3/15/92). While a difficult book, it is also an important one that should be read by as many concerned readers as possible. Highly recommended.
- Jerry E. Stephens, U.S. Court of Appeals Lib., Oklahoma City
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Knopf
• Publication date: 1993
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0394589416
• ISBN 13: 9780394589411
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 273