Q&A: Human Life
Human Life
Question
Hello Rabbi, I wanted to ask what the value of human life actually is—meaning, when it has no practical expression whatsoever. For example, why keep a person alive in a vegetative state (if we assume there is no chance at all that he will ever return to functioning). I would be glad for an answer from a halakhic perspective, and from a value-based perspective as well.
Also, I would be glad to know whether, in your opinion, there is a difference between positive action and passive omission. Intuitively it seems to me that there is, but logically I do not see any importance whatsoever to his life.
Thank you very much.
Answer
You are assuming that the value of human life is instrumental—that is, that life has value only when it serves purposes outside itself. The accepted assumption is that human life has intrinsic value and not instrumental value. See the final article in Leibowitz's book, Faith, History, and Values.
The difference between passive omission and positive action concerns the question of how much blame rests on me, not the question of what value life has. When I do not save someone, that is not the same as killing him. His life is cut short either way, but I am less guilty (or not guilty). I did not kill him. Something else killed him. I simply did not save him. The prohibition of "do not stand idly by your neighbor's blood" of course forbids that as well, but it is obviously not murder.
Discussion on Answer
You cannot explain a value. An explanation is given in terms of the purpose the thing serves. If I had an explanation for why life has value, that explanation would mean what it is intended for. But that is exactly my claim: that there is no teleological explanation for values.
On the contrary, when an explanation is given for something, it is given in terms of purpose (= value). For example, medicine has value because it saves lives. So medicine is an instrument and life is a value. The value explains the instruments. Therefore, the value itself cannot have an explanation. People are supposed to understand this intuitively.
Is the assumption that they have intrinsic value something that can be explained, or is it simply the basic intuition?