This essay will be based around the ethical perspectives of euthanasia. Arguing for euthanasia I will present and evaluate the utilitarian perspective and arguing against euthanasia I will be exploring Kantian's perspective. In this essay I will firstly be defining what euthanasia is and how it differentiates from other terms, such as assisted suicide and murder. Following the clear definitions I will also include the types of euthanasia that can end one's life. I will then present Kant argument on euthanasia along with the contradiction argument from a utilitarian perspective. I will briefly explain the types of euthanasia however to present arguments in detail from two ethical perspectives this essay's discussion will be focusing on voluntary euthanasia.
Euthanasia is a Greek word and at the time the definition of euthanasia was 'a good death'. Although throughout the years additional terms have come under the word euthanasia such as, assisted suicide and mercy killings. The exact definition for euthanasia is, "The painless killing of a patient suffering from an incurable and painful disease or in an irreversible coma" (OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS, 2015). Assisted suicide is when a patient is going through a terminal illness and is in a position where they have no hope to recover from their illness .In that situation they wish to die with dignity and control in opposed to wait for a medical miracle to occur whilst in the meantime the patient suffers from excruciating pain .Whereas murder is a situation where the murderer takes the liberty to end the victims life without their permission or desire to die.
There are 4 segments that come under euthanasia for example voluntary, non-voluntary, active and passive euthanasia. Active euthanasia is when an individual performs an act that directly ends the patient's life, for example a drug overdose may have been imposed in an act of active euthanasia.