Jason Chen

Bioethicist at The Ohio State University. Certified health care ethics consultant. Creator of The Philosophy Podcast Hub. Host of The Ethical Frontier podcast.

[Jason Chen @chenphilosophy]

https://t.co/4gAIQUdzcr

[Jason Chen @chenphilosophy]

Reasons why Americans choose assisted death:

90% - loss of autonomy
91% - loss of joy
74% - loss of dignity
65% - loss of bodily control
64% - poor pain control
22% - burden on others
4% - financial reasons

[Jason Chen @chenphilosophy]

@jamesdownar @existentialgoof Do you have a link to the stats? I can't seem to find such large disparities in palliative care recipients in the US.

[Jason Chen @chenphilosophy]

The racial makeup of US patients who choose MAID:

90.3% White
4.0% Asian
3.3% Hispanic
0.5% Black
0.4% Native Americans
0.2% Pacific Islanders

[Jason Chen @chenphilosophy]

@existentialgoof What do you make of these disparities?

[Jason Chen @chenphilosophy]

https://t.co/4gAIQUdzcr

[Jason Chen @chenphilosophy]

Interestingly, according to a survey asking people about their thoughts on MAID, 43% of Asian respondents, 42% of Hispanic respondents, and 34% of Black respondents said they’d consider MAID.

[Jason Chen @chenphilosophy]

@NathanNobis @shspenxer But I think it'll involve other thought experiments to test our intuitions.

My goal is reflective equilibrium.

[Jason Chen @chenphilosophy]

@NathanNobis @shspenxer This example embodies a concern I have when doing philosophy, which is that we're reasoning backwards. We already have our settled intuitions and then try to come up with the best theory to explain them.

Not sure what the best way is to address it. I'm still working on it.

[Jason Chen @chenphilosophy]

@shspenxer @DNLMDY @NathanNobis But aren't we trying to determine what natural kind an individual belongs to? How can we answer that question by looking at what they are?

My question is: what determines the natural kind of x?

Your response is: by what x is and what x does.

But what is x?

[Jason Chen @chenphilosophy]

@parvizbd Would you say the same about the AI image of Trump as Jesus?

[Jason Chen @chenphilosophy]

@shspenxer @NathanNobis @DNLMDY I see. How do we determine the natural kind that an individual belongs to?

[Jason Chen @chenphilosophy]

@shspenxer @NathanNobis I would as well.

Doesn’t that follow that an individual’s nature isn’t determined by its species nature?

[Jason Chen @chenphilosophy]

@shspenxer @NathanNobis Got it.

So what if there were a chimpanzee that had the cognitive capacities comparable to typical humans. Would you say that that chimpanzee had a rational nature despite belonging to that species?

[Jason Chen @chenphilosophy]

@shspenxer @NathanNobis Sorry, I should've said that it seems like you think that since the nature of human beings is rational, every individual human has a rational nature.

[Jason Chen @chenphilosophy]

@shspenxer @NathanNobis Thank you for that clarification.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems like you think the nature of an individual is determined by the species it belongs to. So, since the nature of human beings is rational, every individual human is rational.

Is that correct? And if so, why?

[Jason Chen @chenphilosophy]

@shspenxer @NathanNobis I was asking you.

[Jason Chen @chenphilosophy]

@NathanNobis @shspenxer I believe the conventional view doesn’t make the person-body distinction. So I believe the conventional view is that these people’s bodies are not biologically alive.

[Jason Chen @chenphilosophy]

@NathanNobis @shspenxer Organ harvesting would be in a different context because those people are deemed to be dead, not just permanently unconscious.

That said, many organs come from brain dead people, and there’s debate over whether those people are actually dead.