[Avodah] Brain Death

[Micha Berger]

On Sun, Jan 16, 2011 at 11:46:44PM -0500, Yitzchak Schaffer wrote:
: You hit the point IMO: we need a definition of living human being for
: the purposes of retzichah/donation. I think that RNS's main point is that
: we shouldn't assume that Chazal's practical definition is an absolute
: definition, rather that it was based upon the lifesaving possibilities
: of the time, and that we should adjust the practical definition for our
: time. Whether that's true is out of my grasp.

RNS's argument isn't one found in shu"t. Even among those (RMTendler,
ROY, etc...) who reach the same conclusion that someone without brain-step
activity is a meis don't use this argument. So, the question may well be
out of your and my grasp; for that matter, RNS isn't a poseiq either.
But those who are more capable of pesaq than us consistently (AFAIK)
find his thesis false.

It's also circular. He's defining chai/alive in terms of our ability to
lifesave; but the concept lifesaving presumes knowing what chai/alive
is...

Frankly, I think some people who were angered by the ban against his books
are confusing fame-through-victimhood with stature. RNS is a great guy and
in his day a wonderful contributor to Avodah. But he's not a bar pelugta
of any of the posqim we're talking about in the rest of the conversation.
As I wrote above, he's not even a poseiq of the LOR sort. The amount of
conversation his writing generated is out of proportion with his lack
of expertise in the area of pesaq.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             "I hear, then I forget; I see, then I remember;
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