The Ethics of Suicide

The Ethics of Suicide PDF Author: M. Pabst Battin
Publisher:
ISBN: 0195135997
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 753

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Book Description
Is suicide wrong, profoundly morally wrong? Almost always wrong, but excusable in a few cases? Sometimes morally permissible? Imprudent, but not wrong? Is it sick, a matter of mental illness? Is it a private matter or a largely social one? Could it sometimes be right, or a "noble duty," or even a fundamental human right? Whether it is called "suicide" or not, what role may a person play in the end of his or her own life? This collection of primary sources--the principal texts of ethical interest from major writers in western and nonwestern cultures, from the principal religious traditions, and from oral cultures where observer reports of traditional practices are available, spanning Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Oceania, the Arctic, and North and South America--facilitates exploration of many controversial practical issues: physician-assisted suicide or aid-in-dying; suicide in social or political protest; self-sacrifice and martyrdom; suicides of honor or loyalty; religious and ritual practices that lead to death, including sati or widow-burning, hara-kiri, and sallekhana, or fasting unto death; and suicide bombings, kamikaze missions, jihad, and other tactical and military suicides. This collection has no interest in taking sides in controversies about the ethics of suicide; rather, rather, it serves to expand the character of these debates, by showing them to be multi-dimensional, a complex and vital part of human ethical thought.

The Ethics of Suicide

The Ethics of Suicide PDF Author: M. Pabst Battin
Publisher:
ISBN: 0195135997
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 753

Get Book Here

Book Description
Is suicide wrong, profoundly morally wrong? Almost always wrong, but excusable in a few cases? Sometimes morally permissible? Imprudent, but not wrong? Is it sick, a matter of mental illness? Is it a private matter or a largely social one? Could it sometimes be right, or a "noble duty," or even a fundamental human right? Whether it is called "suicide" or not, what role may a person play in the end of his or her own life? This collection of primary sources--the principal texts of ethical interest from major writers in western and nonwestern cultures, from the principal religious traditions, and from oral cultures where observer reports of traditional practices are available, spanning Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Oceania, the Arctic, and North and South America--facilitates exploration of many controversial practical issues: physician-assisted suicide or aid-in-dying; suicide in social or political protest; self-sacrifice and martyrdom; suicides of honor or loyalty; religious and ritual practices that lead to death, including sati or widow-burning, hara-kiri, and sallekhana, or fasting unto death; and suicide bombings, kamikaze missions, jihad, and other tactical and military suicides. This collection has no interest in taking sides in controversies about the ethics of suicide; rather, rather, it serves to expand the character of these debates, by showing them to be multi-dimensional, a complex and vital part of human ethical thought.

Practical Ethics in Suicide

Practical Ethics in Suicide PDF Author: Brian L. Mishara
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1009414925
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 237

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Book Description
When and how forcefully must we intervene to save a life, and when should we respect the will to die? This book presents alternative ethical paradigms to understand contemporary challenges in suicide research, prevention, practices, and policies, including challenges in the expanding legalization of euthanasia and assisted suicide ('medical assistance in dying'). Drawing on case studies and philosophical approaches, analysis focuses on decision-making when we are faced with questions about obligations to help and intervene in suicidal situations. Chapters cover moral dilemmas in rescue policies, ethical challenges in suicide research, civil and legal considerations, and similarities and differences with accessing medical assistance in dying. Discussion is grounded in contemporary debates, addressing important issues such as if we should continue to hospitalize people to protect them from self-harm, or control access to 'dangerous' suicide content online? This book is unique in its focus on the practical concerns of mental health professionals, helplines, researchers, policy makers, and programme planners who are faced with ethical challenges in suicidology and suicide prevention.

Practical Ethics

Practical Ethics PDF Author: Peter Singer
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139496891
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 353

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Book Description
For thirty years, Peter Singer's Practical Ethics has been the classic introduction to applied ethics. For this third edition, the author has revised and updated all the chapters and added a new chapter addressing climate change, one of the most important ethical challenges of our generation. Some of the questions discussed in this book concern our daily lives. Is it ethical to buy luxuries when others do not have enough to eat? Should we buy meat from intensively reared animals? Am I doing something wrong if my carbon footprint is above the global average? Other questions confront us as concerned citizens: equality and discrimination on the grounds of race or sex; abortion, the use of embryos for research and euthanasia; political violence and terrorism; and the preservation of our planet's environment. This book's lucid style and provocative arguments make it an ideal text for university courses and for anyone willing to think about how she or he ought to live.

The Oxford Handbook of Practical Ethics

The Oxford Handbook of Practical Ethics PDF Author: Hugh LaFollette
Publisher: Oxford Handbooks Online
ISBN: 9780199284238
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 796

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Book Description
This is a guide to contemporary thought on ethical issues in all areas of human activity - personal, medical, sexual, social, political, judicial, and international, from the natural world to the world of business.

Rethinking Life and Death

Rethinking Life and Death PDF Author: Peter Singer
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 9780312144012
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 268

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Book Description
In a reassessment of the meaning of life and death, a noted philosopher offers a new definition for life that contrasts a world dependent on biological maintenance with one controlled by state-of-the-art medical technology.

Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia

Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia PDF Author: Craig Paterson
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351575074
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 402

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Book Description
As medical technology advances and severely injured or ill people can be kept alive and functioning long beyond what was previously medically possible, the debate surrounding the ethics of end-of-life care and quality-of-life issues has grown more urgent.In this lucid and vigorous new book, Craig Paterson discusses assisted suicide and euthanasia from a fully fledged but non-dogmatic secular natural law perspective. He rehabilitates and revitalises the natural law approach to moral reasoning by developing a pluralistic account of just why we are required by practical rationality to respect and not violate key demands generated by the primary goods of persons, especially human life.Important issues that shape the moral quality of an action are explained and analysed: intention/foresight; action/omission; action/consequences; killing/letting die; innocence/non-innocence; and, person/non-person. Paterson defends the central normative proposition that 'it is always a serious moral wrong to intentionally kill an innocent human person, whether self or another, notwithstanding any further appeal to consequences or motive'.

The Future of Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia

The Future of Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia PDF Author: Neil M. Gorsuch
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691140979
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 328

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Book Description
After assessing the strengths and weaknesses of arguments for assisted suicide and euthanasia, Gorsuch builds a nuanced, novel, and powerful moral and legal argument against legalization, one based on a principle that, surprisingly, has largely been overlooked in the debate; the idea that human life is intrinsically valuable and that intentional killing is always wrong. At the same time, the argument Gorsuch develops leaves wide latitude for individual patient autonomy and the refusal of unwanted medical treatment and life-sustaining care, permitting intervention only in cases where an intention to kill is present.

Fatal Freedom

Fatal Freedom PDF Author: Thomas Szasz
Publisher: Syracuse University Press
ISBN: 9780815607557
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 204

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Book Description
Fatal Freedom is an eloquent defense of every individual’s right to choose F a voluntary death. By maintaining statutes that determine that voluntary death is not legal, Thomas Szasz believes that our society is forfeiting one of its basic freedoms and causing the psychiatric medical establishment to treat individuals in a manner that is disturbingly inhumane. Society’s penchant for defining behavior it terms objectionable as a dis­ease has created a psychiatric establishment that exerts far too much influ­ence over how and when we choose to die. In a compelling argument that clearly and intelligently addresses one of the most significant ethical issues of our time, Szasz compares suicide to other practices that historically began as sins, became crimes, and now arc seen as mental illnesses.

Euthanasia, Ethics and Public Policy

Euthanasia, Ethics and Public Policy PDF Author: John Keown
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521009331
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 342

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Book Description
Whether the law should permit voluntary euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide is one of the most vital questions facing all modern societies. Internationally, the main obstacle to legalisation has proved to be the objection that, even if they were morally acceptable in certain 'hard cases', voluntary euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide could not be effectively controlled; society would slide down a 'slippery slope' to the killing of patients who did not make a free and informed request, or for whom palliative care would have offered an alternative. How cogent is this objection? This book provides the general reader (who need have no expertise in philosophy, law or medicine) with a lucid introduction to this central question in the debate, not least by reviewing the Dutch euthanasia experience. It will interest all in any country whether currently for or against legalisation, who wish to ensure that their opinions are better informed.

Contemplating Suicide

Contemplating Suicide PDF Author: Gavin J Fairbairn
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134845081
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 219

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Book Description
Fairbairn takes a fresh look at suicidal self-harm and reaches many novel conclusions about the current language and ethics of suicide and contributing greatly to the development of understanding in this sensitive area.