couchpotato
Jun 24, 2012
Graduate / MCAT Prompt: The right to life is greater than the right to liberty. [NEW]
Write a unified essay in which you perform the following tasks. Explain what you think the above statement means. Describe a specific situation in which the right to liberty might be greater than the right to life. Discuss what you think determines whether the right to life is greater than the right to liberty.
"The right to life is greater than the right to liberty" means that it is more important to live than to pursue liberty. Liberty is basically freedom, whether it be freedom of religion, press, or pursuit of happiness. This may be true in cases of imminent danger when one's life is at risk. For example, for a prisoner of war facing execution by an enemy, life is more important. The prisoner is thinking whether or not he or she will get out of this situation alive, instead of thinking about what values or freedoms are more important to him/herself. Another instance may be a prehistoric man who has met a vicious tiger on a hunting trail who thinks of this man as dinner. The prehistoric man is going to either fight or run away in order to save his life, not contemplating about the injustices of society or freedoms that he may want to pursue. This statement is ultimately saying that survival, as in being alive, is more basic. If one is dead, one's liberty or what one may have had the chance to pursue does not really matter.
On the other hand, a time when the right to liberty may be greater than the right to life may be when certain people would rather die for having a certain freedom or liberty. For instance, during the Korean Independence Movement of 1945, there were Koreans who sacrificed their lives for the love of their country. Korea had been under Japanese imperial rule for three generations and they were treated as second class citizens, unable to use their own language, worship their own god, and unable to preserve their culture. An eighteen year old girl named Gwan Soon Yoo led the Korean Independence Movement and was eventually killed by the Japanese for treason. Many other martyrs died because to them, they would rather die if they did not have the freedom to preserve their own culture, use their own language, and have the freedom to call their country their own.
What determines whether the right to life is greater than the right to liberty depends on each situation. If one's life is in imminent danger like a prehistoric man faced with a tiger, there is no time to think. It's either fight or flight and the prehistoric man just wants to save his own life. However, if one is faced in a life situation without certain freedoms or liberties that he or she would rather die than to be without, then the right to liberty may be greater than the right to life. It seems that the right to life could be favored in situations where there is no time to contemplate about anything else and let one's sympathetic system take over. It then seems that the right to liberty may be favored in situations where there is time to contemplate about one's life and to evaluate whether certain liberties or rights may be worth dying for.
Write a unified essay in which you perform the following tasks. Explain what you think the above statement means. Describe a specific situation in which the right to liberty might be greater than the right to life. Discuss what you think determines whether the right to life is greater than the right to liberty.
"The right to life is greater than the right to liberty" means that it is more important to live than to pursue liberty. Liberty is basically freedom, whether it be freedom of religion, press, or pursuit of happiness. This may be true in cases of imminent danger when one's life is at risk. For example, for a prisoner of war facing execution by an enemy, life is more important. The prisoner is thinking whether or not he or she will get out of this situation alive, instead of thinking about what values or freedoms are more important to him/herself. Another instance may be a prehistoric man who has met a vicious tiger on a hunting trail who thinks of this man as dinner. The prehistoric man is going to either fight or run away in order to save his life, not contemplating about the injustices of society or freedoms that he may want to pursue. This statement is ultimately saying that survival, as in being alive, is more basic. If one is dead, one's liberty or what one may have had the chance to pursue does not really matter.
On the other hand, a time when the right to liberty may be greater than the right to life may be when certain people would rather die for having a certain freedom or liberty. For instance, during the Korean Independence Movement of 1945, there were Koreans who sacrificed their lives for the love of their country. Korea had been under Japanese imperial rule for three generations and they were treated as second class citizens, unable to use their own language, worship their own god, and unable to preserve their culture. An eighteen year old girl named Gwan Soon Yoo led the Korean Independence Movement and was eventually killed by the Japanese for treason. Many other martyrs died because to them, they would rather die if they did not have the freedom to preserve their own culture, use their own language, and have the freedom to call their country their own.
What determines whether the right to life is greater than the right to liberty depends on each situation. If one's life is in imminent danger like a prehistoric man faced with a tiger, there is no time to think. It's either fight or flight and the prehistoric man just wants to save his own life. However, if one is faced in a life situation without certain freedoms or liberties that he or she would rather die than to be without, then the right to liberty may be greater than the right to life. It seems that the right to life could be favored in situations where there is no time to contemplate about anything else and let one's sympathetic system take over. It then seems that the right to liberty may be favored in situations where there is time to contemplate about one's life and to evaluate whether certain liberties or rights may be worth dying for.