Which is more important to you: the right to self preservation or the right of self determination?

Question

There are going to be some poeople who will say that self preservation is just a facet of the right for self determination, but there are enough people who do self destructive things to generate conflicts between self preservation and determination to warrant a distinction.

Answer 1

good question - given we have a "social contract" i think the latter probably slightly outweighs the former but they can morph into each other conceptually.

Answer 2

Self-determination. If I'm going to be alive at all, I might as well enjoy it.

Answer 3

those two are like apples and oranges. in order to live longer you need to be determined to do so. but with out preservation you wouldn't know what's it's like to have determination.

Answer 4

Self-determination over preservation, but it's not 100%. But in your question, self preservation or right to live seems to imply the drive for preservation/life is coming from yourself, so is therefore the same as self-determination. The term I would have used is "prevention of harm" which implies legislation preventing you from doing hazardous things.

I.e. I think people should have the right to dangerous sport, to smoke and drink if they want, even though it can lead to their death. I would probably even accept legalising of other drugs despite their dangers, although any seriously addictive drug takes away self determination anyway.

Answer 5

I believe that both of these can be tied together to bring us to one goal; that is to thrive.

Self determination can be perceived in a couple ways, I think.  It can be a person's will and goal sets, or a person's determination of "who they are as an individual".  Who I am as an individual is very important to me.  I would hold this over my conscious realm as more important.

Self preservation I will hold over my subconscious realm, where I make all my survival decisions.  

I think they're both very important, and both equal, but just in different ways.

Answer 6

This question doesn't make sense.

Self preservation is about staying alive, healthy and happy

Self determination is about emotional drive and goals.

I don't get this question AT ALL. I see no connection between the two concepts.

EDIT: Still.. this question makes no sense. If you can't stay alive, how can you do what you want??? You need to be ALIVE in order to have ANY rights.

Answer 7

lol I'm determined to preserve my well being hehehehehe.