Slippery Slope”: a Vattimian Analysis of the Sanctity of Life Ethos in Canada (1972–2005)
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Of Stewardship, Suffering and the “Slippery Slope”: A Vattimian Analysis of the Sanctity of Life Ethos in Canada (1972–2005) Stuart Chambers Thesis Directors: Dr. Peter F. Beyer and Dr. Theodore De Bruyn Degree Sought: Doctorate in Philosophy in Religious Studies Department of Classics and Religious Studies Faculty of Arts University of Ottawa © Stuart Chambers, Ottawa, Canada, 2011 2 For Lynn and Alexander “The complexity of the moral phenomena always outruns our ability to capture them in general norms.” (Henry Richardson) 3 Abstract This dissertation examines from a Vattimian perspective the challenge that euthanasia and assisted suicide posed to the sanctity of life ethos in Canada from 1972– 2005. Gianni Vattimo’s central themes—metaphysics (absolute values), “event of being” (lived experiences that call absolute values into question), and passive-reactive nihilism (the use of “masks” or “disguises” to prevent the dissolution of metaphysics)—are pivotal to understanding the way religious and secular beliefs are interwoven within ethical, medical, legal and political discourses in Canada. Vattimo’s philosophico-ethical approach was specifically chosen because as a theoretical tool, it helps to illuminate the presence, weakening, and resilience of metaphysics in discourses surrounding an intentionally hastened death. To demonstrate how Vattimo’s major themes apply empirically to the research, a social constructionist approach was adopted in the form of a discourse analysis. Particular emphasis was placed on an examination of the three most important cases of death and dying in Canada, namely, Nancy B., Sue Rodriguez and Robert Latimer. The bulk of the evidence suggests that when these “events of being” challenged the sanctity doctrine as the ultimate foundation for life-terminating decisions, ethical, medical, legal and political discourses converged to promote three normative positions or authorizing discourses used in the tradition of Christian ethics: (1) stewardship—the view that since life is a “loan from God,” sacred, and of infinite worth, death cannot be intentionally hastened (“nature must take its course”); (2) value in prolonged suffering—the view that since suffering possesses transcendent meaning or purpose, its prolongation is justified in 4 individual circumstances; and (3) the “slippery slope”—the view that any weakening of the sanctity of life ethos inevitably harms or threatens the community. Generally speaking, religious and secular advocates of the sanctity of life ethos reacted similarly in cases involving an intentionally hastened death. In other words, both the religious and the secular embraced metaphysics (absolute values), condoned and rationalized the prolongation of suffering, and relied on the “slippery slope” as a “mask” to maintain the sanctity of human life as first principle. The research strongly suggests that Canada is still significantly indebted to Christian notions when it comes to discussions surrounding the decriminalization of euthanasia and assisted suicide. Keywords: sanctity of life ethos, quality of life ethos, euthanasia, assisted suicide, stewardship, suffering, "slippery slope," metaphysics, "event of being," passive-reactive nihilism, Nancy B., Sue Rodriguez, Robert Latimer, religious attitudes, Christian, metaphysicians, Vattimian postmodernists. 5 Contents Acknowledgements 7 Introduction 8 Statement of Purpose 8 Method 17 Personal Bias 19 Previous Work in the Field 21 Contribution to Knowledge 26 Interested Parties 27 Chapter Summaries 34 Chapter I: The Vattimian Perspective 40 Vattimo: The Personal is Political 40 Vattimo’s Central Themes 43 Applying Vattimo to the Dissertation 58 Chapter II: Global Trends and the “Eventuation of Being” 64 The American Context 65 i) Redefining Death 65 ii) Karen Ann Quinlan: “Passive” Euthanasia on Trial 67 iii) Nancy Cruzan: Acts of Omission in Flux 73 Britain: Anthony Bland and Quality of Life Considerations 80 Canada: The Qualified Sanctity of Life Ethos Prevails 84 Holland’s Gradualism 91 Australia: A Brief Encounter with the Quality of Life Ethos 96 Switzerland: Pushing the Boundaries 99 Germany’s “Free Death” 102 Japanese Ambivalence 105 Concluding Remarks 110 Chapter III: Ethical and Religious Discourses in Canada 112 The Religious as Metaphysicians 113 Religious Exceptions 129 Metaphysics Interwoven in Secular Discourse 131 Vattimian Postmodernists 142 Metaphysical “Traces” in Quality of Life Discourse 148 Chapter IV: Medicine’s Rejection of Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide 151 The CMA Code of Ethics: A History of “Eventuation” 153 Holland’s “Slippery Slope” and the Nazi Analogue 161 The Omission / Commission Moral Distinction 172 Hospice / Palliative Care Workers: The Metaphysical / Postmodern Divide 178 6 Metaphysicians in Hospice / Palliative Care 178 Vattimian Postmodernists in Hospice / Palliative Care 193 Health Care Representatives as Metaphysicians 196 Health Care Representatives as Vattimian Postmodernists 206 Chapter V: The “Weakening” of the Sanctity of Life Ethos in Law 214 Metaphysics and the Law Reform Commission of Canada 215 Sue Rodriguez and the Weakening of Metaphysics 221 i) The Metaphysical / Postmodern Divide in the Courts 226 ii) Facta of the Interveners: Religious Opposition 241 iii) Secular Opposition and “Civil Rights” Discourse 245 iv) Interveners as Vattimian Postmodernists 248 Tracy Latimer, Suffering, and the Sanctity of Life Ethos 253 i) The Interveners: Religious Organizations 263 ii) The Interveners: Secular Organizations 266 iii) “Civil Rights” Discourse 268 iv) Vattimian Postmodernists 271 v) Metaphysics Maintained in the Latimer Affair 272 Chapter VI: Political Discourse in Canada 276 Robert Wenman and the Qualified Sanctity of Life Ethos 277 Chris Axworthy and the Quality of Life Ethos 284 Ian Waddell, Raymond Skelly, and the Continuing Postmodern Trend 288 Svend Robinson and the Aftermath of the Rodriguez Case 314 The Metaphysical / Postmodern Divide of the 21st Century 329 Chapter VII: Interrogating the Discourse: The “Slippery Slope” as a Form 336 of Passive-Reactive Nihilism The Dutch “Slippery Slope” Unmasked 337 The “Slippery Slope” from the Dutch Viewpoint 343 “Behind the Mask”: How Religion Shapes Attitudes toward Prohibition 352 “Masking” Causation: Nancy B. and Absolute Moral Distinctions 356 Conclusion 368 An Overview of the Vattimian Perspective 368 Limitations, Challenges, and the Promise of the Vattimian Perspective 394 Appendix 400 Works Cited 401 7 Acknowledgements First and foremost, I would like to thank my supervisors, Peter Beyer and Theodore DeBruyn, for their unwavering support and faith in my project. Their patience, guidance, and sense of excellence allowed me to bring it to its final form. I would also like to thank the following people for their unconditional support throughout this process: Leslie Armour, Lori G. Beaman, Glen Choi, Theresa Corneau, Lynn Chambers, Don Dawson, Ian Dowbiggin, Jocelyn Downie, Michel Gardaz, Tom Goodale, Marie-Françoise Guédon, Michael Hutton, Michael J. Hyde, Jane Karchmar, Eike-Henner W. Kluge, Dr. Larry Librach, Dr. Timothy E. Quill, Heather Shipley, Peter Singer, Steve Tomlins, Ann Vallely, Leo Van Arragon, and John R. Williams. Finally, I would like to give special thanks to Dr. J. Brian Scott, whose mentorship over nearly a quarter century speaks to the “life-giving gift of acknowledgement.” 8 Introduction Statement of Purpose Upon reading After Christianity (2002) and Nihilism and Emancipation (2003), I was inspired by the philosophical ethics of Gianni Vattimo. It was particularly his nihilistic approach—“the history of how objective truth gradually dissolves”1—that helped illuminate the relationship between religious (metaphysical) positions and the issue of death and dying in Canada, specifically the controversy surrounding euthanasia and assisted suicide. Moreover, his central themes—metaphysics (supreme values), “event of being” (lived experiences that call absolute values into question), and passive- reactive nihilism (the use of “masks” or “disguises” to prevent the dissolution of metaphysics)—are pivotal to understanding the way secular and religious beliefs are interwoven in ethical, medical, legal, and political discourses in Canada. As Vattimo notes, “A secularized culture is not one that has simply left religious elements of its tradition behind, but one that continues to live them as traces, as hidden and distorted models that are nonetheless profoundly present.”2 For the purposes of this dissertation, Vattimo’s theoretical perspective provides a suitable framework in which to analyze the prohibition against the intentional hastening of death because it demands an overview of first principles, an observation of their potential weakening, and a resolution in terms of either the “death of God” (death of absolutes) or the perpetuation of metaphysics. Since I am using Vattimo’s central themes as the core of my analysis, specific forms of rhetoric 1 Gianni Vattimo with Piergiorgio Paterlini, Not Being God: A Collaborative Biography, translated by William McCuaig (New York: Columbia University Press, 2009), 24. 2 Gianni Vattimo, The Transparent Society (Malden, Massachusetts: Polity Press, 1992), 42. 9 will undoubtedly become more accentuated than others in order to disclose the function of metaphysics in contemporary discourse. This dissertation examines from a Vattimian perspective the challenge that euthanasia and assisted suicide posed to the sanctity of life ethos in Canada from 1972– 2005. I contend that “traces”