Eye of the Heart : : Knowing the Human Good in the Euthanasia Debate / / William F. Sullivan.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Asian Studies Backlist (2000-2014) eBook Package
• VerfasserIn: Sullivan, William F.,
• Place / Publishing House: Toronto : : University of Toronto Press, , [2016]; ©2005
• Year of Publication: 2016
• Language: English
• Series: Lonergan Studies
• Physical Description: 1 online resource

What is the role of feelings in the euthanasia debate? This is the central question in William F. Sullivan?s unique philosophical and ethical exploration of the issue, Eye of the Heart. Employing the principles and techniques of the great Canadian theologian and thinker Bernard Lonergan, Sullivan offers a concrete examination of the role of feelings in grasping moral values and the key role that feelings play in ethical decision-making. The heart has its reasons, he argues convincingly, and it is a type of reason that bioethicists, philosophers, and legal scholars all need to know.Sullivan draws on his experiences as a practicing physician to analyse the distinguishing elements of human knowing, illustrating them through common examples of decision-making in health care. He highlights the occurrence of various types of insight, particularly ?deliberative insights? that occur in the process of making value judgments. These deliberative insights are affective, and through them, a person apprehends moral values.Eye of the Heart proposes that feelings are relevant to knowing moral values and orient us towards moral self-transcendence. The implications of this stance in ethics are drawn out for the euthanasia debate.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Abbreviated Titles -- Acknowledgments -- Foreword -- INTRODUCTION -- 1. The Euthanasia Debate and the Problem of a Philosophy of Heart: Questions, Context, and Arguments -- PART 1: THE RELEVANCE OF EMOTIONS TO THE EUTHANASIA DEBATE -- 2. Affective Elements of Two End-of-Life Stories and the Euthanasia Debate -- PART 2: HISTORICAL VIEWS ON THE RELEVANCE OF EMOTIONS IN THE MORAL LIFE -- 3. Historical Views on the Relevance and Role of Emotions in the Moral Life -- PART 3: LONERGAN'S VIEW OF THE ROLE OF AFFECT IN EVALUATIONS -- 4. Lonergan on Cognitional Structure: A Phenomenology of Mind -- 5. Lonergan on Cognitional Objectivity: An Epistemology and Metaphysics of Mind -- 6. Lonergan on the Role of Affect in Evaluations: A Phenomenology of Heart -- 7. Lonergan on the Objectivity of Evaluations: An Epistemology and Metaphysics of Heart -- PART 4: RAMIFICATIONS OF LONERGAN'S STANCE ON EVALUATIONS FOR THE EUTHANASIA DEBATE -- 8. A Critical Assessment of Lonergan's Account of the Role of Affect in Evaluations -- 9. Ramifications of Lonergan's Position for the Euthanasia Debate -- 10. Ramifications of Lonergan's Stance on the Eye of the Heart for Philosophy and for the Euthanasia Debate -- Afterword -- Appendix -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index