Culture and a Mans Dying Wish :: essays research papers

A soldiery dies. His communitys culture deems that he be interred in holy ground lest the community suffer slightly catastrophe. He, having always been at odds with his community on this point, has left a provision in his will that he be cremated and his ashes scattered into the ocean. The body waits in the hospital while the community debates the issue. What is to be done?The elders have asked for a moral view. What is one to say? If the belief that the man must be buried is one deeply ingrained in the hearts and minds of the community, then a finis to cremate him would cause an uproar. On the other hand, if there are nigh who sympathize with the man, either decision might cause a schism within the community. The ultimate action would have to depend on much more(prenominal) than the cultures belief ab by burial. It would have to take into account the cultures beliefs on individual rights, freedom of belief, and the validity of the mans will. It would also have to take into a ccount the moral implications of carrying out a mans dying wish and the repercussions of violating a sacred social institution. This is not a decision to be taken lightly, but by stepping back and deliberateness the options carefully, one can come to a conclusion which would be the most moral given the situation. I say most moral because there really is no right choice here. Any action taken will most definitely be wrong to at least one conference of people. Here no plea can be made to universal morality because neither belief in its specific sense appeals to any sodding(a) moral intuition. People on the other side of the world might have neither the belief that the man should be buried, nor the belief that his ashes should be spread. distributively persons choice would be too influenced by his own cultural morality, and so nobody would really have a right to judge.Were I to be asked for an opinion on this matter, I feel I would have no authority in my response. It is really the communitys choice, and I would be afraid to make a decision which affects people completely strange to me. I doubt they would ask me in the first place, but were I to be asked my opinion I would say that the man should be buried in the special burial ground.