Date of Completion

6-1999

Document Type

Open Access Capstone

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

First Advisor

Arthur Millman

Second Advisor

Lawrence Blum

Abstract

Having transformed traditional ethics, people have empowered themselves and put ethics under their control. An individual's value has become the center of all decision making. where has ethics gone? Why has ethics been fossilized? when an individual desperately needs a litmus test to check his stance, why cannot he re-visit ethics and apply its insights to solving his problems? I wish to believe that there might be a legacy of conventional ethics in the form of universal rules, regardless of time, culture, and context, to be passed on to the next generation. Has God given us life, death, and choice of life? Has God also given us the ability to understand another person's pain? If so, we need to be conscientious about what is an appropriate way to resolve problems along with multi-disciplinary approaches in the postmodern world. How much has ethics tried to adapt current science/technology? Has ethics offered us any appropriate way of dealing with what's right and/or wrong or with alternatives, whenever we are in the midst of complicated problems? when did we begin to omit ethics in our decision making process? Ethics seems not to be the sole value, but it has to compete with other contemporary values. The presently burning issue called euthanasia is everyone's business, one we all have to face. I wonder if death is part of God's purpose for lives or a divine appointment. The conundrum intertwined with euthanasia relates to how to reach a satisfactory end of life backed up by ethics. Critical and Creative Thinking could help us go through the crux of the issue and mold an individual's ethical decision, while maintaining a balance with social justice. My goal in this synthesis paper is two fold: to provide a theoretical description of euthanasia and to prepare English teaching materials for Japanese college students on reading comprehension, by garnering the latest news/research from leading newspapers, periodicals, and the internet, and role play to help exchange views, to share empathy and I hope to create a climate of mutual trust among participants by the time role-play reaches its debriefing session.

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