NationStates Jolt Archive

People seem to have differing views on what importance, if any, the body of a deceased person holds. To some it's just a lump of flesh, to others it's something that should be treated with utmost sanctity. Likewise people with differing opinions view the defiling or desecratiton a corpse differently.

So the question is, what worth (if any) does a corpse have? If you're confused, try the hypothetical situations below. They should help you gauge how you feel on the matter.

Let's say someone digs up a body and harvests its parts for medical science. Some people might find the idea barbaric. Others might say the corpse has no rights, and that the person doesn't need their body. Is this behaviour acceptable, unacceptable, or should it be left to the discretion of the individual?

Or in another example, if someone 'vandalizes', for lack of a better term, a corpse - should that be punishable? Once again, that entirely depends on how you view a corpse. Some people would argue that you can't harm a corpse (the person is already dead, after all), so anything done to it is a victimless crime. Others would argue that it's sacrilegious, disrespectful, or just plain immoral.

Just to note, we aren't solely discussing how you feel about your (eventual) corpse, but corpses in general. Is a corpse something important/sacred, or just decaying flesh? Should it be protected by law, or does its rights to protection disappear now that the person is dead?

Etc, etc. You get the picture. Post your thoughts.

this doesn't hold much relevance to the thread but i'll post it anyway.There's this exhibition in Blackpool at the moment of real corpses that's open for the general public to go and have a look round! I havn't been but apparently you can see the insides and everything!

It has no physical import, it's importance is the SYMBOLIC meaning. To desecrate their corpse is to destroy a symbol of that person. If you think it's okay to desecrate someone's corpse, does this mean you'd be indifferent if someone took an urn where your mother's ashes (hypothetically speaking) were kept and tossed it in a dumpster?

I think this entire debate comes down to whether symbolism has any meaning to you...

Personally speaking, I think it's wrong to touch (defile if you will) a corpse unless, that person deserved no respect in life (i.e. a serial murder-rapist), or if that person gave consent (i.e. for medical research purposes).

People seem to have differing views on what importance, if any, the body of a deceased person holds. To some it's just a lump of flesh, to others it's something that should be treated with utmost sanctity. Likewise people with differing opinions view the defiling or desecratiton a corpse differently.

So the question is, what worth (if any) does a corpse have? If you're confused, try the hypothetical situations below. They should help you gauge how you feel on the matter.

Let's say someone digs up a body and harvests its parts for medical science. Some people might find the idea barbaric. Others might say the corpse has no rights, and that the person doesn't need their body. Is this behaviour acceptable, unacceptable, or should it be left to the discretion of the individual?

Or in another example, if someone 'vandalizes', for lack of a better term, a corpse - should that be punishable? Once again, that entirely depends on how you view a corpse. Some people would argue that you can't harm a corpse (the person is already dead, after all), so anything done to it is a victimless crime. Others would argue that it's sacrilegious, disrespectful, or just plain immoral.

Just to note, we aren't solely discussing how you feel about your (eventual) corpse, but corpses in general. Is a corpse something important/sacred, or just decaying flesh? Should it be protected by law, or does its rights to protection disappear now that the person is dead?

Etc, etc. You get the picture. Post your thoughts.

Well, it has more worth to the family than anything. They don't like the thought of having a dear family member's corpse being used for medical science unless that is the way that person "wanted it". You know how much some families of kidnapped children want some sort of proof that their child is dead. It lets them move on to know for sure that their child isn't out their somewhere. Even ashes hold their value, everyone wants a piece (not literally) of the person that is now dead. They had an emotional attachment to that person, therefore they have an emotional attachment to their corpse or ashes.

if someone says "dont touch my families corpse because I dont want you too" then I see a problem with touching it (like digging up native american burial grounds despite their objections)

But if noone cares I dont think the corpse has any inherent rights unless they left a note saying dont touch me.

As a few have already mentioned or implied, the dead body of a human being takes on a symbolic virtue after death.....at least for loved ones. The perfectly logical thing to do with human corpses is to rot them down and use the slurry as fertiliser. Grind the bones for the same purpose. But despite our joy in trumpeting mankinds sophistication (against what...........rabbits?), we are still deeply emotional beings. And we hunger for spirituality. I believe the animals that come closest to us regarding grieving for their their dead comrades are elephants. But they can't do much for a twenty ton corpse, so a couple of days pushing the remains around seems their way of 'respect' and probably solace. I doubt that humanity will ever see the day that decides to simply throw out the dead. One way or another, we'll always mourn the person and honour the body.

this doesn't hold much relevance to the thread but i'll post it anyway.There's this exhibition in Blackpool at the moment of real corpses that's open for the general public to go and have a look round! I havn't been but apparently you can see the insides and everything!

Probably that German Professor's exhibit of plastinated bodies. They look like they're made of plastic, but it's eerie to think that they were once people...

Corpses are worth exactly what the buyer and seller agree on.

Intrinsically though, nothing. Even if you believe in a soul, doing something to the body has nothing to do with doing something to the soul. In fact, I don't think even the Bible has anything against necrophilia, does it? Maybe that says something.

Does a corpse have rights in and of itself? No. However, when someone dies the body reverts to being the property of its family (in my mind, at least; I don't know about the law), and you don't have the right to go rummaging about in other people's property. *However,* there's the question of the whole "nobody's using it, they won't miss it when its gone" - they dont't need it, and since I do it's not wrong to just take it. That's a legitimate point, I think.
There's also the "respect for the dead" bit too. I've heard it said that seeing someone freshly dead being dissected is pretty hard ... one person described it like this: "being as naked as possible" (or something like that, not a direct quote). I know that when I'm dead, I don't want my body given to some kids who can do "some really cool stuff with it" (guess which way I voted on that issue?). I mean ... I *was* a person, and to treat the last physical evidence of my existence like a joke really is kind of feels like sacrilege. Not in the actual religious sense, but somehow deeper. Dunno!
That makes me think. People *do* react strongly upon seeing a dead human; what if we're hard-wired for it? I can see how evolving to fear another dead human could be a survival trait - it could prevent plague, or protect one from whatever did the killing in the first place. How would that affect this discussion?

Or in another example, if someone 'vandalizes', for lack of a better term, a corpse - should that be punishable? Once again, that entirely depends on how you view a corpse. Some people would argue that you can't harm a corpse (the person is already dead, after all), so anything done to it is a victimless crime. Others would argue that it's sacrilegious, disrespectful, or just plain immoral.


EEEEEWWWWW GROOOOOOOOSSSSSSSS!!!!!!
Are you sick? You'd have to be to find that fun...YUCK!!!!

All corspes decompose after time, unless you embalm your ass like the Egyptian Pharoahs which involves removing organs and "stuffing" it.

What's important are the memories of that person and what they did with their life, not their corpse.

Two words, my friends:

Soylent. Green.

Corpses are worth exactly what the buyer and seller agree on.

Intrinsically though, nothing.

Do living people have an intrinsic worth?

The way I see it, unless the person who has died has stated their wishes very clearly (to leave the body alone or not), then it is up to the family. The body is no longer used by the dead person, so respect of the corpse becomes at that point a matter of respecting the living family. If I were a spirit who had just parted with my body...I wouldn't have a personal reason to be concerned with the body, but I would not be pleased to see my loved ones upset. If that family doesn't want the body touched, then no one should do that...the reason to obey this is because if you did touch the corpse against their wishes, you would be inflicting anguish upon the living.