The value of human life

This article considers the moral question of the value of human life by focussing on the narrower question of our duty towards disabled new-born infants. Two influential but contrasting answers to that narrower question are considered – a traditional answer that arises from the doctrine of the sanctity of life, and a contemporary Utilitarian answer typified in the work of the English philosopher Jonathan Glover. Particular implications of Glover’s theoretical support for his answer are examined, and it is argued that these implications show his theory to be unacceptable. And this rejection of his theory amounts to an acceptance of at least a thin version of the doctrine of the sanctity of life. The article then considers whether the Judaeo-Christian picture provides the best explanation of the truth of our convictions concerning the value of human life.