Whose life is it anyway? Some reflections on Den Hartogh’s What Kind of Death | Amsterdam University Press Journals Online
2004
  1. Home
  2. A-Z Publications
  3. Filosofie & Praktijk
  4. Volume 45, Issue 1
  5. Article
Volume 45, Issue 1
  • ISSN: 0167-2444
  • E-ISSN: 2949-8651

Abstract

Abstract

This contribution will restrict itself to Den Hartogh’s conceptual framework and formulate some hesitations about Den Hartogh’s moral premisses which he calls ‘ethical atoms’ (p. 159-160, 317). For at least two reasons I will discuss these premisses with a certain reluctance. First of all, the sensitive nature of what is at stake here: matters of life and death and the question of what we owe others and ourselves; secondly and more on a more personal level, my hesitations do not lead to any clear alternative moral premisses. Especially with regard to Den Hartogh’s central premiss concerning self-determination, I sympathise Velleman’s approach in one of his famous articles: I am neither completely pro nor completely con. I am more, like, not so sure.

© Thomas Mertens
Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.5117/FEP2024.1.004.MERT
2024-04-01
2024-05-04
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Feinberg, J.“Voluntary Euthanasia and the Inalienable Right to Life”, Philosophy & Public Affairs7 (1978) 93-123.
     [Google Scholar]
  2. Den Hartogh, G.What Kind of Death. The Ethics of Determining One’s Own Death. New York/London: Routledge, 2023.
     [Google Scholar]
  3. Den Hartogh, G.“Decriminalising Assisted Suicide Services” (case note), European Constitutional Law Review16 (2020) 713-732.
     [Google Scholar]
  4. Mertens, Th.“Kant and the ends of life”, in: D.Dall’Agnol (ed.), Kantian Perspectives in Bioethics, Pisa: Edizioni ETS, 2015, 33-52.
     [Google Scholar]
  5. Kant, I.Die Metaphysik der Sitten, Akademie Ausgabe Band VI, Berlin: De Gruyter, 1901.
     [Google Scholar]
  6. Urteil des Bundesverfassungsgerichts, 2BvR 2347/15; 651/16; 1261/16; 2354/16; 2527/16 (20Februar2020).
     [Google Scholar]
  7. J.D. Velleman, J.D.“A Right to Self-Termination”, Ethics109 (1999) 606-628.
     [Google Scholar]
http://instance.metastore.ingenta.com/content/journals/10.5117/FEP2024.1.004.MERT
Loading
Keyword(s): right to die; right to life; right to private life; right to self-determination; ‘Volenti non fit iniuria’.
This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a Success
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error