Aiming To Kill: The Ethics Of Suicide And Euthanasia

For at least a generation, the debate over the morality of euthanasia and assisted suicide and their legalization has been going strong. We are all well aware of the main arguments for and against them, and their general profiles are widely known. In fact, in some instances there appear to be signs of weariness along the battle lines, with little hope of any decisive advance by either side... i.e., a stalemate. In Aiming to Kill, Biggar attempts to review as judiciously as possible the main lines of argument for and against the moral and legal permissibility of euthanasia and assisted suicide. He aspires to negotiate a way through to a mature judgment by taking account of the three basic elements of the controversy--the value of human life, the morality of acts of killing, and the fear of "slippery slopes"--and running a coherent argument through all of them. Biggar does not pretend to be neutral in the discussion, but rather is open to both sides of the argument and presents them in this manner.