Customer Reviews

The Value of Life: An Introduction to Medical Ethics

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If you've always wanted to know logically what you know naturally, about the value of life, this is the book to read. Clean and concise.

After reading this utilitarian account of "The Value of Life" don't think that here is an account of the value of life. You would spend your time much more usefully if you managed to find a copy of, "The Elimination of Morality", by Anne Maclean. Harris, the author of this account fails desperately to connect the dots regarding what a conception of morality really consists in. Not particularly surprising, as if you look at his background, and work, he appears anchored to a Utilitarian, Consequentalist interpretation of morality. Although Maclean's book may seem a little difficult at first, since it sets out to show just how confused Harris is by dissecting his logic, should you persevere a little it becomes quite clear that many years ago when originally writing this book Harris started down the wrong path, and continues in his confusion regardless. Causing him to misunderstand completely what Maclean is attempting to show him, and us, in her criticisms of his conception of morality. He published something of an incoherent 'rebuttal' to Maclean in the form of a paper that can be found on the web. It may seem easy to understand what Harris is telling us, but just because something is easy doesn't mean that it is correct. In the present educational climate it would appear that for most students of ethics easy-is-best, hence the new edition of Harris' account. My advice, save your money, or go with Maclean to get some sort of an understanding of how utilitarians manipulate ethical perspective.