著者

田村 京子

出版者

日本医学哲学・倫理学会

雑誌

医学哲学医学倫理 (ISSN:02896427)

巻号頁・発行日

no.17, pp.123-132, 1999-10-01

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With regard to the social welfare of disabled persons, I will consider the relationship between feelings of pity for them and discrimination against them. In Japan, most people today who have not been in close contact with disabled persons feel pity for them. Is this feeling of pity an expression of discrimination against them? In this paper, I will describe and analyze the nature of this feeling and make the following points: 1) A feeling is experienced passively, so we cannot modify it at the same time that we are feeling it. Therfore, feelings of pity for disabled persons are not in themselves equivalent to discrimination against them. It is possible to interpret them as such, but this interpretation only presents discrimination as a problem without a solution. 2) Referring to Arbert Memmi's definition of discrimination in context of racism, I will consider the way in which discrimination is the result of a relationship between individuals and society. Discrimination shuld be understood at the social level, namely in its relationship to social structure and social organization. Only then can we find measures to resolve it. 3) Pity for persons with disabilities is no more than a groundless conviction held by non-disabled persons, and is a reflection of the lack of communication between these two groups. 4) We should start from the fact that people, both with and without disabilities live in the same world at the same time, and thus learn to naturally accept heterogeneuty and variety in people.