New Directions in the Ethics of Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia

This book provides novel perspectives on the ethical justifiability of assisted dying. Seeking to go beyond traditional debates on topics such as the value of human life and questions surrounding intention and causation, this volume promises to shift the terrain of the ethical debates about assisted dying. It reconsiders the role of patient autonomy and paternalistic reasons as well as the part proposed for medical professionals and clinical ethics consultation in connection with assisted dying, relates the debate on assisted dying to questions about organ-donation and developments in medical technology, and demonstrates the significance of experimental philosophy in assessing questions of assisted dying. This book is ideal for advanced courses in bioethics and health care ethics.

Michael Cholbi is an ethicist who has written on such topics as suicide, punishment, Kantian ethics, paternalism, and moral motivation. In addition to his book Suicide: The Philosophical Dimensions, he has published in journals such as Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, Philosophical Studies, Bioethics, Law and Philosophy, The Journal of Moral Philosophy, The Journal of Applied Philosophy, Philosophical Psychology, Ratio, Social Theory and Practice, and Ethical Theory and Moral Practice. Jukka Varelius is a philosopher whose work focuses on questions of moral philosophy and applied ethics. He has written on topics such as physician assisted death, individual autonomy, informed consent, advance directives, the nature of mental and physical health, and ethical expertise in journals like Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, Neuroethics, Bioethics, Philosophy, Psychiatry, & Psychology, Journal of Applied Philosophy, The Journal of Value Inquiry, and Journal of Medicine and Philosophy. Varelius is also a co-editor of Adaptation and Autonomy: Adaptive Preferences in Enhancing and Ending Life (Springer, 2013).