Descriptive and Normative Claims and Suicide Issue - Essay Example

Proponents of suicide believe that the sole authority of one’s life is the person himself and hence he should be allowed to take decisions about whether to continue his life or not. The above argument seems to be a convincing one when we analyze it at a glance. But when we analyze it more deeply we will identify the difficulties associated with such claims. A person who is allowed to terminate his life may have a lot of social and family commitments. He might be a father, a son, or a brother to somebody and he has some moral responsibilities to all these relatives. Moreover, when we analyze this case on religious terms, again we cannot support one’s decision to commit suicide. Life is a precious thing given to the human by the creator and no human so far succeeded in creating an artificial life. Only the creator has the authority to destroy or modify his creations and hence only God has the authority to take our life back as per religious beliefs. So in the normal case, if he commits suicide, it cannot be accepted as a moral or ethical activity.

 At the same time, consider the same person in a pathetic condition, suffering from a lot of pain due to chronic diseases. If he is in a no-hope condition or the doctors have written off his case, (say in a paralyzed condition with a lot of pain and incapable of doing anything without the help of others), he can seek the assistance of a physician to terminate his life (Physician-assisted suicide). In such cases, it cannot be considered a normal suicide. In other words, suicide can be justified if the person was in a no-hope condition with nobody to assist him and the medical science has written off his case.

Moreover, the morality and ethics behind an action depend on a person’s beliefs in some cases. In the above example itself, if the person happens to be a nonbeliever in God or religion, then his decision to seek the help of a physician to terminate his life because of pathetic conditions might be justified.

            In short, a claim or argument can be classified as normative or descriptive based on a detailed analysis alone. In other words, the surface-level analysis will not help a person classify the claims as normative or descriptive.