If life is priceless, should we give all of society's wealth to try to save one life?

Question

If that is not what priceless means, just what does it mean?

Answer 1

There are a lot of things that say whether or not someone "deserves" to be saved more so than another human being.......

Money, fame, publicity etc etc etc.

I dont think it's viewed that EVERY life is priceless. It's definitely not viewed by all that every life is equal. It's sad but true. The war in iraq, you see people saying "good" when someone in their country is killed. We hear about when a soldier dies (it is sad of course) but what about the innocent people's lives who are ruined because of the whole war? Obviously their lives are viewed as anything other than priceless.

People put money infront of their lives every day, risk dying just for money - not all people view their lives as priceless.

p.s cramer fan!? WTF, how can he take your question as implying that to treasure life, means you must be scared of death. People embrace death as something beautiful that happens - returning to the earth or to god or whatever you believe. But just because death returns you to your "maker" doesn't mean that humans shouldn't do all we can to prevent early death.

Answer 2

As others had already stated...The concept/definition of 'Priceless' is not equal to obtaining all wealth possible. Life being Priceless simply means that it's worth can not be measured by a quantifiable monetary value.
(Dictionary - Priceless ~ Of inestimable worth; invaluable)

If a person were to die, no amount of money would bring that person back(based on our reality today... of course, people may be brought back from the dead in the future, which would alter our reality at that time----then you couldn't say "life is priceless" anymore)

Answer 3

If one accepts the idea that "life is priceless," then yes, technically cost should not determine the limit of one's life. But that doesn't mean society must use all of its wealth to save that one life, because money is necessary for the individuals of that society to live...and it is assumed that all lives are equal. Sooo...based on that deduction, it sounds like everyone needs to give up majority of their wealth to save a life, and keep just enough to survive. But mathematically it just doesn't work very well- this system would not sustain itself for very long because the cost of lives stay high while every individual would have dwindling amounts of money to give. Soon everyone will float around the baseline minimum of wealth...Unless the money spent on saving that life was redistributed, not just used up. So everyone gets a fair chance at good health, but doesn't have much money in the end. Sounds like universal health care. Sounds like Canada. A great premise built upon grand ideals...financially, this system does not allow for amassing incredible wealth.

Answer 4

Priceless is a figure of speech, and especially in this situation is not meant to be literal.

Giving all of society's wealth to save one life would result in the loss of many more.

Answer 5

Priceless is to have no price, not to have infinite value.

Of course, to give "all" of society's wealth to save one life (by the way, a life CANNOT be saved--at best, you delay the inevitable) would be to condemn all the other lives, who would now have no resources for survival.

So, I would have to answer "no" to your first question, and I believe I already answered the second. Good question.

Answer 6

"Priceless" in this context means that it feels unintuitive to set a price for it. It does not imply that all possible material wealth should be spent on one instance of it. Instead of implying "all," it implies "undeterminable." This is why it is hard to set a material price on someone's life. Do you calculate pain and suffering? Do you just count the dollar value of the minerals in the physical organism? Do you consider the potential goodness of the living beiong for society? Dollar value is not really agreeably calculable. For this to imply that all possible expense should be made for any instantiation of life, well, it doesn't imply that. It is not what "priceless" means. "NECESSARILYINFINITEVALUE" would be the more accurate word for it.

Answer 7

Life is not priceless. Life is value-less. As long as there are people sleeping on the streets in one of the richest countries in the world; as long as people are getting slaughtered just because they're the "wrong" colour; as long as people believe that those holding different opinions are infidels, and, therefore, worth killing; as long as it's okay for thousands of people to freeze in refugee camps, and as long as it's okay for thousands of children to die of starvation every single day, and for children to be sold into sex slavery, or for women to be systematically raped as a form of warfare--as long as all of these things still exist, nobody can tell me that life is priceless. It means nothing.

Answer 8

it means you cannot place a value on it..
should we give all of society's wealth to save one life?? NO.. with over 6 BILLION people on the planet and our population increasing every day.. we have over crowded our planet to the point where our own survival is in jeapardy - eventually we will tip the scales enough and one tree too many will fall (to make toilet paper) and the remaining trees will not be able to make enough oxygen... enough junk will be in the water it isnt drinkable.. enough farm land will be consumed by houses there wont be enough land to grow food on... etc...

Answer 9

who says life is priceless I don't give a s*** if you fall over dead now. I also wouldn't expect you to give a s***if I were to die either. It is not your responsibility to ensure that I remain alive. Why does everyone think that death is such a bad thing? I am a very happy person and enjoy every minute of my life that I am awake (about 19hrs/day) but I also think that part of my happiness is a direct result of not being afraid of death.

Answer 10

Life is relative.
Ask any mother who's lost a child. What's her life worth to her?
Ask any spouse who sees his wife on life support and is told there is no brain activity and she will never have "awareness" again.
Ask any proud breadwinner who is no longer able to support his family what his life is worth.

I'm sorry this is harsh, but honestly, my life without my children? NOt worth anything to me. Don't save me only to tellme my children didn't make it.