Jukka Varelius – författare

This book provides novel perspectives on ethical justifiability of assisted dying in the revised edition of New Directions in the Ethics of Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia.

This book provides novel perspectives on ethical justifiability of assisted dying in the revised edition of 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.

This volume gathers together previously unpublished articles focusing on the relationship between preference adaptation and autonomy in connection with human enhancement and in the end-of-life context. The value of individual autonomy is a cornerstone of liberal societies. While there are different conceptions of the notion, it is arguable that on any plausible understanding of individual autonomy an autonomous agent needs to take into account the conditions that circumscribe its actions. Yet it has also been suggested that allowing one’s options to affect one’s preferences threatens autonomy. While this phenomenon has received some attention in other areas of moral philosophy, it has seldom been considered in bioethics. This book combines for the first time the topics of preference adaptation, individual autonomy, and choosing to die or to enhance human capacities in a unique and comprehensive volume, filling an important knowledge gap in the contemporary bioethics literature.