Dirty Pretty Things

Blog Prompt 9: Should organ sales be legal? Give the Kantian argument. Do you agree? Where would a utilitarian stand?

Personally my immediate answer would be no to selling organs. With the scenes presented in the film “Dirty Pretty Things” it’s almost hard not to agree with it given the events that have occurred. One of the main complaints a lot of people have is about “freedom” and the right to do what they want to with their body. In most cases they can as long as they don’t harm themselves or others. Now giving up organs for money is where it gets tricky. There are immigrants who would love to give their organ away at a chance at a better life however is it the right thing to do? According to Kant rationality is an essential feature of the self. However the rationality can’t have a motive, there should not be something waiting after a choice is being made that can ruin the rationality, pros and cons have to be in the middle. The moment someone decides to sell their organs for profit is when the rationality is at fault. Speculations come around about safety and how people sell organs on the black market already. Safety becomes a big concern; are people safe while performing these tasks, how often are these tasks going on for. There are so many red flags because there are a lot of legal complications that could occur and the healthcare field is about respect and morale, if they did decide to let people sell organs they would have to do the procedure and save someone’s life that has more money. Is one’s life better to save because one has more money than another person? In my opinion no, so that’s why I believe they shouldn’t even consider making organs for sale an option. 

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