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A critical question for government officials, managers of NGOs, and politicians is how to respond to situations in which large numbers of lives are at risk. Theories in judgment and decision making as well as economics suggest diminishing marginal utility with increasing quantities of goods. In the domain of lifesaving, this form of non-linearity implies decreasing concern for individual lives as the number of affected people increases. In this paper, we show how intuitive valuations based on prosocial emotions can lead to scope insensitivity and suboptimal responses to lives at risk. We present both normative and descriptive models of valuations of lives and discuss the underlying psychological processes as they relate to judgments and decisions made in public policy and by NGOs.

In context of the possibility of aging interventions leading to significant or radical extensions in human lifespan, this thesis seeks primarily to address the question of the value of life’s continuance to persons, as the most fundamental motivating factor behind the project specifically to extend life beyond the classic endogenous maximum span. In so doing, its chief focus will therefore be upon the nature of persons themselves, especially in terms of the structure of personhood as a category of being. Much of the investigation will therefore be of an ontological nature, with the nature of value itself, and the relation of value both to persons in particular, and living organisms and the natural realm in general, being a critical theme. The consideration of the latter cases is necessitated by the requirement to analyse the structure of persons in whole, and especially because the primary positive thesis is that persons are processes which are motivated at base by a conative driver which itself is constitutive of their being at all. The analysis of the nature and function of this primary driver of persons as processes, in context of its relation to their secondary instrumental valuation of themselves, which lies at the core of the thesis will generate the conclusion that life’s continuance constitutes an inalienable value to persons that is profound to the degree that it obtains irrespective even of their own evaluative judgements. This analysis suggests a grounding in the question of the manner in which persons arise from the category of other living organisms in general, and the manner in which these arise from the background matter in the universe. The latter will be analysed and the nature of the conative driver will be asserted to be a physical principle which is a defining condition of living organisms in general. Additionally, the analysis of the category of the natural will constitute a critical theme for other reasons, which involve the reliance by certain commentators in the discourse concerning the ethics of aging intervention and life extension upon assertions as to naturalness, and the ethics of human alteration of or interference with the natural, the sacred, the normal, and the given. These latter will be argued to constitute a cluster concept, which will be analysed and demonstrated largely to be lacking in soundness, validity and real cohesion. Further, common ethical arguments against the wisdom of radical life extension in the personal case will be analysed, and mostly found wanting. The core thesis represents a re-evaluation of the classic liberal concept of persons as selfconscious, autonomous, rational valuing agents. This classic analysis will be shown to be faulty in certain key respects, and a correction will be proposed along the lines mentioned above. The fact that these faulty aspects of the classic liberal position constitute key points of attack for conservative personhood theorists, and that the correction offered by the revised liberal version generates a picture of the stability of the value of persons to themselves (and therefore generally) that at least matches that of the various conservative positions (considered to be their main strength by their proponents), largely neutralises such critiques, as well as removes a key rationale for those opting for the conservative positions in their rejection of the general subjectivist liberal picture of personhood. The conservative conception of value in general, and the value of life and persons in particular is critiqued and found wanting. Aside from being commonly based upon a false conception of naturalness, in which supernatural entities, substances or beings are considered to operate, a significant aspect of the failure of this conservative picture arises from the false conception of persons as substantial in nature, or as substances. Accordingly, a critique of the concept of substance in universal ontology is conducted in the first section of the thesis, which will attempt to demonstrate the ontological primacy of process over substance.

The aim of this thesis is to cover the issue of human dignity and the values of human life of a patient in the intensive care unit. The goal is achieved through a quantitative research, using the data collection technique through questionnaires. The purpose of the research was to determine what areas of human dignity do the patients find hard or problematic. A standardized questionnaire was used for this purpose. Based on theoretical knowledge, a questionnaire of its own design was compiled for the nurses' research group. It focused on the nurses' perception of a patient's dignity and also the value of his or her life during hospitalization in the intensive care unit. This information was quite difficult to determine, which is primarily due to the fact that it deals with topics and opinions which are philosophical, individual and perhaps even personal. The research found that the patients feel a problem only in certain areas that we had investigated in a standardized questionnaire. The patients' evaluation revealed that they do not feel most issues as too much of a problem. The nurses' research group found that the dignity of a patient and the value of his or her life mean something completely individual to each nurse. However, a large number of the nurses said that a patient's dignity is an important aspect, and the value of a patient's life in the intensive care unit is high or even priceless. This thesis could bring the nurses, who work in intensive care units, an incentive to think about the dignity of a patient, the high and untouchable value of his or her life and, last but not least, the individuality of each human being.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Umeå : Umeå universitet, 2007. / Härtill 5 uppsatser.

The Diploma thesis is focused on analysis of widespread theoretical and methodical techniques of government spending effectiveness evaluation. Emphasis is as well put on advantages and disadvantages clarification of particular methods, their mutual relations and on possible result interpretation error sources. In the theoretical part are suggested different modifications of traditional techniques, which extends usage abilities of those methods. Practical application is intentionally demonstrated on problematic healthcare area, since its controversy allows to better display different ways of real analytic tasks solving. The second chapter contains alternative evaluation approach suggestion in form of computer model of human life economic value estimation. Because of mutual synthesis of different methods, text provides to a reader a complex evaluation system with wide spectrum of usability.

Diploma thesis entitled Do you know what a fish will do when it runs up a hill? concerns the topic of industrial fishing. Formally, it is an installation that contains two parts. The first part is an oval object on which are attached mechanical fish, which form a moving flock. Using engines, they interact with each other and the viewer accompanied by the song. The second part includes three separate mechanical fish, which create a direct dialogue with the viewer. The installation is located in a white cube. The result is to give the impression that the fish are alive and, with the help of a human voice, get closer to the viewer. Title Do you know what a fish does when it runs up a hill? based on a child's joke. This sentence is characteristic of the topic, in that it is all nonsense. The fish do not run, do not move on land and do not even talk. An attempt at this joke to humanize fish is quickly over when you know the answer. Just clapping tells us how foreign this different world is.

This dissertation deals with the moral permissibility of abortion. It is argued that abortion is morally justifiable when the pregnancy is a result of rape (but only during the first trimester of pregnancy), when the pregnancy threatens the woman's life or long-term health, or when tests indicate to a high degree of scientific certainty that the foetus will be abnormal to such an extent, so as never to be capable of acquiring any human characteristics other than basic biological properties. Potential is adopted as a suitable criterion by which a being acquires a serious right to life. Rationality is examined closely, but shown to be inadequate since it leads to inconsistencies and does not accord with our general belief and sentiments. It is argued that all living beings have some right to life, but that sentient beings have more moral standing than nonsentient ones. Potential is argued to be the suitable comparison criterion when comparing beings of different species, and sentience when comparing beings of the same species. The dissertation is rights-oriented and reasons are given why this approach was adopted in favour of a virtue-oriented one. It is argued that a rights-oriented approach is more precise. / Philosophy, Practical and Systemic Theology / M.A. (Philosophy)

This diploma thesis deals with the theory of Francisco de Vitoria and his concept of suicide. The first part focuses on the life of the thinker himself and other historical contexts that have influenced his work. In the second part the sources and the basics of his legal theory are solved, taking special account of its rationalistic interpretation. The last part is more practical and focuses on the issue of justifying self-killing in the light of Vitoria's work.

This dissertation deals with the moral permissibility of abortion. It is argued that abortion is morally justifiable when the pregnancy is a result of rape (but only during the first trimester of pregnancy), when the pregnancy threatens the woman's life or long-term health, or when tests indicate to a high degree of scientific certainty that the foetus will be abnormal to such an extent, so as never to be capable of acquiring any human characteristics other than basic biological properties. Potential is adopted as a suitable criterion by which a being acquires a serious right to life. Rationality is examined closely, but shown to be inadequate since it leads to inconsistencies and does not accord with our general belief and sentiments. It is argued that all living beings have some right to life, but that sentient beings have more moral standing than nonsentient ones. Potential is argued to be the suitable comparison criterion when comparing beings of different species, and sentience when comparing beings of the same species. The dissertation is rights-oriented and reasons are given why this approach was adopted in favour of a virtue-oriented one. It is argued that a rights-oriented approach is more precise. / Philosophy, Practical and Systemic Theology / M.A. (Philosophy)