Herman De Dijn, a Spinoza scholar, an emeritus professor of philosophy at the University of Leuven suggests that the concept of dignity in Belgium has been “reduced to the ability to have certain experiences”.
He suggests that this degradation in the notion of dignity is in part a result of laws framed and protected by a secular humanist tradition regulating healthcare and assisted suicide.
Write a reflective essay evaluating De Dijn’s point of view as reported in New Yorker piece by Rachel Aviv, “The Death Treatment”, in light of the texts we have examined. You may refer to Hobbes, Kant, Simmel, and Waldron, as well as the documentaries on euthanasia in Belgium (End Credits), as well as the presentation of Nilofar Niazi on health care laws in Belgium. Be sure to:
1. Present the philosophical basis (dignity as autonomy) for the Euthanasia Law in Belgium
2. Discuss and critique the view of De Dijn and De Wachter.
3. Present your point of you clearly.
De Wachter:
De Wachter believes that the country’s approach to suicide reflects a crisis of nihilism created by the rapid secularization of Flemish culture in the past thirty years. Euthanasia became a humanist solution to a humanist dilemma. “What is life worth when there is no God?” he said. “What is life worth when I am not successful?” He said that he has repeatedly been confronted by patients who tell him, “I am an autonomous decision-maker. I can decide how long I live. When I think my life is not worth living anymore, I must decide.” He recently approved the euthanasia of a twenty-five-year-old woman with borderline personality disorder who did not “suffer from depression in the psychiatric sense of the word,” he said. “It was more existential; it was impossible for her to have a goal in this life. He said that her parents “came to my office, got on their knees, and begged me, ‘Please, help our daughter to die.”” (“Death Treatment,” The New Yorker, 2015)
De Dijn:
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