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LEGITIMIZING THE SHAMEFUL: END‐OF‐LIFE ETHICS AND THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF DEATH
Author(s) -
EPSTEIN MIRAN
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
bioethics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.494
H-Index - 55
eISSN - 1467-8519
pISSN - 0269-9702
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-8519.2007.00520.x
Subject(s) - bioethics , politics , environmental ethics , applied ethics , sociology , political science , social science , law , philosophy
This paper explores one of the most politically sensitive and intellectually neglected issues in bioethics – the interface between the history of contemporary end‐of‐life ethics and the economics of life and death. It suggests that contrary to general belief, economic impulses have increasingly become part of the conditions in which contemporary end‐of‐life ethics continues to evolve. Although this conclusion does not refute the philosophical justifications provided by the ethics for itself, it may cast new light upon its social role.