> Most people would not say it is unethical to take them off of life support even if it's basically equivalent to killing them.
Now hold your horses there. There are huge numbers of people, probably millions, who feel morally very righteous that it is unethical and immoral to take somebody off of life support regardless of brain activity.
The axiom they've built their moral structure on is not "sentience is sacred" but "life is sacred", which strictly speaking is a stronger test than any Vegan is willing to adhere to. Strictly speaking, by that test, a Vegan is a practitioner of vast, premeditated plant killings on a vast scale. (let's not let the impossible forced hypocrisy of the axiom get in the way of a good discussion)
I don't agree with one any more than I agree with the other. The problem is not a matter of degree, but a matter of definition. A Vegan doesn't get to claim "sentience is sacred", build up a moral framework around that and then push it on anybody any more than the Rabbi down the street gets to tell me that I shouldn't mix fabrics because it's an abomination to God or the Minister in that weird Lutheran church down the road that believes that women shouldn't wear pants because it's also specifically abominable (Deuteronomy 22:5) or my friend the Imam gets to lecture me on what the Koran says about alcohol.
Now hold your horses there. There are huge numbers of people, probably millions, who feel morally very righteous that it is unethical and immoral to take somebody off of life support regardless of brain activity.
The axiom they've built their moral structure on is not "sentience is sacred" but "life is sacred", which strictly speaking is a stronger test than any Vegan is willing to adhere to. Strictly speaking, by that test, a Vegan is a practitioner of vast, premeditated plant killings on a vast scale. (let's not let the impossible forced hypocrisy of the axiom get in the way of a good discussion)
I don't agree with one any more than I agree with the other. The problem is not a matter of degree, but a matter of definition. A Vegan doesn't get to claim "sentience is sacred", build up a moral framework around that and then push it on anybody any more than the Rabbi down the street gets to tell me that I shouldn't mix fabrics because it's an abomination to God or the Minister in that weird Lutheran church down the road that believes that women shouldn't wear pants because it's also specifically abominable (Deuteronomy 22:5) or my friend the Imam gets to lecture me on what the Koran says about alcohol.