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1 - Euthanasia and Physician-Assisted Suicide

from Part I - Definitions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 September 2018

John Keown
John Keown
Affiliation:
Georgetown University, Washington DC
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Summary

Explains three different approaches to the valuation of human life. The first, 'vitalism', holds that life is an absolute good that should be preserved at all costs; the second, the 'sanctity of life', that it is a basic good that should never be intentionally taken; the third, 'Quality of life', that life is an instrumental good that has value if it is 'worth living'.
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Euthanasia, Ethics and Public Policy
An Argument against Legalisation
 , pp. 9 - 21
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2018

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