Abstract

Following a common ambition in his time, Francis Bacon reflected on the ways to preserve the self, heal the sick and above all extend life. Here as elsewhere, he did not fail to detect the shortcomings affecting the study of phenomena. Nevertheless, what is truly new – encapsulated in the neologism euthanasia – is the recommendation, when suffering becomes unbearable, not that old-fashioned suicide should be committed but, rather, that technical assistance should be given able to provide a gentle death.