Euthanasia: agreeing to disagree?

Med Health Care Philos. 2010 Nov;13(4):399-402. doi: 10.1007/s11019-010-9264-1.

Abstract

In discussions about the legalisation of active, voluntary euthanasia it is sometimes claimed that what should happen in a liberal society is that the two sides in the debate "agree to disagree". This paper explores what is entailed by agreeing to disagree and shows that this is considerably more complicated than what is usually believed to be the case. Agreeing to disagree is philosophically problematic and will often lead to an unstable compromise.

MeSH terms

  • Attitude of Health Personnel
  • Attitude to Death*
  • Decision Making / ethics
  • Dissent and Disputes
  • Euthanasia, Active, Voluntary / ethics*
  • Euthanasia, Active, Voluntary / legislation & jurisprudence
  • Health Policy
  • Humans
  • Netherlands
  • Politics
  • Refusal to Treat / ethics
  • Refusal to Treat / legislation & jurisprudence
  • United Kingdom