Facing Death

Suicide as last emancipation?

by Jean-Pierre Wils

Description

Assisted suicide has been the subject of much passionate debate in many societies. The philosopher and theologian Jean-Pierre Wils does not deny autonomy, but asks – on the basis of his profound historical and ethical knowledge – about the social consequences. Does the right to assisted suicide not in the long run lead to the obligation to decide for or against it? And does not the pressure towards a supposedly reasonable decision increase, as soon as the causation of one‘s own death is seen as a final act of self-realisation and emancipation, or even commended as such? Wils makes a strong plea for the debate to be held in a broader context, to remove our finiteness from cultural amnesia – and in doing so, lays the foundation for a contemporary discussion on assisted suicide.

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Author Biography

Jean-Pierre Wils studied philosophy and theology in Leuven and Tübingen, and lectures in Philosophical Ethics and the Philosophy of Culture at Radboud University in Nijmegen in the Netherlands. For many years he was co-editor of the magazine “Ethics and teaching”, and from 2021 will be publishing “Scheidewege. Schriften für Skepsis und Kritik” (“Papers for Scepticism and Criticism”). In 2007, his book “Ars moriendi” was published, and in 2019 “Das Nachleben der Toten. Philosophie auf der Grenze” (“The Afterlife of the Dead. Philosophy at the Boderline“).

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Hirzel Verlag Stuttgart

Hirzel Verlag Stuttgart

Non-fiction books (f.e. society, health, ecology, evolution, philosophy) specialist books (f.e chemistry, physics, ancient history, history of science/medicine, German studies)

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Bibliographic Information

  • Publisher S. Hirzel Verlag
  • Publication Date March 2021
  • Orginal LanguageGerman
  • ISBN/Identifier 9783777629407
  • FormatHardback
  • Primary Price 24 EUR
  • Pages200
  • ReadershipGeneral
  • Publish StatusPublished
  • Original Language TitleSich den Tod geben. Suizid als letzte Emanzipation?
  • Copyright Year2021

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