Sermonis de Euthanasia

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S

ermonis de euthanasia

A Collection of Studies on Euthanasia

* O colecţie de studii despre eutanasie

Edited by Viorel GULICIUC Sorin Tudor MAXIM Yolanda Angulo PARRA

JATEPress 2014

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AUTHORS Diab AL BADAYNEH Simona BRATU Marius CUCU Ana-Maria GAJDO Ștefan GROSU Gabriel HASMAȚUCHI Adriana Mihaela MACSUT Kuruvilla PANDIKATTU Vladimir PETERCĂ Maria SINACI Claudia TOGĂNEL EDITORS Viorel GULICIUC Sorin Tudor MAXIM Yolanda Angulo PARRA Preface by Sorin Tudor Maxim Postface by Yolanda Angulo Parra The book is under the patronage of the Group of Reading Limits of Knowledge, Bucharest, Romania; IBN Khaldun Center For Research & Studies, Amman- Jordan; the Romanian Society for Philosophy Engineering & Technoethics, Suceava – Romania. ISBN 978 963 315 © Authors, 2014 © JATEPress, 2014

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Content Preface SORIN TUDOR MAXIM: Euthanasia as an Ethical Dilemma.................................. 6 About the Authors............................................................................................................. 8 DIAB ALBADAYNEH: Euthanasia: A Criminological Perspective..................... 16 SIMONA BRATU: Spiritual Dilemmas in Emergency Medicine........................ 27 MARIUS CUCU: On the Heights of Despair and the Inauguration of Cioran’s Nihilism…………………………………………………………………………. 31 ANA-MARIA GAJDO: Euthanasia – Compassion, Social Responsibility and Playing God……………………………………………………………………………..... 37 ȘTEFAN GROSU: Creatio ex nihilo.................................................................................. 41 GABRIEL HASMAȚUCHI: Euthanasia and its significance in Romanian daily newspapers…………………………………………………………………………………….. 47 ADRIANA MIHAELA MACSUT: About Suffering and its Limit………………….…. 58 KURUVILLA PANDIKATU: The Challenge of Euthanasia......................................... 64 VLADIMIR PETERCĂ: Euthanasia or the Administered Death by Others…. 68 MARIA SINACI: Euthanasia as a Right?...................................................................... 71 CLAUDIA TOGĂNEL: The Euthanasia is not an Easy Dead................................... 77 Postface YOLANDA ANGULO PARRA: Euthanasia as a Philosophical Concept………….. 80

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Preface Euthanasia as an Ethical Dilemma Professor PHD Sorin Tudor Maxim, Stefan cel Mare University, Suceava Science goes forward through unfaithful disciples. It is a thought which circulates for a while in the academia and is meant to emphasize the idea that progress in knowledge is not necessarily due to faithful disciples; they can fix history in the personality of the mentor or a the value of a school of thinking and it’s not less worthy. But new openings, both in theory and in practice, are the result of the critical and creative thinking of those who dare to ask original questions and seek original solutions. These thoughts came after reading the work contained in this volume, which indicate difficult ethical dilemmas related to understanding euthanasia and its controversial consequences of accepting the phenomenon nowadays. From suffering and compassion to administered death, from subjective interpretation to the justified claim for objectivity, analyzing the phenomenon from the criminological, ethical, theological, anthropological, legal, medical or simply humanitarian perspective, euthanasia occurs sometimes as a challenge / solution or act of social responsibility, other times an evil and an offense to the values of humanism. The answers are not easy, may not be definitive, but the themes and the efforts of argumentation of the views presented in various perspectives, invite to meditation and generate ucronia. Serious philosophical problems arise right starting with the Kantian question: has man the right to dispose of his own life and, even more, can some people decide upon the lives of others? The ethical support – in terms of good or bad – of euthanasia can be justified in the first case by the respect for individual autonomy, and in the second case by compassion for the Other, our neighbor, who suffers from an incurable disease. If we relate to the defense of euthanasia in terms of morality, brought to our attention by many contemporary philosophers, it seems that some forms of euthanasia enjoys significant support, even though, in total disagreement, the official position of religion remains unchanged.

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Between the extreme positions of accepting euthanasia or not, there are solutions that can be identified – fruit of constructive dialogues and understanding the phenomenon in its historical development – as this volume demonstrates it. A special remark, which increases the value of the volume and brings more interest to the informed reader (or even less informed) is about cultural diversity of specializations and ethnic-religious membership of the authors. Remarkable personalities, with an extensive academic experience, from several continents (Diab Al Badayneh, Kuruvilla Pandikattu, Vladimir Petercă, Simona Bratu) specialists with initiatives and results in the field (Ștefan Grosu, Adriana Mihaela Macsut, Mari Sinaci, Gabriel Hasmațuchi, Marius Cucu) or young researchers (Ana-Maria Gajdo, Claudia Togănel) have joined their efforts to give us a radiography – summary of interests, difficulties of interpretation, dilemmas and possible solutions of the problem brought to analysis of euthanasia in the contemporary world.

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About the Authors PROFESSOR DR. DIAB AL-BADAYNEH graduated Master in Psychology (1985) and Faculty of Psychology/ Sociology at Jordan University (1979). He holds a PhD degree in Applied sociology (criminology, applied social research, evaluation), formal organizations and Social Statistics (Western Michigan University, USA, 1990). He has taught at Mutah University (Jordan), Police Academy (Jordan), Finance college (Jordan), Naif Arab University for Security Sciences, King Saud University (where he teaches courses on Social Statistics, Criminological theory, Research Methods, Advanced Statistical Methods, Advanced Computer Applications in Criminology, Informational Warfare, Statistical Analysis Using Computer Applications). He participated at Post PD Summer School of Institute in Governance, Public policy and civil society at University of Castilla, La Mancha, Toledo, Spain (2002). He is a professor of Sociology at Mutah University (Jordan), a president and founder of Ibn Khaldun Center for Research and Studies (IKCRS). At present time he is a visiting professor at the College of Art and Science, Qatar University, Qatar. His areas of interest and expertise include the violence against women, the applied criminology, the social movements, the terrorism, the evaluation of attitudes of corruption, criminological theory and the organizational culture. He approaches his research through quantitative and qualitative methods which lend itself to in-depth interviewing, survey, participant observation, focus groups and field research. His current lines of research center are on: Jordan Youth Social movements (Herak), general strains, radicalization, corrupttion, security threats, women coping strategies and stigma. Among his more than one hundred fifty publications are more than fifty referred articles in international and national journals, including two articles won a national and international awards: Research Award for the Best Research in Psychological Sciences of The Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research (Jordan) and the Award of Association of Islamic Universities on the research entitled: Values of Tolerance in the Curricula of University Education. He has more than seventy scientific papers presented at scientific conferences and specialized seminars, in addition to sixteen scientific papers presented in the foreign language of international conferences. He has published more than ten books; some of them were re-published, including a

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book in English (Understanding Terrorism) with a granted funded by the scientific program of the NATO in peace and security. Another book was a translating from English into Arabic (APA Publication Manual) and won the award for the best translated book. He chaired and organized more than fifteen international conferences and a lot of seminars and workshops. He supervised more than fifty theses. He holds memberships in several professional organizations such as International Association for Victims of Crime. He has a rich and varied experience in the area of university administration, at both the local and regional levels. His experience is continuous and accumulated for more than fifteen years. He has occupied a numerous managerial position including: Assistant Dean of the Faculty of Arts, the Director of Information and Planning Department, Head of Social Studies and the Dean of Studies and Research Center (Saudi Arabia University); Dean of the School of Graduate Studies, and Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences (founder) and Dean of Scientific Research (Mutah University and University of Tafila); Dean of the College of Administrative Sciences, Dean of the College of Arts, Vice-President at Technical University (administrative and academic) and VicePresident for Administrative Affairs 2007 – 2010 (Hussein Bin Talal University). Dr. Al-Badayneh has developed the Strategic Plan to Combat Violence Against Women sponsored by the National Committee for Women Affairs, conducted the first national survey on violence against women in Jordan and also developed the National Framework for the Protection of the Family Against Violence. He is a team leader in Developing Standards for MODS Social Services (World Bank). He is expert in conducting social surveys, being supervisor at the first survey on national domestic violence in Jordan and many surveys including: evaluating the performance of funds among the poor, and the fear of crime, fear of terrorism and the fear of traffic accidents, and performance Member Parliament from the point of view of the voter, the reasons for non-compliance of the Jordanian citizen of traffic accidents, violence on the roads. He chairs a team to study the satisfaction of riders of public transport services in the public sector. His recent publications were on violence against women (in English), the development of measures against of the stigmatization of AIDS sufferers in the Arab world, and the relationship between low self- control females and reckless behavior in secondary schools. He was the chair of the Strategic Plan in the social

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defense of the Ministry of Social Development. He also developed a strategic plan for network SHAMAH to combat violence against women and a national framework document to protect the family from violence. He led a team of developing social standards of care in Jordan. He also represents the Arab region in the Commission on Crime Victims emanating from the International Association for Victims of Crime, being a member of the society itself. He chaired and served in a numerous of national committees including as: Chairman of the Committee to support of scientific research in the social sciences and member of the Technical Committee for Scientific Research Support Fund (Scientific Research Support Fund) and also member of the research priorities associations in Jordan (as Higher Council for Science and Technology). PHD SIMONA BRATU (born in 1966 in Brasov, Romania) graduated medicine at University of Medicine and Pharmacy from Târgu-Mures (Romania) and in 2012 she obtained her doctorate exam in the same institution. She is Primary Physician in General Medicine and Primary Physician in Emergency Medicine. Between 1991 and 2013 she has participated to a lot national and international medical conferences and courses. Since 2003 is an international trainer for Courses and practical skills in Emergency Medicine. Between 1991 and 2012 she has worked as Clinical Emergency County Hospital as resident, general Medicine; specialist and Consultant in general medicine, specialist and consultant in emergency medicine. Between 2008 and 2012 she collaborated as lecturer with The University of Medicine and Pharmacy from Târgu-Mures (where she taught courses of emergency medicine). Now she is doctor and associate consultant at General Hospital, Northamptonshire, United Kingdom, Accidents and Emergency department. She published medical papers in Acta Medica Marisiensis and was involved in translated books about medical emergency books and written manuals for students. She considers that there is a need of constant training in emergency medicine field. Her book named Neonatology for Emergency Physicians is waiting to be published. LECTURER PHD MARIUS CUCU (born in 1977, in Suceava, Romania) studied at Faculty of Philosophy from Alexandru Ioan Cuza University during period 1996-2000. His graduated paper was about

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the concept of eternity in the Occidental spiritual tradition. He also followed a Master Degree about Hermeneutics and Interpretive techniques. The Masters dissertation was about the New Generation. Between 2002 and 2004 he followed a program of PHD studies at Alexandru Ioan Cuza University and finalized it with the thesis The Atemporality in the Thouht of Emil Cioran. During the the period 2003 – 2007 he was an associated Assistant Professor at Stefan cel Mare University from Suceava and taught seminaries at different courses from social – human domain. In 2007 he became titular Assistant Professor at tje same University, and from 2011 he became Lecturer at this University. He participated at many national and international conferences, published five books as single autor, numerous articles in national and international humanist annals and coordinated a humanist antology. From 2008 he coordinated the profile annal of the University where he activates. PHD STUDENT ANA MARIA-GAJDO (born in Bucharest in 1973) graduated in 1996 The Faculty of Psychology and Sociology at "Mihai Viteazul" National Intelligence Academy, Bucharest, Romania. In 2013 she graduated Master Degree in Elite, Culture and European Construction (with a dissertation about Egypt, Recent Past, Uncertain Democratic Future - The Arab Spring in Egypt) at The Faculty of Science and Letters, Petru Maior University, Târgu Mures (Romania). Now she is a PHD Student at Sapienza Università di Roma (Italy), Department History of Europe, where she is continuing her demarche regarding study about history and relations between Europe, North Africa and Middle East. In mass-media she debuted after a year of establishing at Târgu-Mureş (2006) at Târgu Mures Television, where she was a Reporter, Editor and Executive Producer. She was Chief Editor at Antena 1 Târgu-Mureş (20082011) and in 2011 she has entered as Chief Editor at 24 Ore Mureşene. She has published articles in three anthologies and participated at national and international conferences. PHD STUDENT STEFAN GROSU (born in 1964, Bucharest, Romania) graduated Didactic Theology at The Romanian-Catholic Institute of Bucharest, Romania (with graduation paper Maat and Thorah, Hermeneuthical Matrices of Religious Law). Now he is a PHD Student at Faculty of Philosophy, University of Bucharest and scholar at Romanian Academy. His thesis is about Ethics and Recessivity in

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Conception of Mircea Florian (Mircea Florian is a Romanian contemporary philosopher). He won the first place at the Friendship International Cup of Boxing (Budapest, Hungary, 1981). He worked as a journalist, cars salesman and bodyguard. Now he is a trainer of ethics, editor at Pravalia Culturală, 24 ore muresene, Cronica de Falticeni, Regatul Cuvântului, Sfera Eonică and consultant at IBN Khaldun Center For Research & Studies, Amman, Jordan. In 2012 he taught (together with PHD Adriana Mihaela Macsut) a course of Ethics, Etiquette and Protocol for staff which organized Baghdad 2013, Capital of Arab World. He has participated to numerous national and international conferences and published articles in ten anthologies. Since January 2014 he has organized international workshops of Applied Ethics (together with PHD Adriana Mihaela Macsut) at Faculty of Philosophy, University of Bucharest (Romania). PHD GABRIEL HASMAŢUCHI (born in 1974) is an assistant professor at Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu. He received his PhD in philosophy at the Doctoral School at Philosophy from North University of Baia Mare. His Areas of interest are: the interwar (Romanian) philosophy, philosophy of culture, ethics, journalism and public relations. He is the author of reviews, studies, textbooks of investigative journalism and informative journalism for open learning, as well as two volumes of poetry, one of them was published as a result of a debut award 2002. Since 2009, he has been a part of the editorial board of Saeculum, a magazine of communication research publish by Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu. PHD ADRIANA MIHAELA MACSUT (born on 30th of December 1967 at Craiova, Romania) graduated two faculties: Faculty of Physics University of Craiova, Romania (with a graduation paper about Liquid Cristals) and Faculty of Didactic Theology at The RomanianCatholic Institute of Bucharest, Romania (with graduation paper Hermeneutical Approach of Wisdom Literatura from Egypt, Israel and Mesopotamia) and also a Master Degree in Biblical Exegesis at the same institution (with dissertation Death of Moses from Revelation to Legend). Since 2013 she has a PHD in Philosophy at The Faculty of Philosophy, University of Bucharest, Romania (with thesis Doxa in the Conception of Plato). Between 1995-2001 she worked as News Journalist and Teacher of Physics in Craiova and Târgu Mures. She

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was a correspondent reporter for BBC Romania between 1996-2001. Since 2011 she has been a trainer of Applied Ethics. In 2012 she taught (together with PHD Student Stefan Grosu) a course of Ethics, Etiquette and Protocol for the staff which organized Baghdad 2013, Capital of Arab World. She has participated to national and international conferences and published articles in ten anthologies. Now she has a blog of ethics on Daily Business, she is editor editor at Pravalia Culturală, 24 ore muresene, Cronica de Falticeni, Regatul Cuvântului, Sfera Eonică and consultant at IBN Khaldun Center for Research & Studies, Amman Jordan. Since January 2014 she has organized every month workshops of Applied Ethics (together with PHD Student Stefan Grosu) at Faculty of Philosophy, University of Bucharest (Romania). PHD KURUVILLA PANDIKATTU JOSEPH (born in 1957) is professor of physics, philosophy and theology is a professor of physics, philosophy and theology at Pontifical Institute for Philosophy and Religion, Jnana-Deepa Vidyapeeth Pune, India. He holds three Masters Degrees (physics, philosophy and theology) and two doctorates in philosophy and theology (University of Innsbruck, Austria). Being a multifaceted personality he has written extensively on topics of science, religion and philosophy and is actively involved in dialogue between science and religion. Author of more than 26 books and 101 articles, Kuruvilla Pandikattu is a Jesuit priest belonging to Dumka-Raiganj Province, India. He has been involved in organizing national and international conferences on sciencereligion dialogue. His main topics of research are: anthropology, eschatology, life-management and transhumanism. The focus of his academic engagement has been axed on: Issues in Philosophical Anthropology, Science-Religion Dialogue and Viable Life-Styles. He also contributes to discussion on the role of science, technology and spirituality towards fostering life. Having organized numerous national and international conferences, he has travelled around the world to give lectures and take part in various academic activities. He has been awarded by John Templeton and Metanexus Foundations. His articles have received special prizes, including from CTNS, Berkely. He is a Director at JDV Centre for Science-Religion Studies; Editor at Asian Journal for Religious Studies and Organizer of Conferences, Seminars and Workshops.

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MONSENIOR DR. VLADIMIR PETERCĂ (born on 24th of April 1944 in Mircesti, Romania) graduated The Roman - Catholic Institute of Iasi and became priest in august 15th, 1968. He also graduated The Pontifical Biblical Institute of Rome and he sustained his PHD Thesis at Pontificia Università Gregoriana in 1980 with the thesis The Image of Solomon in Hebrew and Greek Biblia – a contribution to the Midrash Study. His PHD thesis is considered an important and original contribution of Midrash Exegesis and is present on a lot of University Libraries from all over the world. He followed in 1980 courses of Biblical languages at Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Between 1981 and 1995 he was a lecturer, associate professor and professor The Roman- Catholic Institute of Iasi where he taught Biblical Sciences, Biblical exegesis and Biblical Languages. He was invited at invited professor at University of Münster (1985-1986) and at the University of München (1988-1989). Between 1995 and 2006 (when he retired) he was professor of Biblical Sciences at The Romanian – Catholic Institute of Bucharest. Between 2007 and 2013 he was an invited professor at The Roman - Catholic Institute of Chisinau. He participated at a lot national and international conferences, published numerous dedicated books to theological studies, worked as a journalist for Radio Vatican and is an active presence in television and radio as a speaker about biblical and theological themes. He was also involved in charity project: in 1990 he was the first president of Caritas, Charity Organization of Iasi. Now he is a contributor editor at Radio Maria. PHD MARIA SINACI has two diplomas: Faculty of Orthodox Theology – University Aurel Vlaicu from Arad (Romania) and Faculty of Humanities, Political and Administrative Sciences at West University Vasile Goldis from Arad (Romania). She also graduated a Master in European History and Civilization. In 2008 she obtained the PhD degree in Philosophy at the West University from Timisoara. She published numerous anthologies, participated at a lot of national and international conferemces and is specialized in applied Ethics. CLAUDIA TOGĂNEL (born on the 5th of May at Târgu Mures, Romania) is working as a medical assistant at the Clinical Emergency County Hospital. She graduated Faculty of Psychology at University Dimitrie

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Cantemir and now she is studying to become a medical psychologist. She is a member of the Medieval Cavaliers of Wolves Order and participated at international and national conference with medical and psychological themes.

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Euthanasia: A Criminological Perspective

Diab Al Badayneh

I Introduction

Every human being has a right to life. A number of international human rights instruments assert this right to life (as example The Universal Declaration on Human Rights, 1948), the United Nations Charter, 1945, European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedom, 1950). It is explicitly and implicitly prohibited the unlawful taking of life. On the other hand a debate has been for a decade on the “right to die” or what is euthanasia interpreted as a “good death”1. The Oxford Dictionary defines euthanasia as: a “quiet and easy death”; “the means of procuring this” and “the action of inducing a quiet and easy death”, a definition which derives from the Greek eu meaning well and thanatos meaning death.2 This definition encompasses actions which are both active and passive, and deaths which are both voluntary and involuntary. Suicide can also be included in this definition. The Macquarie Dictionary defines euthanasia as: “painless death” and ”the putting of a person to death painlessly, especially a person suffering from an incurable and painful disease”3. This definition includes only the active act of terminating the life of another and excludes passive actions/inactions which allow a person to die, as well as suicide. The definition introduces the concept of intent, and specifies a particular category of person who dies, but does not exclude other reasons for terminating life or other categories of persons. The definition, does not require the permission of the person who is to die, and therefore includes both voluntary and involuntary deaths.4 In the literature are also other definitions and

Oluyemisi Bamgbose, ”Euthanasia: Another Face of Murder”, in International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, February, 2004, vol. 48, 1, pp. 111−121. 2 ”Euthanasia”, in oxforddictionares.com., ©2014 Oxford University Press. 3 “Euthanasia”, in macquariedictionary.com, ©Macmillan Publishers Group Australia 2014. 4 Cristine A. Stevens, Riaz Hassan, Management of Death. Dying and Euthanasia;Attidudes and Practice of Medical Practioners and Nurses in South 1

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classifications. The classifications are based on whether or not it is the will of the person: that is, voluntary, non-voluntary and involuntary euthanasia. It is made according to how it is administered: active euthanasia refers to receiving from a physician a lethal agent that leads to death; passive euthanasia means not doing anything to prolong a patient’s life; and assisted suicide is about a patient committing suicide with the help of a physician. The term mercy killing is an old alternative to euthanasia, but it appears there is a move away from the use of the term euthanasia, to euphemisms such as death with dignity, allowing to die, letting die, treatment of choice, proper care for the dying. The definition and meaning of euthanasia, which has never been unitary, has also undergone some revision over time and is still in the process of redefinition. The move to alternative terminology may be partly in response to the perceived need for legislative change and the need to establish new guidelines and codes in medical practice. The term mercy killing appears to be unacceptable because killing is usually illegal. Thus it has become necessary for those who argue in favor of euthanasia to alter terminology and revise definitions so that actions which may once have been regarded as illegal or which may never have been necessary in the past, but which now seem morally and ethically acceptable to an increasing number of people and may now be incorporated within the lexicon of permissible acts.5

II Criminological Theoretical Perspectives

For the purpose of this paper criminological perspectives are categorizing in three aspects: ˗ labeling theory; ˗ labeling theory, general strain theory; ˗ rational choice theory. II.1 Labeling Theory Labeling theory is the theory of how the self-identity and behavior of individuals may be determined or influenced by the Australia, Sociology Discipline School of Social Sciences The Flinders University of South Australia Bedford Park South Australia August 1992. 5 Severel writers are talking about this: Robert Veatch. Death, Dying, and the Biological Revolution, CT: Yale University Press, New Heaven, 1976 and Paul Ramsey, Ethics at the Edges of Life: Medical and Legal Intersections, Yale University Press, New Heaven, 1978.

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terms used to describe or classify them. Deviance is not inherent to an act, but the significant others and majorities negatively label minorities or those seen as deviant from standard cultural norms. A stigma is defined as a powerfully negative label that attached to a person and changes a person's self-concept and social identity. Labeling theory had its origins in Suicide, a book by French sociologist Émile Durkheim.6 He found that crime is not so much a violation of a penal code as it is an act that outrages society. 7 He was the first to suggest that deviant labeling satisfies that function and society's need to control the behavior.8 Labeling theory was first applied to the term “mentally ill” in 1966 when Thomas J. Scheff published Being Mentally Ill. 9 Scheff challenged common perceptions of mental illness by claiming that mental illness is manifested solely as a result of societal influence.10 He argued that society views certain actions as deviant and, in order to come to terms with and understand these actions, often places the label of mental illness on those who exhibit them.11 Certain expectations are then placed on these individuals and, over time, they unconsciously change their behavior to fulfill them.12 Criteria for different mental illnesses are not consistently fulfilled by those who are diagnosed with them because all of these people suffer from the same disorder, they are simply fulfilled because the mentally ill believe they are supposed to act a certain way so, over time, come to do so.13 The labeling theory suggests that people obtain labels from how others view their tendencies or behaviors. Each individual is aware of how they are judged by others because he or she has attempted many different roles and functions in social interactions and has been able to gauge the reactions of those present. Émile Durkheim, ,,Suicide: a study in sociology”, in classiques.uqac.ca, 28/05/2014. 7 Ibidem. 8 Ibidem. 9 Thomas J. Scheff, Being Mentally Ill, 2nd ed. Aldine ransaction, Piscataway, 1984. 10 Ibidem. 11 Ibidem. 12 Ibidem. 13 Ibidem. 6

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Euthanasia can be seen from labeling theory as negative label to the target person (person in pain with hopeless case of recovery). People in pain are aware and internalized other people's labels and expectations. People in pain see themselves as stigmatized as an unwanted citizen, whom other people around him wish his/her death. He/she acts or asks people to act on behave of him/her by ending his/her life. It is predetermined behavior (ending life) by individual or his/her legal guardian. Moreover, the social representation of individuals like police officers or judges can make more globally respected judgments. If Euthanasia is a failure to conform to the rules observed by most of the group, the reaction of the group is to label the person as having an offending behavior towards the social or moral norms of behavior. This is the power of the group: to designate breaches of their rules as deviant and to treat the person differently depending on the seriousness of the breach. Labeling theory concerns with very special roles that society provides for deviant behavior, called deviant roles, stigmatic roles, or social stigma. A social role is a set of expectations we have about a behavior. Social roles are necessary for the organization and functioning of any society or group. Euthanasia according to the labeling theory does not mean morally wrong, but rather behavior that is condemned by society. Deviant behavior can include both criminal and non-criminal activities. Whether a breach of a given rule will be stigmatized will depend on the significance of the moral or other tenet it represents. Stigma is usually the result of laws enacted against the behavior. Deviant roles are the sources of negative stereotypes, which tend to support society’s disapproval of the Euthanasia behavior.14 Modified Labeling theory has been described as a “sophisticated social-psychological model of ʽwhy labels matterʼ”15. In 2000 results from a prospective two-year study of patients discharged from a mental hospital (in the context of deinstitutionalization) showed that stigma was a powerful and persistent force in their lives, and that experiences of social rejection were a persistent source of social stress. Efforts to cope with labels, such as not telling anyone, educating people about mental disErwing Gooffman, Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity, Penguin, London, 1963. 15 Ibidem. 14

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tress/disorder, withdrawing from stigmatizing situations, could result in further social isolation and reinforce negative self-concepts. Sometimes an identity as a low self-esteem minority in society would be accepted. The stigma was associated with diminished motivation and ability to ,,make it in mainstream society”16 and with ,,a state of social and psychological vulnerability to prolonged and recurrent problems”17. There was an up and down pattern in self-esteem, people were sometimes managing, but struggling, to maintain consistent feelings of self-worth. Ultimately, a cadre of patients had developed an entrenched, negative view of themselves, and their experiences of rejection appear to be “a key element in the construction of these self-related feelings”18 and “hostile neighborhoods may not only affect their self-concept but may also ultimately impact the patient's mental health status and how successful they are”19. Euthanasia can be seen as a response to the negatively social stigma. In the Netherlands the practices of voluntary euthanasia and assisted suicide were legalized under specific conditions in 2002. On 23 September 2002, Belgium became the second country to approve active voluntary euthanasia, defined as ending the life of someone at his or her own request; however, assisted suicide is still considered to be illegal. According to Belgian law, the following conditions must be met before conducting euthanasia: the person must be older than 18 years, be in unbearable physical or psychological pain that is medically permanent and without hope of recovery, the request must be made by his or her own self-will, and the person must have thought about it and made the request several times.20

E. R. Wright, W. P. Owens, T. J., ”Deinstitutionalization, Social Rejection, and the Self-Esteem of Former Mental Patients”, in Journal of Health and Social Behavior, Vol 41 (March), 2000, pp. 68−90. 17 Ibidem. 18 Ibidem. 19 Ibidem. 20 Gülsah Kumas, Gürsel Öztunç, Nazan Z. Alpazan, “ `Intensive Care Unit Nurses Opinions about Euthanasia`, Nursing Ethics”, in European Jurnals for Turkish Studies, 14, 2007 pp. 637−650. 16

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II. 2 General Strain Theory According to Agnew’s21 general strain theory posits that strain leads to negative emotions, which may lead to a number of outcomes, including maladaptation such as crime, deviance and drug abuse. Strains include the failure to achieve positively valued goals (e.g., money or status), the removal of positively valued stimuli (e.g., loss of a valued possession), and the presentation of negatively valued stimuli (e.g., physical abuse). Agnew specified the conditions under which strain may lead to crime.22 Strains that are: • 1) seen as unjust; • 2) high in magnitude associated with low social control; • 3) create some incentive to engage in criminal coping are most likely to lead to crime and deviance.23 According to general strain theory, individuals experiencing strain may develop negative emotions, including anger, when they see adversity as imposed by others, resentment when they perceive unjust treatment by others, and depression or anxiety when they blame themselves for the stressful consequence. These negative emotions, in turn, necessitate coping responses as a way to relieve internal pressure. Responses to strain may be behavioral, cognitive, or emotional. General strain theory, however, is particularly interested in deviant adaptations. General strain theory identifies various types of deviant adaptations, including escapist (e.g., drug use), instrumental (e.g., property offences), and retaliatory (e.g., violent offences) outcomes. Coping via illegal behavior and violence may be especially true for adolescents because of their limited legitimate coping resources, greater influence from peers, and inability to escape many stressful. Crime may occur when an individual attempts to escape from or tries to avoid a negative stimuli. For example, due to negative relations with family or peers adolescents may try to avoid the strain by joining a gang. It may also occur when the individual attempts to terminate the negative stimuli and seek revenge on the Robert Agnew, ”A revised strain theory of delinquency”, in Social Forces, 1985, 64, 151−167 Robert Agnew, ”Foundation for a general strain theory of crime and delinquency”, in Criminology, 1992, 30, pp. 47−87. 22 Ibidem. 23 Ibidem. 21

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perceived responsible party.24 Individuals may ”employ emotional coping strategies that act directly on the negative emotions created by strains”25. Individuals may try to alleviate the negative emotions through criminal or non-criminal methods. These methods may include physical exercise, listening to music, meditation or using illegal drugs. Also, taking revenge through vandalism or assaults makes people feel better, which may be accepted as a way to alleviate negative emotions.26 II.3 Rational Choice Theory Rational choice theory is based on the fundamental tenets of classical criminology, which hold that people freely choose their behavior and are motivated by the avoidance of pain and the pursuit of pleasure. Individuals evaluate their choice of actions in accordance with each option's ability to produce advantage, pleasure and happiness. Rational choice provides a micro perspective on why individual offenders decide to commit specific crimes; people choose to engage in crime because it can be rewarding, easy, satisfying and fun. The central premise of this theory is that people are rational beings whose behavior can be controlled or modified by a fear of punishment. In this way, it is believed offenders can be persuaded to desist from offending by intensifying their fear of punishment. In terms of setting the quantum of punishment, according to this theory, sanctions should be limited to what is necessary to deter people from choosing crime.27 Rational choice is premised on a utilitarian belief that actions are based on a conscious evaluation of the utility of acting in a certain way. According to this perspective Robert Agnew, ”Foundation for a general strain theory of crime and delinquency”, in Criminology, 1992, 30, pp. 47 – 87. 25 Idem, Pressured into crime, Roxbury Publishing Company, Los Angeles, 2006, p. 90. 26 Robert Agnew, Pressured into crime, Roxbury Publishing Company, Los Angeles, 2006; Mustafa Kayaoglu, Terrorism and strain: An exploratory analysis of the impact that individual strain and negative affect have on violent behavior among trained Turkish Hezbollah members, PHD thesis, 2008. 27 L. Siegal, C. McCormick, Criminology in Canada: Theories, Patterns, and Typologies (3rd ed.), Thompson, Nelson, Toronto, 2006. 24

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euthanasia is a personal choice, the result of individual decisionmaking processes. This means that individuals are responsible for their choices and thus individual offenders are subject to blame for their criminality. In terms of euthanasia, rational choice posits that person in pain or his/her legal guardian weighs the potential benefits and consequences associated with committing an ending to life of a person and then make a rational choice on the basis of this evaluation. Therefore, before committing that behavior, the reasoning weighs the chances of feeling guilty, the severity of the expected informal social penalty and the value to be gained by letting the person in pain to rest in peace. People decide to commit Euthanasia after careful consideration of the costs and benefits of behaving in a certain manner. This involves considering both personal factors, which may include a need for money, hopelessness, or entertainment, and situational factors such as the medical costs, suffering, and pain. Rational choice focuses on the opportunity to commit Euthanasia and on how people choices are structured by the social environment and situational variables.28 It has sprung from older and more experimental collections of hypotheses surrounding what have been essentially, the empirical findings from many scientific investigations into the workings of human nature. The conceiving and semblance of these social models which are hugely applicable to the methodology expressed through the function of microeconomics within society are also similarly placed to demonstrate that a sizable amount of data is collated using behavioral techniques which are tweaked and made adjustable in order to ensure compatibility with the spontaneous motivational drives displayed by the consumer. The theory borrows concepts from economic theories, to give greater weight to non-instrumental motives for crime and the limited or bounded nature of the rational process involved29. It is argued that there are three important roles of emotions within a rational choice theory of crime. First the people’s state of emotionality is an important context on which rational S. Gul, ”An evaluation of rational choice theory in criminology”, in Sociology and applied science, 2009, 4(8), pp. 36−44. 29 Ronald R. Clarke, Situational Crime Prevention: Successful Case Studies, Second Edition, Harrow and Heston, New York, 1997, p. 9. 28

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conduct rests. Second is the sneaky thrill of minor property crime also might operate more generally such that the anticipated emotional consequences of criminal conduct is one of the benefits or utilities (thrills) that are weighed in the process of rational decision making. Third as a sizable amount of research can attest, the anticipated emotional costs associated with criminal behavior might serve to effectively reduce the likelihood of such behavior30. Emotions are a central part of the psychological process of motivation as they heighten the saliency of certain desires, wants, and outcomes and thus energize people to pursue them. Too little emotional intensity and performance suffers from insufficient physical and mental arousal, while too much emotional intensity causes the person to be so aroused that thinking and physical self-control become disorganize.31 If an offender gets angry easily it is highly probable he won’t think twice about assaulting someone than an individual who is level headed. Negative emotions can hinder rationality thus leading one to use bounded/limited rationality or may an impulsive move towards a criminal action.

III Conclusion

Application of criminological theoretical perspective in dealing with the issue of euthanasia needs a deep analysis of the criminological theories which was the scope of this paper.

Bibliography

Agnew, Robert, “A revised strain theory of delinquency”, in Social Forces, 1985. Agnew, Robert, “Foundation for a general strain theory of crime and delinquency”, in Criminology, 1992. Agnew, Robert, “The contribution of social psychological strain theory to the explanation of crime and delinquency”, in Freda Adler and William S. Laufer (Eds.), The legacy of anomie theory NJ: Transaction, New Brunswick, 1995. S. Simpson, Of crime and criminality: The use of theory in everyday life, CA: Pine Forge Press, Thousand Oaks, 2000. 31 B. Kaufman, ”Emotional arousal as a source of bounded rationality”, in Journal of economic behavior and organization, 1998, 38, pp. 135-144. 30

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Agnew, Robert; Francis T. Cullen; Velmer S., Burton Jr., “A new test of classic strain theory”, in Justice Quarterly, 1996, 13(4). Agnew, Robert, “Why Do Criminals Offend: A general strain theory of crime and delinquency”, in Francis T. Cullen and Robert Agnew (Eds.), Criminological Theory: Past to Present, Roxbury Press, Los Angeles, 1999. Agnew, Robert, “Building on the foundation of general strain theory: Specifying the types of strain most likely to lead to crime and delinquency”, in Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 2001.. Agnew, Robert, T. Brezina, J.P. Wright and E.T. Cullen, “Strain, personality traits, and delinquency: Extending general strain theory”, in Criminology, 2002. Agnew, Robert; Francis T. Cullen; Velmer S., Burton Jr., “A new test of classic strain theory”, in Justice Quarterly, 1996, 13(4). Agnew, R., Pressured into crime, Roxbury Publishing Company, Los Angeles, 2006. Bamgbose, Oluyemisi, “Euthanasia: Another Face of Murder”, in International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, February, 2004, vol. 48. Bruce G., Link; Francis T. Cullen, Elmer Struening, Patrick E. Shrout and Bruce P. Dohrenwend, “A Modified Labeling Theory Approach to Mental Disorders: An Empirical Assessment”, in American Sociological Review, Vol. 54, No. 3, Jun., 1989. Clarke, Ronald R., Situational Crime Prevention: Successful Case Studies, Second Edition, Harrow and Heston, New York, 1997. Durkheim, Émile “Suicide: a study in sociology”, in classiques.uqac.ca, 28/05/2014. “Euthanasia”, in macquariedictionary.com, © Macmillan Publishers Group Australia 2014. “Euthanasia”, in oxforddictionares.com., © 2014 Oxford University Press. Gooffman, Erwing, Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity, Penguin, London, 1963. Gul, S., “An evaluation of rational choice theory in criminology, in Sociology and applied science, 2009, 4(8). Hughes J. T., “Neuropathology in Germany during World War II: Julius Hallervorden (1882–1965) and the Nazi program of ‘euthanasia’ ”, in Journal of Medical Biography, May 2007, vol. 15, Kaufman, B., “Emotional arousal as a source of bounded rationality”, in Journal of economic behavior and organization, 1998. Kayaoglu, Mustafa, Terrorism and strain: An exploratory analysis of the impact that individual strain and negative affect have on violent behavior among trained Turkish Hezbollah members, PHD thesis, 2008.

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Kumas, Gülsah, Öztunç Gürsel; Alparslan, Z. Nazan, “ ‘Intensive Care Unit Nurses Opinions about Euthanasia’, Nursing Ethics” , in European Journals for Turkish Studies, 14, 2007. Macionis, John. P., Gerder, Linda M., Sociology, The 7-th edition, Electronic Kook, Pearson Education, Canada, 2010. Mazerolle, Paul; Alex Piquero, “Violent responses to strain: An examination of conditioning influences”, in Violence and Victims, 1997, 12. Pakes, Francis, “Penalization and retreat: The changing face of Dutch criminal justice Criminal Justice”, May 2005, vol. 5. Ramsey Paul, Ethics at the Edges of Life: Medical and Legal Intersections, Yale University Press, New Heaven, 1978. Rafter, Nicole, “Criminology's Darkest, Hour: Biocriminology in Nazi Germany Australian”, in New Zealand Journal of Criminology, August 2008, vol. 41, 2: pp. 287-306. Oberwittler, Dietrich; Sven, Höfer, “Crime and Justice in Germany: An Analysis of Recent Trends and Research”, in European Journal of Criminology, October 2005; vol. 2.. Siegal, L and C. McCormick, Criminology in Canada: Theories, Patterns, and Typologies (3rd ed.), Thompson, Nelson, Toronto, 2006. Scheff, Thomas J., Being Mentally Ill, 2nd ed. Aldine Transaction, Piscataway, 1984. Stevens, Cristine A., Riaz, Hassan, Management of Death. Dying and Euthanasia; Attidudes and Practice of Medical Practitioners and Nurses in South Australia, Sociology Discipline School of Social Sciences The Flinders University of South Australia Bedford Park South Australia August 1992. Swaaningen, René Van, “Criminology in the Netherlands. European Journal of Criminology”, October 2006; vol. 3, 4., in J. T. Hughes Journal of Medical Biography, May 2007, vol. 15. Veatch, Robert, Death, Dying, and the Biological Revolution, CT: Yale University Press, New Heaven 1976. Wright, E. R, Gronfein, W. P., Owens, T. J., “Deinstitutionalization, Social Rejection, and the Self-Esteem of Former Mental Patients”, in Journal of Health and Social Behavior, Vol 41 (March), 2000.

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Spiritual Dilemmas in Emergency Medicine

Simona Bratu

Emergency medicine is a new specialty in the world, it deals with patients, no matter age and pathology, in the first six hour after presenting at the medical service. It is the most polymorph specialty, because it involves the physician into a vast gamut of pathologies, in before hospital and hospital, confronting him with a lot of limit situations.1 A delicate aspect, met in emergency medicine is treating severe cases, being above the therapeutically situations, which inevitable end in death. The death corresponds to stopping any vital functions2, with definitive break of cerebral actions, thus complete and final ending of life. From the medical point of view it was imposed in the ”70 years the collocation of cerebral death witch is defined by the death of brain.3 Clinical death or appearing death, with cardio- respiratory stop and suspending conscience, is an initial phase, which can be the object of a cardio-respiratory resuscitation, therefore potential reversible. The overdone coma corresponds to ultimate break of any cerebral activity, including spontaneous breath and with electroencephalogram without detectable activity. 4 The emergency physician must also know and follow a clear protocol even in a deadly situation, to apply maneuvers of resuscitation only in cases with chances and behave with confidence and empathy if there are no justified tries of bringing to live. The implycation of emergency physician is maximum in the situation of clinical death, because he can bring the case to life.5 Răzvan Vasioiu, ”,Serviciul de ambulanță−Medicina de urgență”, in medicina_urgenta.php, 8/6/2011. 2 “Medicina de urgență”, in Dex on line, 8/9/2011. 3 Sebastian Moldovan, “Putem accepta definiţia cerebrală a morţii?”, in crestinortodox.ro, 8/9/2011. 4 “Neuropatii, comă”, in sfatulmedicului.ro, 8/9.2011. 5 A study made on cases of cardio-respiratory stop in the cadre of RUP (Receiving Emergency Unity) – MSERD (Mobil Service of Emergency, Reanimation and Extrication)5. Târgu Mureș and large presented in my PHD Thesis, shows a rate of approximate 40% immediate resuscitation of approximate, unfortunately the lately results are more woeful, only 4% live alive the hospital. This thing is explained through the fact that resuscictation, without medicak sechelas, is posible in the first 6 – 10 minutes, above this 1

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The physician’s attitude toward the decease, cannot be doubtful, uncertain, or hesitant.6 The scientific interest for the cause of death is an important aspect, the necropsy could reveal important data in medical progress. In this case, the interest for cadaver, or namely organs, watched as anatomopathology pieces, without identity, and inherent depersonalized. The period which precedes the passing from life to death needs assistance. Even if there are no efficacious treatments, to impede the end, there’s still a lot to do in the psychological plan, and these are under the competence and duty of the physician: “When, from the therapeutically point of view there’s nothing else to do to stop the disease or it’s regression, medicine has still other resources to use and thus has the obligation to use them as much as possible, not as an act witch seeks healing and extension of his life”.7 The attitude toward death is strictly personal, according to everyone’s concept upon world. The physician has the chance to go above its acceptance, as an ordinary human, humble in front of the biological faith and to oppose to it, to negate it, and to fight for postponing it as much as possible. There are physicians who have difficulties in accepting the death of the patients, wishing to control, to defeat and to negate it. It is not a normal attitude, the physician must accept the idea of death, not to perceive it like a painful fiasco, as a de-professionalization or incompetence. This thing is possible if he is convinced that he has

interval it is produced hypoxic encephalopathy, with cerebral incompatible lesions with life. See SMURD is an emergency rescue service based in Romania. The name is the Romanian acronym for ”Serviciul Mobil de Urgenţǎ, Reanimare şi Descarcerare”, which means Mobile Emergency Service for Resuscitation and Extrication. It was created and has been coordinated since its inception by doctor Raed Arafat. The first SMURD unit was created in Târgu Mureş, a city in the center of historic Transylvania province, in 1991”. 6 Protocolul in this case is presented in Curs asistenţă medicală de urgenţă, SMURD, Târgu Mureş. 7 Elio Sgreccia, Victor Tambone, Manual de bioetică, Arhiepiscopia RomanoCatolică de Bucureşti, Bucureşti, 2001, p. 292. To be seen also Maria Sinaci, Normativitate și bioetică, Aspecte filosofice contemporane, Presa Clujeană Publishing House, 2014, pp. 85−134.

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done for the patient all that is human and medical possible.8 Another contemporary aspect, is the tendency of humans of discard death of the family, to isolate it and to move it into medical or socio-medical institutions namely secularization of death. Man does no longer die in their family, but in medical unities which cannot be a natural space for decease, though naturally it would be that death supervene there where the moribund lived, nearby loved beings, whose presence and solicitude are felt by him as a conciliation or relief. The Emergency Physician is often called to take over from home patients being in terminal stages, obliged to tend maneuvers of resuscitations at the insistences of family or to be vehement combated if he tries to explain which is the normal conduit to follow.9 The death become a tabu: “it must not be told in public”10. The medical personal has difficulties in passing from medical assistance to human assistance11. Nevertheless, the human being has “the right to die with total serenity, with human and Christian dignity”12, and the physician has “from the deontological and ethical point of view, not… only the right to administer medicines to the Ibidem. In these cases, the physician can appeal to: normal treatment through which “is understood alimentation and hydration (articial or not), absortion of the bronchial secretions, the cleaning of canker bedsores”8; ˗ Paleative treatments through there are understood those tools which has as a scope the dimination of pain, namely ”those medical caries offer to the patiens with incurable disease, more oriented to control of symptoms than to the basis pathology, through the application the proceedings which to allow to the patient a better quality of life”. 9 Ibidem. 10 Ibidem. In part, is due to the fact the family of a grave patient is not always informed about the amplitude and consequences of disease, or does not to accept the reality. 11 Brian Pollard, The Challenge of Eutanasia, Little Hill Press Bedford, 1984, p. 53. Thence “the exigency of healthy conduit, sustained of asking of an individual and social prosperity… determines also a overcrowding of hospitals and deprofessionalization of medical assistance, riding to isolation of moribund in medical lounge; all these determines o real difficulty for the medical assistance personal to pass from a simple technique assistance, to a human assistence”. 12 Declaraţie asupra Eutanasiei, Sydney, 1968. 8

˗

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patient, but to assist the moribund”13. The respect of international criteria, named as criteria of Do not resuscitate are fundamental elements while taking the decision of resuscitation. Every time when is debated the role of physician toward the patients, the thought reaches to Hippocratic Oath, elaborated probably in 400 B. Cr and it is signed by physicians, dentists and veterinaries before beginning the profession. It is the spiritual faith which must animate all action of medicine”14. This conception about medicine, explains the fact that it cannot be reduced to the status of profession, but must stand up to the level of vocation. The medical ethics stands at the basis of this oath and shows that defending of physical life, respecting the professional secret, the autonomy of the patient are fundamental principles having significant social, moral and spiritual character. Bibliography Curs asistenţă medicală de urgenţă, SMURD, Târgu Mureş. Declaraţie asupra Eutanasiei, Sydney, 1968. Hippocrates, Studies in ancient medicines, Leiden, Brill, Boston, 2005. ,,Medicina de urgență”, in Dex on line. Moldovan, Sebastian, “Putem accepta definiţia cerebrală a morţii?”, in crestinortodox.ro “Neuropatii, comă”, in sfatulmedicului.ro. Pollard, Brian, The Chalenge of Eutanasia, Little Hill Press Bedford, 1984. Vasioiu, Răzvan, “Serviciul de ambulanță - Medicina de urgență”, in medicina_urgenta.php. Sgreccia, Elio; Tambone,Victor, Manual de bioetică, Arhiepiscopia Romano-Catolică de Bucureşti, București, 2001. Sinaci, Maria, Normativitate și bioetică, Aspecte filosofice contemporane, Presa Clujeană Publishing House, 2014. ”SMURD”, in wikipedia.org, 20 March 2014.

13 14

Elio Sgreccia, Victor Tambone, op. cit. Hippocrates, Studies in ancient medicines, Leiden, Boston, 2005.

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On the Heights of Despair and the Inauguration of Cioran’s Nihilism Marius Cucu Cioran’s thinking will slide his entire conceptual metaphoric structure around several themes enunciated and postulated in his first publication On the Heights of Despair (Pe culmile disperării). In this work, the young Cioran is exposing a philosophical vsion meant to be a meditative detachment from the naivety of common perspectives on the existence, perspectives that are dominated by metaphysical impulses of an unjustified optimism. Cioran’s procedure of detachment from the everyday vision that sees the human destiny in an intolerably superficial manner is converted into a confession of the revolt against the ontic and gnoseological norms of the mundane profane. The theory according to which we already know how to live and for what reasons, doubled by the idea that we are informed in terms of what is to know and discover by human analytics, becomes for Cioran the axiomatics of the loss of human conscience himself. Thus, according to Cioran, the man loses himself by always betraying his ego with a false feeling of mastery over his own fate. Cioran claims that the truth is basically upside down. There is not the human who controls his own destiny, by situating it in his rules of rational control, but, on the contrary, the destiny is the one which guides the man in an uncontrollable, illogical or supralogical manner. The human drama cannot be hidden in a fake and chimerical optimism which is always invoking the good aspects of life, thus denying its exacerbated drama. Cioran does not reject the possibility of the good as a reality, but he considers there is a fundamental error to postulate the presence of an absolute good before being aware of the tragedy implied by the road leading to this particular good. The sacrifice made in order to achieve this imaginative state is overwhelming and except for a few spirits, the greatest part of humanity are losing themselves in the whirl of individual and collective distress that trace the individual life, as well as the history as a whole. In the context of this endless failure, individuals adopt the attitude of a delusive optimism, trying in vain to hide the negative truth according to which the man is not able to acquire the promised redemption, and the Edenic paradigm is lost forever, the

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nostalgia for the paradise from which he was chased away accompanying his conscience like a mournful companion. By refusing to adhere to this utopian and naive perspective, Cioran assumes the act of a draw back to the self, by reducing the connections with the exterior and by rejecting the projections in its dimension at both ontic and gnoseological levels, the rejection of involvement by action or knowledge. Thus, Cioran remains alone, wrapped only in the tension of his own lucidity that allows him to think about life without living it, in the reality of this individual experience also being comprised the loss in time, to whom adds a sound understanding of time itself. The theory which Cioran presents here is that you cannot deeply contemplate the existence as long as you are trapped in its false promises and superficial exuberances. The knowledge and the existence are restricted here only to its own ego that feels the solitude of its drama as an atom of pulsatile life thrown in the indefinable rush of the universe. Cioran takes over the idea of the reduction that leads to a suspension of the inter-connection to the dynamics of the world, and a decisive restriction to the self-introduced in the occidental thinking, as a philosophical method, by René Descartes. This thinker will consider this particular metaphysical method as the sole procedure that opens the road towards finding out and postulating infallible and indubitable truths, among which the most important and powerful ones will prove to be the existence of the Divinity and the conscience of the one who has doubts about it and applies the radical reduction. For Descartes, such a method does not cancel the reality of the world, but frees it from fictions and rebuilds it on the bases of certainties that cannot be contested.1 In his turn, Edmund Husserl, will take over the Cartesian method of reduction and will present it as the philosophical technique underlying the phenomenology as the discipline of exploring the ego and its forms of intentionality. For Husserl’s phenomenology, the metaphysical reduction must be a transcendent one and reduce the whole range of the existence to a transcendent ego, with the enveloping world being initially presented as a foreign spectrum-environment.2 It is only after this exceptional confinement, Rene Descartes, Meditaţii metafizice, Cartier Publishing House, Bucharest, 1997, p. 19. 2 Edmund Husserl, Meditaţii carteziene, Humanitas Publishing House, Bucharest, 1994, p. 127. 1

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starting from the transcendent ego, that will be identified the rules of its intentionality, the forms of projection towards the exterior, the manners of reconstituting the world re-assumed in an objective way, as well as the reports with the alterity, which have been reactivated. For Cioran, according to his scepticism that culminates in a radical nihilism, the reduction up to the level of the ego does not have in view the objective re-establishment of the world on the basis of objective realities found to be incontestable but, on the contrary, it is intended to ensure the restraint up to the level of the solitary self for demonstrating the uselessness of the whole ontic system of the world, of the decomposition to which it is subject and which will lead it to a radically inevitably end, to an absolute annihilation. 3 In order to support his nihilist reduction, Cioran postulates, in an extremely expressive manner, in his juvenilia Pe culmile disperării (On the Heights of Despair), two conceptual references: the insignificance and the nonknowledge. To operate the restriction of all connections with the width of ontic impulses in the world, one must, in the beginning, assume the insignificance of all the components of the world. Therefore, Cioran’s nihilism firstly tells us that nothing in this world has a real importance, as there is no structure-existence in the mundane extension that would justify a minimum of valuable investment. Furthermore, Cioran also says thsat the self as an ultimate basis can be also suspected of falsity, thus requiring as well, in the end, a suspension and cancellation. This idea is commonly encountered in the oriental metaphysical visions, especially in Hinduism and Buddhism. This type of thinking claims that the cancellation of the self is not a mere extinguishing, a death of the soul and the ego, but on the contrary, it represents its sublime escape through its return to the primordial from which it emerged, in the universal energy and conscience which generated it. The truth of the non-existence of the world is therefore revealed, and it involves the reality of a state of absolutely general non-activity of which the universe has been developed and in which it must return. 4 It is about that particular return of the eternal individual in the non-differentiated Absolute, Emil Cioran, Demiurgul cel rău, Humanitas Publishing House, Bucharest, 1996, p. 102. 4 Gaudapada – Advaita Vedanta, Mandukya-Krika, Herald Publishing House, Bucharest, 2002, p. 88. 3

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reunification identified by the oriental thinking through an act of symbiosis between Brahma Atman, as a personal conscience and Brahma Brahma, as a full cosmic conscience. Cioran will take over this statement and will adapt it to his conceptual nihilism, by affirming that the return of the self in the atom of its own pulsatile inner side and its suspension which is subsequent to the radical reduction is, in fact, a separable immersion in the indefinite emptiness. The vital extinction of the individual existence’s peculiarities results here in the achievement of a definitive exemption from the captivity of Cioran’s contemplative anxiety. The complete dilution of the conscience in the anonymity of a universal emptiness represents for Cioran a viable and extremely efficient option, a radical solution to overcome that overwhelming feeling of the disadvantage of having been born. For Cioran’s nihilism, nothing is important, everything is ephemeral and variable, there is no stability to stop the uselessness of the whole complex of the world and the most realistic solution to overcome the crisis generated by the confrontation with this universal damnation to transience seems to be the disengaging from the profanity’s rush and the deepening in an ego that finally extinguishes as well, beyond the self, in an indefinite, unlimited and supratemporal emptiness. From a gnoseological point of view, Cioran’s nihilism postulates the theory of the inability to know in a relevant and unquestionably manner the world truths, for a cynic but radically realistic reason: these truths do not exist. What the spiritual tradition of humanity proclaimed as universally ethic rules and imperatives, endowing them from an axiomatic viewpoint with a value of incontestable truth represent mere fictions generated by the human fear in front of the unknowable infinite. According to such a vision, if the world is useless, then its knowledge will also be useless, since it will not have any solid result. For Cioran, the guiding principle is represented here by the formula „I don’t know”, this gnoseological principle rejecting any reflection on the world as a simple opinion, without the capacity of analyzing it in an objective manner. Then, since all the visions of the mundane are only opinions and not findings of some primary ontic meanings, the only one which deserves attention is the own ego. The reflection turns into a selfreflection and the knowledge procedure is reduced as well, like the

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act of investment with values, at the level of your own inner self. 5 By knowing their own ego, one can already make the first step on the way to achieve revealing openings towards the plenitude in emptiness, towards that imaginative state which the oriental people call Nirvana, state of the spiritual breathing, of cutting-off the flow that rhythmically connects our being with the enveloping mundane. The insignificance and the nonknowledge pushed up to their extreme radicalism lead the conscience to a self-cancelling aiming at detaching it from its own existential core and reintegrating it in a state of non-temporal and spaceless equilibrium. The nihilism proposed by Cioran, by the fact of adopting these theories with oriental characteristics, is mainly targeting the denial of the Being. This capital concept represents, according to Cioran, the decisive preconception of the historic man, of the man lost in time and affected by the chimerical sufficiency of this decay. The Being is the superstition and the preconception of those lacking the tragedy of ultimate lucidities, of naive people who anchor their whole life in a state of false optimism, of utopian narcosis with pretensions of happiness. As long as the man pulses in an ontic manner in the field of terrestrial emptiness, he does not have any opportunity to achieve real happiness. The latter has been lost in a catastrophic initial gesture, in an irretrievable loss of the Edenic state, doubled by the manifestation of a primordial imperfection. For Cioran, the loss of the heavenly paradigm inaugurated the loss in time and this loss is preparing a new slip, even more dramatic, the loss from time in a subtemporal of endless melancholy. From a conceptual perspective, Cioran occupies here a position which is opposite to the Heideggerian metaphysics claiming that any action and knowledge makes use of the Being, for the man is unable to renounce to the Being’s ontic basis6. On the contrary, what is important for Cioran is the renunciation to the Being and the damnation as the supreme illusion, the most subtle illusion through which people believed in the existence of a positive sense of the general destiny, but also at the level of the individual presence. The emptiness is incompatible with the Being, the fading away of the latter means its confirmation as an Emil Cioran, Pe culmile disperării, Humanitas Publishing House, Bucharest, 1990, p. 76. 6 Martin Heidegger, Fiinţă şi timp, Humanitas Publishig House, Bucharest, 2003, p. 8. 5

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ultimate funding reality. Once the symbiosis between the individual conscience and the emptiness takes place, the human soul fades away and loses its identity in the anonymous uniformity of the sovereign nothingness. Achieving this state represents, for Cioran, the sign of exceeding the daily naivety and detaching from the utopia of the false happiness of the mundane-temporal integration. However, the nihilism proposed by Cioran proves to be, in essence, a method of advancement towards the deepness of the inner self, a philosophical technique of detachment from the hollow illusions of the everyday life. This method does not necessarily lead to the negation of life but, on the contrary, it may be the radical nature of this approach which makes that life can be re-assumed and lived at its real intensity. But such an experience involves coming into contact with the hidden essence of life, essence that is always represented by the Spirit. And for such a majestic touch of the Spirit’s vibrations are needed an absolute love and beauty, both being sublime states which Cioran does not find any more in the vicinity of the decadent human being.

Bibliography

Cioran, Emil, Pe culmile disperării, Humanitas Publishig House, Bucharest, 1990. Cioran, Emil, Demiurgul cel rău, Humanitas Publishing House, Bucharest, 1996. Descartes, Rene, Meditaţii metafizice, Cartier Publishing House, Bucharest, 1997. Gaudapada – Advaita Vedanta, Mandukya-Krika, Herald Publishing House, Bucharest, 2002. Heidegger, Martin, Fiinţă şi timp, Humanitas Publishing House, Bucharest, 2003. Husserl, Edmund, Meditaţii carteziene, Humanitas Publishing House, Bucharest, 1994.

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Euthanasia − Compassion, Social Responsibility and Playing God Ana-Maria Gajdo Euthanasia, as defined, would be a ”good death”, ”painless death” or ”a method of challenging a painless death to a incurable sick, to end a long and hard suffering”1. There are European countries where euthanasia or sometimes assisted suicide is allowed, but in Romania, according to the Code of Ethics of the Medical College (Art. 121.): ”It is strictly prohibited the euthanasia, or the use of substances or means in order to cause death of a patient, regardless of the severity and prognosis, even if it was urged by a perfectly conscious patient”2. After all, when can a physician decide how much may a human being suffer? Or which is the border between compassion, accountability of such an act and the right to take the life of a fellow, even if he is suffering, and a crime which would be sentenced by its moral, guild, society and even religious rules? On the other hand, do we have the right to refuse a man seriously ill, incurable, fulfilling a legitimate desire, which is to leave this world with dignity, without pain and without causing physical and mental pain to the close ones which eventually can witness at his passing in eternity? When would we act with cruelty: when we decide to stop a tormented life for a dying one or when we decide to watch his degradation without helping him to leave with dignity? I propose an approach that does not necessarily take into account legislation: laws are made by people and can be changed at any time. I suggest to look from the sociological perspective, from psychology, leaving to the theologians the approach in terms of religion, although I believe - as in the medical act of creating life - the right to give life and take life does not belong to us, people, but to Creator, no matter how we call Him. I would not want to go slightly over an issue that has troubled mankind, linked to our topic: the meaning of life. Because psychology is a daughter of philosophy, any creative school of psychology appealed to philosophy. The basic theories of each school have their “According to the Explanatory Dictionary of the Romanian Language”, in dexonline.ro, 06/06/14. 2 ”Code of Medical Ethics CMR”, in old.cmr.ro, January 2014. 1

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essence in a philosophical system, share a vision of life and death, the meaning of halt into our world. Alfred Adler, founder of individual psychology, believes that the purpose of our life is given by the ratio of the cosmos and the community. The meaning of life3, he says, is the common good and who does not handle this well disappear without trace: ”The fundamental law of life is (...) effort to reach full victory. To its service are the self-preservation tendency, maintaining the psychological balance, somatic and mental development and aspiration towards perfection”4, similarly to God. Can we remain indifferent to suffering? We, the humans, have what is called ”longing to caress and the will to resist to suffering”5. Mircea Florian says that the Christian meaning of life is clear.6 Returning to euthanasia and the desire to end suffering whether the suffering is physical or spiritual: Mircea Florian also says that Christianity and other religions are wrong to belittle or valorize suffering: for example, Mircea Florian says, Zenon considers pain a weakness unworthy of man and ”mystical Christianity considers pain a godsend, a divine benevolence for the souls of the good ones”7. Perhaps those between two worlds, neither living nor dead, sentenced to death after suffering long or short, are causing to those who lag behind, a much deeper psychological and spiritual suffering. And maybe their euthanasia would save his loved ones from such pain. Maybe every individual should be able to decide if they would not like, in a threshold matter, when is diagnosed as having an incurable disease which will sent him beyond, to be euthanized. Because each individual, depending on the religious Alfred Adler, Sensul Vieţii, Univers Enciclopedic Publishing House, Bucureşti, 2010, p. 211. 4 Ibidem, p.56. 5 Mircea Florian, Arta de a suferi, Garamond Publishing House, 2001, Bucureşti, p. 10. 6 Ibidem, p. 9. ”Christianity has remained until today the only one way to look at the world who bestowed on souls thirsting for comfort, the treaty of peace with himself and with life. And so found the human being that he owns a creature somewhere and nowhere, an endless good, which is watching over the destinies of men, who scrutinizes hearts, which valorise clean but futile endeavors that finally, everyone will find the reward”. 7 Ibidem, p. 10. 3

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affiliation, its value system, may decide that a man - doctor, in our case - may end his pain by life suppressing. Or can decide that only God, whatever name it bears, is the One who can give and take life. Or, the suffering one, the subject of euthanasia, may consent to his end? When should he choose: while he is healthy and the suffering does not affect judgment, and says if I'll ever get sick, I would like to... ? What if during illness he discovers something which approaches him to Deity and believes that he will be saved through suffering? We put the question of the accountability of the one who should stop the life of a man. When can a doctor decide that it is nothing to be done? Who should decide that it is enough, suffering is unbearable? Can the doctor consider himself a well-doer for some and a criminal for others? But the family of the sufferer, should have a word? Social responsibility laws say that when many people assume a decision, each decision makers feels more comfortable. Why? Because responsibility is divided in this case; assuming that euthanasia should be allowed, not only the doctor will have to contend with soul dilemmas, with his own conscience which tells him that he must defend life and not to suppress it. Maybe that's why the decision is made by a committee or a doctor with family consent. Thus guilt dissipates, especially since it is a legal act, so other people, namely those who have made the law assumed this note: I agree with every ”good" death”8. But also sociology tells us that when a man is in ”a position of power”, as physician to the patient, may abuse its power9. Who guarantees that the doctor will not abuse its power, to take lives? What moral profile should have the one who is deciding Hans Eysenck, Michael Eysenck, Descifrarea comportamentului uman, Teora Publishing House, Bucureşti, 1998, pp. 37−46. See Stanley Milgram's research into crimes in during the Second World War: the victims are dehumanized by their executioners, and they describe themselves ”irrelevant and powerless subordinates”. 9 Ibidem, p. 38. Milgram conducted an experiment on obedience, authority and accountability, in which a student apply false electric shocks to those who provide incorrect answers, under the authority of a teacher. Although common sense would tell us not harm a person, more than half of the subjects involved in the experiment were applied shocks to the students, to a level that would normally do a lot worse, just because that was what the teacher demanded. 8

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consciously to suppress a person's life? I want to consider the other side of the coin: how Christian or moral is to see a man suffering, knowing that you could stop his suffering but to do nothing, or to do only what you can to ease the pain knowing that at some point nothing, any drug will not be effective? Why not let him go with dignity? Beyond any personal attitude you have towards euthanasia, as a phenomenon, as in the case of suicide, abortion or conceiving in ways less natural - in vitro fertilization - all these lead us to relate ourselves to life and death and our mortal condition and created beings. In addition the question remains: who has the right to play god, in all cases, and with what price?

Bibliography

”Codul de Deontologie Medicala al CMR”, in old.cmr.ro. Adler, Alfred, Sensul Vieţii, Univers Enciclopedic Publishing House, Bucureşti, 2010. Eysenck; Hans; Esenck, Michael Descifrarea comportamentului uman, Teora Publishing House, Bucureşti, 1998. Florian, Mircea, Arta de a suferi, Garamond Publishing House, București, 2001.

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Creatio ex Nihilo

Ştefan Grosu Fellow, Romanian Academy, POSDRU/159/1.5/S/13/6077 I Definition of Creatio ex Nihilo

From the etymological point of view the word creation comes from Latin creare and means to create, and ex nihilo means from nothing.1 Vulgate assigned this term showing that God created world from nothing.2 In Hebrew exists bara translated to create, this verb being used only for divine creation of the Bible, meaning that God created world out of nothing.3 In the approach of the Christian anthropology it represents the act through which God creates world out of nothing, that is ”creation, action… through which (…) it is acting to a preexistent matter”4 of the divinity which gives breath of life to an amorphous matter, without life. The notion is not rigorously determined because it also has a strange nuance in the sense that although the creation appears “as a mystery”5. The hermeneutical approach from Christianity considers creation as a hidden way in which God made the world through His power but this formulation does not effectively appear in the Bible.

II Why Does God Made the World

The conceptualization creatio ex nihilo is not simple and can be realized from the scientific or religious point of view. At its turn the religious approach can be from Judaic, Christian, Islamic, Buddhist, Hindu, Taoist point of view etc. (each religion has its own approach, in the sense).6 In the case of this paper it is taken into

“Ex Nihilo”, in freedictionary.com, 05/06/2014. To see , in this sense, ”Book of Genesis”, in biblestudytools.com, 6/01/2013. 3 Geneză 1:1 “At the beginning Good created… earth”. To see, in this sense, Allan P. Rose, “Genesis”, in The Bible Knowledge Commentary, Editors John F. Walvoord & Roy B. Zuck, Publisher Victor Books, Wheton, 1985, p. 4. 4 Filosofia de la A la Z, All Internaţional Publishing House, Bucureşti, 1999, p. 103. 5 Ibidem. 6 About the interaction between Islamic and Christian Spaces to be seen A. M. Gajdo, ”Islam in Europe-The `Third Wave of Islamisation` “, in Studia Universitatis Petru Maior, Historia, 2013. 1 2

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account the Biblical Creation, that is the Judaic and Christian approach. The Creation is, according to Genesis, creation how is perceived in the Book of Genesis from Judaism and Christianity: ”At the beginning God made the Earth and the Sky” (Genesis 1: 1) – at the beginning refers to beginning of the time of humanity. Creatio exnihilo means, in Biblical acceptance, an action through which God makes the world out of nothingness. Biology and paleontology try to find proofs about how life appeared on Terra but they have an insufficient explicative capacity in the sense that they cannot determine the way in which ”evolution transcends”7. The Creationism constitutes the faith that God created the forms of live in a miraculous way8 , but effectively ”is not a science”9. Until the end of the XIX th Century, there was only the Biblical Story of Creation. In 1859 Charles Darwin proposed in The Origins of Species the natural evolution of life forms10, and the Biblical Creationism began to lose ground. The communist regime made a close relation between Darwinist Creationism and Atheism. But in reality Charles Darwin never negated the existence of God.11 The Bible does not constitute a book of natural sciences as the Darwinist treaty, but shows only that the Author/ Creator of the world is God. It is no effective contradiction between science and theology because the aim of science is only the description of phenolmena of creation and not their hermeneutics.12 The Philosopher and Theologian Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, shows that there is a state of tension inside the scientifical comJean Danielou, La început, Sapienţia Publishin House, Iaşi, 2006, p. 40. ”Creationism”, in Encyclopaedia Americana online 2008. About the created beauty of Good t to be seen also Gabriel Hasmațuchi, Reflections on Art in Nichifor Crainic’s View, in Significance and Interpretation within the Knowledge Based Society, 2012. 9 ”Evolution and Creationism”, in nap.edu, 05.01.2011. 10 Charles Darwin, Originea speciilor, Beladi Publishing House, București, 2007. 11 Francis Darwin, The Life of Charles Darwin, iger Books, London, 1995, p. 55. It is said in this book that Charles Darwin followed the course of Faculty of Thelogy from Christ College Cambridge. 12 Doru Costache, Viziunea teologiei ortodoxe asupra contradicţiei creaţionism-evoluţionism, manuscriptum, 19 septembrie 2007. 7 8

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munity, beyond which is perceived, on one hand, that science did not succeed to delimit of metaphysics, and on the other hand that the problem of the relation between spirit and material still remains a difficult issue.13 Through philosophical theorization this creatio ex nihilo becomes an expression of faith but also a cognitive matrix namely a significant nucleus from where begins the road of human history. Globally, the problem of creation ex nihilo refers to two aspects: ˗ indicates that world is created by God because it is applied only to the creation of the world through the word of God; ˗ signifies the mystical approach of language which determines a Christian image about the world.14 Chapters I – XI of Genesis are neither history, nor myth or science. It cannot be told that a human being was present when these primordial histories took place. These are etiologies (from Greek, the history of causes).15 The Bible of Jerusalem called them episodes that are part of the universal history of creation of the world.16 The starting point of the Biblical Christian Anthropology is exactly this ex nihilo creation of God and from here results that human cannot exist than in relation with The Creator, and the human being is a being. It results the recognition of the radical dependence of the human being to God.17 The motive of creation of the world is represented by the exalting of God and the happiness of the human being.18 The world was created good (but not perfect) and adequate to the purpose why man was created (Genesis 1:31 și I Timothy 4:4). Bad entered the world due to the free will of the human being who chose ”the sin in the world and through the sin, death… ” (Romans 5:12). Pierre Teilhard De Chardin, Le phenomene humain, Editioris Du Seuil, Paris, 1970, p. 41. 14 Florea Lucaci, Propoziţii biblice, Eikon Publishing House, Cluj Napoca, 2005, p. 10. 15 Vladmir Petercă, Curs despre creaţie, Institutul Teologic Romano-Catolic, Bucureşti, 2007. 16 ” Comment at Genesis ”, in Le Bible de Jerusalem, Edition du Cerf, Paris, 2000. 17 Jean Danielou, op. cit., p. 35. 18 The spiritual aspects of Creation can be seen in Adriana Mihaela Macsut, ”Aspecte ale teologiei spirituale în concepția Sfântului Gerard de Cenad”, in Filosofia Sfântului Gerad de Cenad în context cultural și biografic, Jate Press Publishing House, Szeged, 2013, pp. 104 – 105. 13

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From a logical point of view the concept nihilo isn’t non – existence, but it cannot be defined.19 The one which brings the concept creatio ex nihilo is the Scholastic Philosopher Thomas D`Aquino who shows that God is above the created world20 but is although present in the whole creation.21 To determine the reasons why God created the world ex nihilo represents a doomed attempt since God is the Creator while man is a being and thus limited and cannot reach through his own forces to understand the mystery of divine creation.22

III Conclusions

The question which tortures human existence is if there is possible to elaborate a rational demarche which could demonstrate the falsehood of religious doctrines. This attempt made human being lose his dignity and receive the name humus: ,,a vision… where after losing the transcendent meaning of human being, we are not capable to recognize the intangible value of our own life” 23 and therefore we propose it’s exclusion, as a good thing, in determined circumstances. The aim of this paper was only to sketch out the concept of creatio ex nihilo from the point of view of Christian anthropology. Nevertheless, it remains a torturing question: does God exist or not? The answer is given by omniscient science, which characterizes the divine power and perfection.24 An ad literam exegesis can lead to a conflict between science and theology. Without a real report between God and the human being, the world loses its personal identity

Florea Lucaci, op. cit, p. 111. Etiene Gilson, Tomismul, Humanitas Publihing House, Bucureşti, 2002, p. 169. 21 John Meyendorff, Teologia bizantină. Tendinţe istorice şi teme doctrinare, Institutul Biblic şi de Misiune al Bisericii Ortodoxe Publishing House, 1996, București, p. 12. 22 Doru Costache, Crearea lumii văzute, o interpretare contemporană a referatului biblic, manuscriptum, 22 martie 2007. 23 Elio Sgeccia, Victor Tambone, Manual de bioetică, traducere de Gilda Livescu, Arhiepiscopia Romano-Catolică de București Pubhising House, București, 2001, p. 286. 24 Brian Davis, Introducere în filosofia religiei, Humanitas Publishing House, Bucureşti, 2002, p. 46. 19 20

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and freedom, without daring to trouble somehow this order.25 Without God, it reaches to euthanasia as o programmed death: ”above materialistic atheism is installing the exigency of science to transform accidental death in a programmed and calculated event”26.

Bibliography

Book of Genesis”, in biblestudytools.com. ”Creationism”, in Encyclopaedia Americana 98 online 2008. Danielou, Jean, La început, Sapienţia Publishing House, Iaşi, 2006. Darwin, Charles, Originea speciilor, Beladi Publishing House, București, 2007. Darwin, Francis, The Life of Charles Darwin, Tiger Books, London, 1995. De Chardin, Pierre Teilhard, Le phenomene humain, Editioris du Seuil, Paris, 1970, Paris, 1970. Doru Costache, Crearea lumii văzute, o interpretare contemporană a referatului biblic, manuscriptum,22 martie 2007. Davis, Brian, Introducere în filosofia religiei, Editura Humanitas, Bucureşti, 2002. ”Evolution and Creationism”, in nap.edu. “Ex Nihilo”, in freedictionary.com. Filosofia de la A la Z, All Internaţional Publishing House, Bucureşti, 1999. Gajdo, A. M. ”Islam in Europe-The `Third Wave of Islamisation` “, in Studia Universitatis Petru Maior, Historia, 2013. Gilson, Etienne, Tomismul, Humanitas Publishing House, Bucureşti, 2002. Hasmațuchi, Gabriel, Reflections on Art in Nichifor Crainic’s View, in Significance and Interpretation within the Knowledge Based Society, 2012 Le Bible de Jerusalem, Edition du Cerf, Paris, 2000. Lucaci, Florea, Propoziţii biblice, Eikon Publishing House, Cluj Napoca, 2005. Macsut, Adriana Mihaela, ”Aspecte ale teologiei spirituale în concepția Sfântului Gerard de Cenad”, in Filosofia Sfântului Gerad de Cenad în context cultural și biografic, Jate Press Publishing House, Szeged, 2013. Meyendorff, John, Teologia bizantină. Tendinţe istorice şi teme doctrinare, Institutul Biblic şi de Misiune al Bisericii Ortodoxe Publishing House, București, 1996. Popescu, Dumitru, Ortodoxie şi contemporaneitate, Diogene Publishing House, Bucureşti, 1996. Dumitru Popescu, Ortodoxie şi contemporaneitate, Diogene Publishing House, Bucureşti, 1996, pp. 183−184. 26 Elio Sgercio, Victor Tambone, op. cit., p. 286. 25

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Petercă, Vladimir, Curs despre creaţie, Institutul Teologic RomanoCatolic, Bucureşti, 2007. Rose Allan. P., “Genesis”, in The Bible Knowledge Commentary, Editors John F. Walvoord & Roy B. Zuck, Publisher Victor Books, Wheton, 1985. Sgeccia, Ellio; Tambone, Victor, Manual de bioetică, traducere de Gilda Livescu, Arhiepiscopia Romano-Catolicp de București Publishing House, 2001.

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Euthanasia and its significance in Romanian daily newspapers Gabriel Hasmațuchi In recent decades, euthanasia (translated ”Good death”) started to be, all over the world, the subject of the political, ethical medical, religious, philosophical and scientific debates. Moreover, it was legalized in Netherlands, Switzerland and Belgium. This phenomenon, by its impact, is also in the attention of the Romanian media. To feel/take the pulse of this phenomenon we monitored the articles written in the online editions of the newspapers România liberă, Evenimentul zilei, Adevărul1. Since in the texts studied they refer, when talking about euthanasia, both to humans and animals, I mention that to achieve this research, I focused this time, only on issues related to human beings. Today, Romanian law prohibits the practice of euthanasia. Folded on the values of human rights, the Romanian Constitution stipulates in chapter II, art.22, that ”the right to life and the right to physical and mental integrity of person are guaranteed”2. Also, the new Penal Code in support of the constitutional regulations prohibits euthanasia, in art. 188, and qualifies it an act which is punished by imprisonment: ”The murder committed at the explicit, serious, conscious and repeated request of the victim who suffered from an incurable disease or a serious infirmity medically certified, causing permanent and unbearable suffering shall be punished by imprisonment for 3-7 years.”3 In the same train of ideas, the Code of Legal Medicine from Romania, under art. 22, paragraph a), name ”practicing euthanasia and eugenics”4 as ethical acts. Moreover, the doctors, through the Hippocratic Oath, are prohibited to practice euthanasia: ”I will never prescribe - is said in the oath - a substance

In a future study, I’ll investigate also the position of the professional and confessional newspapers. 2 See ”Constituţia României” in www.cdep.ro. 3”Uciderea în noul Cod penal”, în lextic.wordpress.com/2010/05/23/noul-codpenal-uciderea-la-cererea-victimei, 20/05/2014. 4 See ”Codul de Deontologie Medicală”, in Monitorul Oficial, 20/05/2014 2012, art. 22. 1

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with deadly effects, even if I am asked for, nor will I give any advice in this regard. So I will not give to a woman an abortive remedy.” 5 From a religious perspective, euthanasia is prohibited and is considered a hard sin, because by doing it is committed a crime, as it violates the commandment: Thou shalt not kill. In the spirit of these divine but also human laws, the approaches and reactions of the Romanian media on euthanasia have a neutral but also didactic hue.

I Good death – a campaign and simple fact

The Romanian mainstream media6 relates to the phenomenon euthanasia by publishing some articles which, by their human interest related to this issue, refer to people who have decided to end their life for reasons such as: ˗ a terminal illness or a life lived to the limit of endurance after an accident; ˗ unsuccessful operation; ˗ the fear of suffering during widowhood; ˗ social or legal problems; ˗ express request of parents to end the life of their very sick children, without any chance to be treated and live only with devices they are connected to. In addition to the information from this range of interest, Romanian journalists bring to the attention of the public news about legal regulations from some countries of the world such as Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Quebec (Canada), Estonia, USA, even Bulgaria (where they try to legislate euthanasia on humans), but also highlights situations of euthanasia announced on the Internet. Planned death - on November 1st - of M.B., a young woman aged 29 years from the US, has gone around the world. Several weeks ago, Adevărul announced the intention of this young girl to ”Jurământul lui Hippocrate”, in eticamedicala.ro, 20/05/2014. The three newpapers, România liberă, Evenimentul zilei and Adevărul allocated a different number of articles, as we observe, at a first search through internet motors of search on the web sites. Adevărul occupies the position with 262 news, in the established period for research – 01/.01 /2012 and 29/10/2014 – where appears the term of euthanasia (the debate to be is about humans, and also about animals). On the second plase is situated România liberă with 47 articles, followed by Evenimentul Zilei with 4 articles (only in this year). 5 6

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end her life, since she found out that she had an aggressive form of brain cancer.7 To go with her plan up to the end, B.M. decided to move to Oregon, one of the few US states where euthanasia was legalized. This medical procedure is legal. The campaign initiated by B.M. was justified by the fact that she wanted a world "where everyone should have the right to die with dignity, like me." 8 A day with an expected death so can be called the 1st of November, when the young girl, as already announced, fulfilled her desire. In her farewell, B.M. said that she chose to die with dignity after a very hard suffering.9 This action was, in fact, coordinated by an association from US that advocates for the right to euthanasia. In the following, I mention a few cases which, in one way or another, getting the interest of the readers. They are, somehow, at the limit of simple fact. Thus, an elderly couple in Brussels, husband and wife, at the age of 89, respectively, 86, decided to be euthanized in an anniversary moment, February 3, 2015, the day that marks 64 years of marriage, for fear of hard suffering caused y the loneliness of widowhood: “We want to die together because we both fear the future, the loneliness and, above all, the consequences of loneliness. You must be brave to throw yourself off a building or hang yourself, and although I'm sure that I want it, I could not do it. But, if a doctor makes an injection after which you simply sleep this does not need courage”, says the husband, in a quote took over by Adevărul.10 The reason invoked – ”suffering widowhood” - was initially considered not strong enough ”to justify legal euthanasia”11, but after a reevaluation and analysis of the physical conditions of the two, a panel of doctors at a hospital in Flanders, agreed to comply with the request of these people whose descendants are extremely satisfied because ”euthanasia of the two is the best solution” 12. See ”Clipul unei tinere bolnave de cancer care-şi planifică moarte pe 1 noiembrie provoacă emoţie pe Internet”, in adevarul.ro/international, taken article from Mediafax, 03/11/2014. 8 Ibidem. 9 See Avram Eliza, ”O tânără de 29 de ani, bolnavă în fază terminală, s-a sinucis…”, in România liberă, 03/11.2014. 10 See Mădălina Bătrânca, ”Prima eutanasie în doi din lume…”, in Adevarul, 03/11/2014. 11 Ibidem. 12 Ibidem. 7

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More or less new, the printed news, which has as subject euthanasia, illustrates the dramas of some people, their failures, traumas and sufferings. I reproduce here some of them. The first concerns a 44-year-old Belgian, who, after an unsuccessful sex change operation, he asked to be euthanized. 13 Twins, aged 45, who were euthanized because they were deaf since birth, they learned that shortly both will be blind, are the subject of another story called weird by the newspaper that published it.14 ”The relationship between the two brothers was so strong that they preferred to die than not to see one another again”15 and their act was for them as a release from all suffering.16 I conclude the examples with news on a story about ”The Belgian athlete who threw a party before being euthanized”17 because he was suffering from stomach cancer and, at his age (95 years) did not have any chance of healing. We see, in the examples above, that in one of the cases, that of the twins, the medical norms of euthanasia were not obeyed. The two men were not in a terminal phase, but they got the approval to be lethally injected.

II Euthanasia misunderstood as the ultimate gesture

Even if in Romania the human euthanasia is not legal and it’s out of the question to be legalized18, there are some citizens who made claims President or Prime Minister of Romania to be euthanized, for social, legal and medical. As seen from the content of some news from Romania, euthanasia has for some people the meaning of an extreme gesture See ”Un belgian a fost eutanasiat după o schimbare de sex eşuată”, in Adevărul, 20/04/2014. 14 Răzvan Cârcu, ”Au cerut să fie eutanasiaţi, fiindcă n-ar fi suportat gândul să nu se mai vadă ”, in Adevarul, 05/05/2014. 15 Ibidem. 16 Ibidem. 17 See Alex Ştefan, ”Povestea atletului belgian care a dat o petrecere înainte să fie eutanasiat”, in Adevărul, 30/05/2014. 18 In an article of România liberă, from 24/11/2008, PHD Professor. Serban Marinescu, the President of Romanian Association of Anaesteshia and Intensive Care, specifies that euthanasia is not allowed in Romania, but it is tried the harmonization of Romanian legislation with the European one. See ”Băsescu, rugat de un tânăr să îi aprobe eutanasierea”, in România Liberă, 10/04/2014. 13

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through which they want to draw the attention of the authorities in times when they are doing an injustice, as they did to a woman who, besides the fact that she lost her agricultural property of 5,000 square meters, she had to take care, at the same time, of her husband sick of cancer and her daughter with Down syndrome.19 From the same register, a family in despair requires all members to be euthanized. Their desire was determined by the fact that their apartment had been damaged in an explosion and the solution offered by the city hall was not advantageous.20 Another case is that of a policeman, who considers himself wronged by covering up an investigation which he regarded him as a victim. It all started with a conflict that occurred during his service and was stabbed in the hand by a Syrian who escaped unpunished for his act. The policeman in question sent a memorandum to Prime Minister of Romania and demanded, among other things, to be euthanized during the National Day.21 A young Romanian sick of cirrhosis, with no chance of healing, asked the Romanian president to approve euthanasia.22 This last gesture, the desperate initiative of E.C.A. was the result of repeated failed attempts to get support from the state or the Ministry of Health.23 As seen in the situations mentioned above, those who have asked to be euthanized, on the one hand wanted to draw attention to the problems they faced, but on the other hand, neither they knew the Romanian legislation nor they lacked general knowledge about the framework in which one can approve such a request. From the perspective of those who support euthanasia, only the young in a terminal phase of cirrhosis would have been entitled to claim such a death. Corina Macavei, ”Ultima dorinţă a unui muribund din Mehedinţi: să primească decizia de pensionare”, in Adevărul, 03/11/2014. 20 Cristian Franţ, ”O familie din blocul explodat de la Reşiţa îşi cere eutanasierea”, in Adevărul, 10/04/2014. 21 See Florina Pop, ”Poliţia Română a început o anchetă în cazul poliţistului clujean care a cerut să fie eutanasiat de Ziua Naţională”, in Adevărul, 03/03/2014. 22 ”Băsescu, rugat de un tânăr să îi aprobe eutanasierea”, in România liberă, 10/04/2014. 23 Ibidem. 19

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Among the articles from the newspapers only a few have an explanatory or educational content and bring into discussion the issue of euthanasia. In the following I will highlight the most conclusive.

III Pros and cons and a summing-up

Lately, the human euthanasia has become a topic that begins to generate a framework for debate initiated by journalists but also by doctors and priests. In an editorial entitled ”Euthanasia, till when in Romania?” Adrian Munteanu examines this phenomenon and finds out that "the subject is derisory in our complicated and important reality." 24 Journalism weighs in this text, every statement and mentions that: ”Euthanasia can not be a decision left in the hands of a single man, not even to the sufferer, and the conditions under which it is permitted, where it is, are very strict: medical commissions, endstage incurable diseases, certain and terrible suffering, etc."25 Among the things said by the journalist, he actually draws the attention upon the legal framework, but also upon the conditions in which such a medical act can be carried out. The author urges to caution as ”the control over our lives must be partially from outside, rational, objective and methodical as much as possible, a condition sine qua non to be protected from our own hurtful or suicidal temptations and/or from the errors of other human no matter how wellintentioned it may be."26 Opposite to the approach mentioned before, we meet a partisan voice to human euthanasia legalization in Romania. The author of the article "We euthanize dogs, the humans when?" A doctor by profession, perhaps for fear of repercussions, he signed his text with the pseudonym the Healer. He comes with a number of arguments, but in the same way, and has also many perplexities: ”When the body no longer belongs to us, when the meat is rotten, when blood is just venom when we drown in our own secretions, when the bone metastases are causing awful pain, when the skin, intestines, lungs, brain are full of pus, when only the body is on the Adrian Munteanu, ”Eutanasia, pe când şi-n România”, in Adevărul, 14/03/2014. 25 Ibidem. 26 Ibidem. 24

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resuscitation bed, when we end in moving only your eyes, when we can’t swallow and we die of hunger in a few days when many, too many, why don’t we take the humanitarian, correct decision? Decision that we take so easily in the case of animals in agony, as if we were their God. Why? Because of a God who allows all this to happen? Where is then the respect for the human body and soul? Where is the compassion? Where is it good?”"27 We have here only two examples, but they do not fully characterize attitudes towards human euthanasia in Romania. In general, the dominant current of opinion that can be seen in media is against euthanasia. Rarely it happens that someone expresses a partisan opinion, but even then this is done with great care, anonymously, as in the example above. So far it’s out of question the removal of euthanasia from the register of criminal acts in Romania. 12 years after the legalization of euthanasia, in Belgium and Netherlands they began make a review. From the perspective of the associations which promote euthanasia, its legalization had positive consequences: ”Jacqueline Herremans, president of the Association for the right to die with dignity considers that the law was positive because on the one hand, allowed many great changes in the relationship patients-physicians, many taboos about the end of life being dismantled, and, on the other hand, for allowing families to prepare and accept the end of their loved ones through rituals such as the last meal, the goodbye ceremony etc”28. However, as stated Ruxandra Paul, ”the triumphant accents from the review of the first 10 years of legal human euthanasia in Netherlands and Belgium does not exhaust the world experience and fail to cover harsh criticism against the legalization of the procedure." 29 Objections arising from two fundamental principles: ˗ sanctity or inviolability of life; ˗ patient autonomy”30. In this context, there are at least four dangers mentioned by Ruxandra Paul: Vindecătorul, ”Eutanasiem câini.Oameni când”, in Evenimentul Zilei, 20/03/2014. 28 Ruxandra Paul, ”Eutanasia umană legalizată:binefacere sau crimă?”, in România liberă, 15/04/2014. 29 Ibidem. 30 Ibidem. 27

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Once legalized, human euthanasia cannot be controlled, and patients who did not wish to be euthanized being killed. Only in Netherlands, at least 1,000 patients die annually in this way; ˗ Legalizing human euthanasia puts tremendous pressure on the sick, old and infirm people who come to feel themselves a burden to others and thus be morally compelled to accept death - a euthanasia costs only $ 300; ˗ Legalizing euthanasia and medically assisted suicide involve profound changes in social attitudes towards sickness, disability, death and old age, in parallel with the essential changes of the role of the medical profession. Human values such as patience, compassion, solidarity, devotion are deprived of meaning; ˗ Finally, undermining medical care, particularly palliative care and the serious damage to the doctor-patient relationship are other consequences of legalizing euthanasia and medically assisted suicide”31. Unlike countries where human euthanasia is legal and seems, for the moment, to solve the problems of patients eager to get rid of a heavy suffering, Romanian doctors’ concerns are - dictated by a culture of life – to support medically and morally those in an endstage disease. ˗

IV A culture of life and the palliative care

From the experience of 36 years of a renowned specialist in geriatrics, Dr. Constantin Bogdan, founder of St. Luke Chronic Diseases Hospital from Bucharest, we find out from an interview given to România libera that during his career, 12 of his patients asked him to be euthanized.32 The doctor C.Bogdan thinks that many more patients would have wanted this, but ”they repressed their impulse. (...) All of them were suffering, for a long time, of serious illness, which showed no signs of healing, improvement, but progressive deterioration. Most of them had among symptoms, the pain. Some of them claimed to have become a burden and stress for

Ibidem. Sidonia Bogdan, ”Subiectul tabu al medicinei româneşti.