Human Body and Its Monetary Value

NB: We do not resell your papers. Upon ordering, we do an original paper exclusively for you.

NB: All your data is kept safe from the public.

Value is the regard that something is held to be worthy, important or alternatively useful. Value can also be used as a verb where it would mean “estimation of the monetary worth of”. When we talk of the monetary value of the body, we are in other words, compare it in terms of its usefulness or its importance. These may be creatures like fish, chicken, cows and goats. We are trying to ask how much money or currency can the body be paid for.

Society educates its people on everything that has monetary value and on what is regarded to be important. They are taught that they should go to schools, work tirelessly and make savings of their money and by achieving this they will be ready to face the coming future. More often, the cash that people earn or are paid, the cars they drive, the houses they reside in or their annual salaries define success (Foley 105).

However, the main argument against considering the body as a commodity is that it wouldn’t be right to value a body in the same way we value other pieces of property. The body cannot be valued in terms of items in the market in our market economies (Foley 105).

Bourdieu’s theory of habitus is now a partial theory of practice, and already acknowledges a central interplay amidst body and society. Bourdieu argues that the habitus is an organized structure; it takes shape according to the way of involvement of an agent in a structured domain of exercise. After having been created, it produces practices which accord with its own circumstances of generation.

Bourdieu uses the word capital in his work to refer to the resources distributed throughout the social body which has an alternation value in one or even more than one of the several ‘markets’ or ‘fields’ which he further believes constitute the social world. The most common example is economic capital, which entails all incomes, assets and also savings which poses a monetary value described in terms of that particular value. (Crossley 96).

In most cases, as Brandt (103) argues, the human body arguably has monetary value. Due to this granting proprietary interest, the body of a deceased has become a legitimate subject of discussions depending on utilitarianism. However, one of the founding fathers of utilitarianism, Mill, takes the human body to be of monetary value, he totally declines to acknowledge property in human remains. Libertarian approaches suggest that property is based on freedom, by multiplying a person’s liberty in freeing a person from social and natural restrictions. Bearing this in mind, granting property in human body can be justified via the direction of wills or maybe more higher directives (Brandt, pg. 103).

Monetary value is incompatible with the smell of a new infant, the joy of birth, nor the mourning of death or the pride you obtain when your kid speaks or walks for the very first attempt (Brandt 103).

Let us have a look at a character by the name Jiang Ah-zhu from the book “The taste of Apples”. Jiang Ah-zhu is a young girl, kind person, very willing to help her brothers and sisters by all means she can. The act of Ah-gui following Ah-zhu wherever she was leading her, brings out Ah-zhu as a trustworthy person because Ah-gui was at all costs confident that eventually Ah-zhu would not mislead her. The story “Taste of Apples” also brings out Ah-zhu as a caring and concerned person where the book says that:

Ah-zhu, holding the baby in her arms, was pressed up next to her mum, though her thoughts were strictly of what may happen after her adoption. She is also an inquisitive person, she likes asking questions in areas she feels she needs clarification. A very good example is when she enquires from Ah-gui about the father’s health, how long he would be in the ward (Huang).

Jiang Ah-zhu is a very emotional individual, when being with her father at the hospital, only the sight of a bed ridden patient, in this case it was Jiang Ah-fa, was enough to make her weep. Also, thoughts about her adoption produced a steady flow of tears from her seemingly inexhaustible supply (Huang).

Now, look at a different character in the Huang’s work, a character by the name Jiang Afa. Afa is a bed ridden patient, meaning he is in a critical health condition. If you compare between the potentials of the two, then they don’t match. Ah-zhu can be more productive labor wise than Afa, and so the monetary value of Afa could be lower than that of Ah-zhu. On further comparisons, Afa turns out to be of a lower value due to his qualities, which have been limited involuntarily by his health condition. Someone considering between Ah-zha and Afa, would compare the qualities of Ah-zha and find that she is emotional, humble, inquisitive, optimistic, as much as Afa may have all these qualities, they cannot be displayed due to his health.

In this case study, we understand that should the body’s monetary value be considered or given attention, then the less fortunate would be in dire trouble since they often do not have enough even to satisfy their bellies.

There is much discussions on whether a body has the appropriate attributes to constitute property (Bainham et al. 54).

Even though the body may not be referred to as a property, this earth does not necessarily imply that there is actually no commercialization of the body. The key argument against considering the body as a commodity is that it would not be right to consider the body in the same manner as we value other pieces of property. (Bainham 55) if we are to see that transplantation discriminates are not between the wealthy folks and the poor merchants who might at this instance be the recipients, it may be necessary to have a condition monitored transplantation scheme. It is easy to identify that various individuals respond to different parts in the body in differing ways. Those that are mostly visible are treasured the most, with the possible exception of the heart.

In conclusion, money can never purchase character, or conviction or even integrity. These are some of the things that are taught or learned and earned or acquired throughout the journey of life. These are things we should value. Put value in things that are free (Foley 106).

Works Cited

Bainham, Andrew, Shelley Day Sclater and Martin Richards. Body Lore and Laws. Oxford [u.a.: Hart, 2002. Print.

Brandt, Bettina. “Body Snatching” in Contemporary Aotearoa/new Zealand: A Legal Conflict between Cultures. München: Grin, 2009. Print.

Crossley, Nick. The Social Body: Habit, Identity and Desire. London [u.a.: Sage, 2001. Print.

Foley, Nick. Act Like You’ve Been There Before. Canada: Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication, 2011. Print.

Huang, Chunming, and Howard Goldblatt. The Taste of Apples. New York: Columbia University Press, 2001. Web.

Click Here To Order Now!

Human Body and Its Monetary Value

Do you need this or any other assignment done for you from scratch?

We have qualified writers to help you.

We assure you a quality paper that is 100% free from plagiarism and AI.

You can choose either format of your choice ( Apa, Mla, Havard, Chicago, or any other)