<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>This paper studies the connections between the notions of prolonging life and a good death in Antiquity. It is demonstrated that while prolonged life generally meant forestalling the human constitution’s death, ancient philosophers also pointed to the limitations of prolongation. The paper shows how philosophers welcomed prolonged life when it was shown to foster movement toward the good, such as self-realization and social usefulness. Yet, they rejected prolongation when it led to the perpetuation of evil, such as social uselessness and suffering. We ask whether a contemporary good death is a mercy killing or an improvement of prolonged life, as the ultimate end of “goods practicable for man”.</p></abstract>

This paper studies the connections between the notions of prolonging life and a good death in Antiquity. It is demonstrated that while prolonged life generally meant forestalling the human constitution’s death, ancient philosophers also pointed to the limitations of prolongation. The paper shows how philosophers welcomed prolonged life when it was shown to foster movement toward the good, such as self-realization and social usefulness. Yet, they rejected prolongation when it led to the perpetuation of evil, such as social uselessness and suffering. We ask whether a contemporary good death is a mercy killing or an improvement of prolonged life, as the ultimate end of “goods practicable for man”.

Prolonged life and good death in Antiquity

Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia

Department of Philosophical Anthropology and History of Philosophy

Ethics & Bioethics

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

{"article-title":"Prolonged life and good death in Antiquity"}

This paper studies the connections between the notions of prolonging life and a good death in Antiquity. It is demonstrated that while prolonged life generally...

Prolonged life and good death in Antiquity

Published Online: Jun 12, 2020

Page range: 1 - 9

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/ebce-2020-0009

Keywords
euthanasia, good death, prolonged life, the end, physician, medicine, social usefulness, self-realization, Hippocrates, Plato, Aristotle

© 2020 Svetlana Martynova et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Prolonged life and good death in Antiquity

Published Online: Jun 12, 2020

Page range: 1 - 9

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/ebce-2020-0009

Keywordseuthanasia, good death, prolonged life, the end, physician, medicine, social usefulness, self-realization, Hippocrates, Plato, Aristotle

© 2020 Svetlana Martynova et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
euthanasia, good death, prolonged life, the end, physician, medicine, social usefulness, self-realization, Hippocrates, Plato, Aristotle