Defining “Human Dignity” in the Debate Over the (Im)Morality of Physician-Assisted Suicide

Journal of Medical Humanities 22 (1):69-82 (2001)
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Abstract

Leon Kass's often-cited essay, “Death with Dignity and the Sanctity of Life,” provides the basis for a case study in the rhetorical function of definition in debates concerning bioethics. The study examines the way a particular definition of “human dignity” is used to maintain an advantage of power in the debate over the morality of physician-assisted suicide. It also considers sources of human dignity that are deflected from attention by the rhetoric of Kass's formulation.

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10.1023/a:1026690128326

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Time, Narrative, and History.David Carr - 1986 - Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
The ethics of human cloning.Leon Kass - 1998 - Washington, D.C.: AEI Press. Edited by James Q. Wilson.
The philosophy of literary form.Kenneth Burke - 1941 - Baton Rouge,: Louisiana State University Press.

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