1. The Basic Value of a Human Being

The Value of Life Without first attempting to define human life—for that could be a long, if not impossible, task—let’s begin by asking: what value do we put on human life? After all, we are all human beings, we are all alive, and what is more, we all have direct personal experience of being alive. We ought, therefore, to be able to decide what value we place on human life; our own of course to start with, yet not merely our own, but other people’s as well. And let’s be clear what exactly we mean by ‘placing value on human life’. We are not asking: how much have we enjoyed living in the past? Or: are we having any rewarding experiences of life in the present? We are asking: what value do we put on human life in and of itself? Is human life, our own or any other person’s, so valuable that it would be wrong to mistreat it or to diminish it in any way or to destroy it? The answer to this question is fundamental to our attitude to other people, and likewise to ourselves. So let’s start with a real-life, practical situation that will bring us at once to the heart of the matter. The Question of Infanticide All of us were newborn babies once, and presumably we are grateful that no one pra...