The Dying Patient Law is very controversial in Israel; there are opinions that the reason for the Law was to prevent the court from making decisions on the subject of end of life according to democratic principles. I ...The Dying Patient Law is very controversial in Israel; there are opinions that the reason for the Law was to prevent the court from making decisions on the subject of end of life according to democratic principles. I decided to do this study because I wanted to know if the legal principles of the Law are democratic as were the court rulings or they are only, or mostly, Jewish principles and meant to prevent a democratic ruling in the courts. The work is a review of the Law and the Dying Patient Committee discussions as well as the chairman＇s writings on the Law, critique articles, and a review of democratic and bioethical principles. In this project, I have seen that the underlying basis of the Dying Patient Law is Jewish principles and not democratic principles, although Israel is a declared democratic state. This law illustrates the problem in Israel being both a democratic and a Jewish state. It raises the question： What can be done to resolve the conflict between the Jewish principles and democratic and/or bioethical principles？展开更多
Hannah Arendt＇s 1963 study ＂Eichmann in Jerusalem＂, based on the former Nazi＇s 1961 trial, broached two highly controversial topics： The first was her theory of the banality of evil--the uncomfortable moral scena...Hannah Arendt＇s 1963 study ＂Eichmann in Jerusalem＂, based on the former Nazi＇s 1961 trial, broached two highly controversial topics： The first was her theory of the banality of evil--the uncomfortable moral scenario that leads ordinary individuals, for the most trivial and arbitrary reasons, to commit heinous atrocities; and the second was her fierce condemnation of Jewish collaboration with the Nazis. This paper argues that the novelist Jonathan Littell＇s critically acclaimed best-seller The Kindly Ones （2010） provocatively revalorizes and builds upon these two aspects of Arendt＇s study： Firstly, it posits her theory of banality as a challenge to the comforting presupposition that terrible evils can only be committed by a minority of monstrous individuals, by suggesting instead that ＂normal＂ readers share the same capacity to commit atrocities as Nazis such as Eichmann. Secondly, the novel nuances Arendt＇s damning indictment of Jewish collaboration by regarding it as the inevitable consequence of the terrible predicament faced by Jews at that time. Finally, the paper concludes with Littell＇s consideration of banality as a phenomenon that not only invites an uncomfortable moral self-analysis, but also legitimises a return to a justice system based on the ancient Greek model.展开更多
文摘The Dying Patient Law is very controversial in Israel; there are opinions that the reason for the Law was to prevent the court from making decisions on the subject of end of life according to democratic principles. I decided to do this study because I wanted to know if the legal principles of the Law are democratic as were the court rulings or they are only, or mostly, Jewish principles and meant to prevent a democratic ruling in the courts. The work is a review of the Law and the Dying Patient Committee discussions as well as the chairman＇s writings on the Law, critique articles, and a review of democratic and bioethical principles. In this project, I have seen that the underlying basis of the Dying Patient Law is Jewish principles and not democratic principles, although Israel is a declared democratic state. This law illustrates the problem in Israel being both a democratic and a Jewish state. It raises the question： What can be done to resolve the conflict between the Jewish principles and democratic and/or bioethical principles？
文摘Hannah Arendt＇s 1963 study ＂Eichmann in Jerusalem＂, based on the former Nazi＇s 1961 trial, broached two highly controversial topics： The first was her theory of the banality of evil--the uncomfortable moral scenario that leads ordinary individuals, for the most trivial and arbitrary reasons, to commit heinous atrocities; and the second was her fierce condemnation of Jewish collaboration with the Nazis. This paper argues that the novelist Jonathan Littell＇s critically acclaimed best-seller The Kindly Ones （2010） provocatively revalorizes and builds upon these two aspects of Arendt＇s study： Firstly, it posits her theory of banality as a challenge to the comforting presupposition that terrible evils can only be committed by a minority of monstrous individuals, by suggesting instead that ＂normal＂ readers share the same capacity to commit atrocities as Nazis such as Eichmann. Secondly, the novel nuances Arendt＇s damning indictment of Jewish collaboration by regarding it as the inevitable consequence of the terrible predicament faced by Jews at that time. Finally, the paper concludes with Littell＇s consideration of banality as a phenomenon that not only invites an uncomfortable moral self-analysis, but also legitimises a return to a justice system based on the ancient Greek model.
