Exploring the Value of Life: Law, Individual Perspectives, and Ethics

This essay delves into the complex and multifaceted question of whether the value of life should be decided by law or by individuals. It begins by highlighting the inherent value and preciousness of human life, contrasting societal hypocrisies and the importance of individual perspectives. The essay explores the influence of law, societal norms, and personal beliefs in shaping perceptions of life's worth, referencing examples like Steve Jobs' philosophy of living life to the fullest. It examines the role of government, the impact of socioeconomic status, and the evolution of values across generations. The essay also discusses the emotional versus monetary value of life, the impact of inequality, and the ethical considerations surrounding life's value. Ultimately, it concludes that the value of life is not solely determined by monetary aspects, emphasizing the importance of individual experiences and choices.

Should the value of life
be decided by law or by
individuals

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
Life of an individual is the most precious and valuable gift of human life. Many a rimes
people tend to take their life for granted or do not hold value to it as much should be held. In
present day context it has been observed that views and thoughts of society today are quite
hypocritical. From the time an individual takes birth they are continuously taught certain
important lessons about life and its do's and dont's as well. One most important or primary
lesson that any person goes through or learns is that killing or hurting someone by any devices or
means is unjust and not correct as per laws and human nature (Asad, 2015). This happens to be
the first lesson that is taught to a person in context of law as well as human nature. Children at a
quite tender age start trusting that this practice is absolutely against moral principles and ethics
and also does not support laws set by government as well. Yet out of all these efforts the value of
life of individuals in a society today especially the younger generation faces the wrath of
uncertainty in context of their life.
Steve Jobs was an individual who believed in living life to the fullest and also motivated
people so that they can live their life like if it was their last day. Crime and violence today has
highly exceeded its limits and still has been growing day by day. Accidents, murders, killings
have become quite common in today's scenario. An example of such a situation exists in almost
every household today as there has been quite a lot of infant murders and abortion being
happening. Hence it is easy to convey that lives of infants are not as valued as they should have
been. Also younger generation is not given that respect and recognition as the older generation
receives due to which many a times even they basic rights get hampered by others (Bickenbach,
2015). Birth of an infant has become more like a commodity or article rather than a precious
miracle.
One good saying in respect of life is that life is exactly like what you take it to be hence
in this context Steve Jobs always considered his life to be quite precious. Also he always aimed
at enjoying and living his life to the fullest by making most of every single day. Main concern of
Steve Jobs was basically ensuring worth of life of an individual. His example is the best suited
whenever worth or value of life has to be judged. Every single person's perspective about how
their life should be will be quite different from other and hence their style of living will also be
different (Blau, 2017). An example of this is that younger generation today believes popularity or
fame in life can only be earned by means of money whereas older generations focus more on
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developing quality of life by adopting values in their character and personality. Such individuals
only trust on the value of money and do not own a sound values quotient in their personality
whereas government of every country judges the value of a person by their job status or the
position they hold in society. For example, a value of doctor will be quite higher than a nurse or
an assistant doctor.
Lot of people have forgotten the concept of earning value and respect for themselves and
wish to have everything in hand (Bowen, 2018). Society also follows the same concept as
government and focusses on valuing an individual based on their position and their job as well
whereas an individuals judges himself based on their overall achievements and perspective and
thought process of an individual can be quite different from another. Steve Jobs also once while
giving a speech conveyed a message saying “ Don't let the noise of others opinions dull your
inner voice”. This statement means that every person should follow their own heart and instincts
and should never drown out an idea just because somebody else has said something. It is quite
essential that individuals should always work or operate as per their own choices rather than
somebody else's ideas. Before initiation of any task it is important that people are confident about
their own set of skills and have a firm belief that they can achieve a particular thing as self belief
is the only key to success (Commons, 2017). It has been quite a lot of times observed that
nowadays even school students find jobs for themselves before they even pass out and tend to
stay with that particular job for their entire lives.
Many a times even society takes decisions based on working status or identity of an
individual. An example of it can be drawn from 18- 19 century where during times of slavery,
decisions of people were basically made based on the amount of money or resources a person
held and not on the working or non working status of an individual. Hence it is quite confusing
to say as to who should be deciding the quality of life, law or individuals. Also in this case there
are chances that answers or choices may differ from person to person due to change in
perspective. Who should be deciding the value of life is a quite complicated question and crosses
each and every person's mindset at some point of time yet the answer derived will never be a
definite solution (Eekelaar, 2017). This happens as morals and beliefs of each individual are
quite different from another. Hence everyone should be given a fair chance for deciding their
own goals and life aspects.
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Life is a quite priceless gift provided to each and every person and its exact value can never be
determined by any means. Also there happens to be no exact definition as to what is the value of
life or how valuable can life be to people. Human life is basically a quite meaningful gift and
cannot be calculated based on monetary terms. Government generally calculates value of life by
doing a calculation of average income earned by an individual whereas it is many a times
misinterpret as an overall compensatory amount in respect of their overall value of life. Many a
times government provides compensation to families who have lost their family member so as to
provide a stable economic base to their families for they might have lost their earning member
(Hammell, 2015). Many a times in such cases, family members tend to get outraged and
unsatisfied by government. Hence according to them value of life should not be determined by
government or law bodies as they can be many a times unfair or unjust in their approach of
providing compensation.
Apart from this, there is one more question which keeps arising in the minds of people
from time to time that whether the value of life should be considered in monetary terms or
should be kept separate as emotional value. People in the earlier stages believed should remain
intact with themselves and hence in this context Egyptian people used to bury their dead relatives
with all their wealth and other worldly belongings. This was because they believed that a
person's monetary worth on the Earth was no more existent and hence their wealth also should
go with them in afterlife. While in today's developing society thoughts and ideologies of people
have modified to great extents. They go for a thought that families that have suffered loss due to
death should be compensated for their loss (Parent, 2017). It is quite true that life of an
individual is quite precious just like a diamond but yet has no fixed monetary value attached to it
like diamonds. Value of life is inseparable and intangible as well in nature.
Value of life is an essential natural right which cannot de defined in monetary terms. Also
it cannot be exchanged or bought in return for any tangible asset. Life of a person is a quite
fragile and precious thing and hence should so be treated as such. In present scenario it has been
examined that although our society has developed and changed quite a lot yet inequality happens
to be major existing element in various parts of the world. In today's time, society also assigns or
determines value of life by classifying or judging gender as well as ethnicity (Purtilo, R. B. and
Doherty, 2015). While taking a survey on this particular topic many researchers observed that
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people believed on a fact that no price or money can be assigned in context of life of an
individual as it is politically as well as morally unjust and unethical practice.
Every individual has their own way of living their lives and based on that experiences of
people are also different from one another. Some people have quite complicated and difficult
lives where they need to go through a number of hardships in order to be successful while there
are some other people also who are basically quite lucky (Radin, 2017). An example of such a
lucky mascot is Steve Jobs who received everything he desired without any much hardships. All
these hardships and experiences form an integral part of a person's life and develops strength and
meaningfulness in a person's lives. Meaning and value are almost similar looking terms but are
exactly different from one another. A person may be richest person in the world just like Bill
Gates and another many be just a normal working person, yet one thing in both the cases remains
constant that every individual has been built by Almighty as the same and hence worth of one
individual's life will be exactly same as others. Life of a person is a vast subject that has huge
potential put in it. Also it combines various other elements such as potential, possibilities etc. All
these factors are worth fighting for and make life such valuable.
Whenever people want to examine the value of life for people, it has been clearly
observed that people should make more life in less days rather than more days in less life. Money
is not always necessary for being happy (Rohr, 2017). This statement is quite true and also can
be supported as a 2 year old is never the richest individual on earth yet is happy and satisfied
whereas a 30 year old may have ample of funds but yet may not be happy. In ideas and thoughts
of individuals it has been observed that people today value moments that they cherish and spend
with their loved ones rather than focussing on monetary backgrounds. Also people sympathise
with life and try to take lessons from their mistakes and try their best that they do not repeat it in
near future. They always tend to constantly grow and develop with moving time and should
always have an optimistic and positive approach towards life.
Society on the other hand has a totally different perspective to this and values life in a
quite logical and financial aspects as well. Value of life is a quite controversial topic which
cannot be same even for two individuals (Rossler, 2018). It is a connotative topic which can only
be determined and expressed by personal experiences and beliefs of an individual. Furthermore,
it has no denotative meaning or definition to it. Hence everybody defines the value of life as per
their personal experiences and perspectives. It keeps constancy changing from time to time yet
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there is one similarity that life is not a bed of roses for any person whether it be rich or small.
Hence to conclude the essay it has been found out that value of life cannot be determined in
monetary aspects. Also individuals should be given chances to express their experiences and
choices about how they wish to spend their life (Segal and Champlin, 2017). Other than
government or law cannot exactly define value of life for individuals as they have not gone
through experiences and hardships faced by them. Lastly this essay states that there should be no
compromise with value of life of a person and their quality and safety of life should be ensured.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Asad, T., 2015. Reflections on violence, law, and humanitarianism. Critical Inquiry. 41(2).
pp.390-427.
Bickenbach, J. E., 2015. Disability and life-ending decisions. In Physician Assisted Suicide. (pp.
123-132). Routledge.
Blau, P., 2017. Exchange and power in social life. Routledge.
Bowen, H., 2018. Investment in learning: The individual and social value of American higher
education. Routledge.
Commons, J. R., 2017. Legal foundations of capitalism. Routledge.
Eekelaar, J., 2017. Family law and personal life. Oxford University Press.
Hammell, K. W., 2015. Quality of life, participation and occupational rights: A capabilities
perspective. Australian Occupational Therapy Journal. 62(2). pp.78-85.
Parent, W. A., 2017. Privacy, morality, and the law. In Privacy. (pp. 105-124). Routledge.
Purtilo, R. B. and Doherty, R. F., 2015. Ethical dimensions in the health professions. Elsevier
Health Sciences.
Radin, M. J., 2017. Reconsidering the rule of law. In The Rule of Law and the Separation of
Powers .(pp. 37-76). Routledge.
Rohr, J., 2017. Ethics for bureaucrats: An essay on law and values. Routledge.
Rossler, B., 2018. The value of privacy. John Wiley & Sons.
Segal, J. A. and Champlin, A. J., 2017. The Attitudinal Model. Routledge Handbook of Judicial
Behavior. p.17.
Selznick, P., 2017. Legal cultures and the rule of law. In The rule of law after communism. (pp.
21-38). Routledge.
Thaler, R. H. and Ganser, L. J., 2015. Misbehaving: The making of behavioral economics. New
York: WW Norton.
Wacks, R., 2015. Law: a very short introduction (Vol. 180). Oxford University Press, USA.
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