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Argument Of Favor Of Active Voluntary Euthanasia

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Benny Mutoni
Ethics & Society

Argument in favor of Active Voluntary Euthanasia

In this paper, I will discuss euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide and whether there are circumstances under which the two are ever ethically permissible. I will also be examining active and passive euthanasia and how philosophers view both differently. I will cite the text “Doing Ethics: Moral Reasoning and Contemporary Issues”, philosophers like James Rachel, and cases such as Dax Cowart and Brittany Maynard. Using these, I will develop an argument for why active voluntary euthanasia is ethically permissible.
According to Lewis Vaughn, “Euthanasia is directly or indirectly bringing about the death of another person for that person’s sake.”(Vaughn 292) The word originates from Greek and directly translates to “easy death.” Moral philosophers put euthanasia into three categories; voluntary, non-voluntary and involuntary. Voluntary euthanasia is carried out at the request of the patient, who may leave a will in case he/she is in a state unable to communicate or make decisions. Voluntary euthanasia requests are considered legitimate if the patient was in a competent state at the time of the request. Non-voluntary euthanasia involves other people such as family or physicians deciding death for the patient considered incompetent and that left no instructions of what to do in case of such a scenario. Involuntary euthanasia is done against the wishes of a patient and is illegal because it is

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