Do you own your body after death? | INFJ Forum

Do you own your body after death?

Reon

Reon

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Nov 1, 2008
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I ran across this question on XKCD forum the other day, and I honestly don't have a concrete answer to the question. The thread I was reading revolved around the assertion that everyone should be forced to donate organs and such and the main argument against this is that the government doesn't own your body after death, and if a body does NOT have humans rights, than the body nearly immediately becomes the property of the next of kin.

When we die, do we still have humans rights? Do we cease to be human at the point of death.
 
Honestly, if I'm no longer using my body, I'd far rather let it be put to use for donor organs or research. Just knowing it could help save a life even after mine has expired, I think I would feel a bit better if I was about to hit the other side of the tracks, so to speak.

I wouldn't exactly say the body in question has too many rights though. I'd just hope that people would be respectful enough not to trash it up for no reason. Not that I can understand why anyone would in the first place?
 
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I would assume, that the treatment of your body would be respected by your living wishes, after those whishes, next of kin.

My question is do we own our bodies in the first place?
 
I believe that God owns my body and that I'm just borrowing it.. it's temporarily mine... and I have to make the most out of it and when I die... my body is no longer mine :) :) ahaha it decays... I believe that I have my body now to express my soul and to help others and so when i die, I think my soul is the one i would give more importance to since for me my body is just an instrument

:) :) Yes I think we cease to be human at the point of death
 
Celsius100 said:
Honestly, if I'm no longer using my body, I'd far rather let it be put to use for donor organs or research. Just knowing it could help save a life even after mine has expired, I think I would feel a bit better if I was about to hit the other side of the tracks, so to speak.

I wouldn't exactly say the body in question has too many rights though. I'd just hope that people would be respectful enough not to trash it up for no reason. Not that I can understand why anyone would in the first place?
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But what rights does a body have?
 
tough call on this one as i've never been on either end of this situation though i have given permission on my liscense to donate when i die. perhaps there is a compromise somewhere in between. if the next of kin decides they want the body they have to pay a fee that supports a government run organ donation awareness program or something. i think part of the problem is that this isn't something that most people think a lot about until they're on the bottom of a waiting list
 
I don't want the government anywhere near my corpes, I'd be creamated first.

Don't get me wrong i'm registered a donor, but my body is still mine and when i die it'l be my kid's

Though it makes me think about what my father said he wants done when he dies.

He wants to be cremated and the taken to the sea and have his ashes scattered, This way whener it rains I'll know my dad is with me.

Great now i'm going to be morbid all night, I blame shai.
 
I think it's okay to donate my body parts when I die.. as long as it would be really really really useful and it would be put into good use... I don't want my eyes, legs, arms, hands donated to a killer/rapist/snatcher/ bad people.
 
I own your body
 
This is a fairly subjective topic of morality, but most western customs hold that you have post-mortem rights over your remains, even though what you may do with them is fairly restricted. I prefer it that way, seems more conducive to giving people assurances what with death being such an emotional subject.

Maybe if we were Fremen we would extract the water from our own bodies, but I don't see anything like that as being important enough to nullify people's say over their remains. People could have that done them if they really like the idea though, great for them. :m082:

As much as I know that it doesn't truly matter on a logical level I'm still greatly comforted by the fact that I can decide what will be done with my remains. Donation of spare parts and/or for research purposes is an idea I'm very fond of. My body will be of no use to me as much as I am emotionally (and otherwise :p) attached to it, so if it helps someone then great! My liver cells shall live on...
 
A body is a husk, which without a mind to control and will it is an ownerless one. So i reckon that we own our bodies through our minds, the power we have over it consciously - like looking at your arms and lifting it - and subconsciously as in reflex actions. Reflex actions are our minds controlling our bodies without being even aware of it. Something that has that power is definately the owner I'd say, and since we are our minds, yes we own our bodies.

edit: just saw the question was 'after death'. No, don't be so silly :) Unless you count the residual electrical impulses that linger for a while even after death.
 
you don't own anything after death. your next of kin would still be affected by what happens to your body though, and should have some say in it.
 
Crabby Lil Me said:
I own your body
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Oh yeah?

I'm never gonna give in to you, not even torture will sway my will! Give me your best, I can take it!

I just sure hope you don't use those whips over there, on the walll!

151111__mel_l_1.jpg
 
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People can be emotionally irrational after death, this needs to be kept in perspective when looking at how a body is dealt with. I honestly don't have a care of what happens to my body after death. I think I would prefer cremation.

Anyway, you cannot dismiss human emotion and attachment to symbology simply because it is illogical without expecting an intense emotional reaction that will most likely be more detrimental than whatever the benefit of the body would be.

I think the world could benefit a lot more from efficient use of bodies after death for multiple purposes, but ultimately I believe it would be much more detrimental to enforce no rights of a body after death. I believe it is needed at this point in time, but I don't necessarily believe it is right. Emotions are a double edged sword but they deserve respect at times. Would a government claiming no one has rights then be implying that the rights to the body actually go to the government?
 
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My bodies disposal will be a part of the clause in my will which decides who gets what.

If they can't respect the wishes for my body, they get no money, assets or sentimental items.
 
Who owns mummies?

Has anyone ever been to Egypt, to see the pyramids or the sphinx? That would be absolutely fascinating. I also heard there were a bunch of mummified monks somewhere in Italy, and also the catacombs of Paris have the bones of people who would no longer fit in the cemetery of the Innocents, so they dug them up and stacked them underground.

I love old graveyards, too, where you see that the ground has sunken in where the coffins decomposed and you can read all the old inscriptions and wonder what their lives were like.

Anyway, I think it is safe to say the original owners of all these bodies no longer have ownership... ashes to ashes, etc.

I think it would be cool to get mummified in some sort of interesting way, just for the entertainment value, really, but I truly I don't think it matters.
 
Is it not necessary, in most Christian theologies, for the soul to be reunited with the body in order to participate in the afterlife? (or post Apocalypse?)
 
Reon said:
I ran across this question on XKCD forum the other day, and I honestly don't have a concrete answer to the question. The thread I was reading revolved around the assertion that everyone should be forced to donate organs and such and the main argument against this is that the government doesn't own your body after death, and if a body does NOT have humans rights, than the body nearly immediately becomes the property of the next of kin.

When we die, do we still have humans rights? Do we cease to be human at the point of death.
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It sounds like you're mixing a philosophical question with a legal question.

I'll answer the philosophical one: Ownership is in your mind
 
When we are going to die, it means we are going own some other body. Our soul is going to change its cloth known as body.
 
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