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Euthanasia, Philosophy, and the Law: A Jurist’s View from Madrid

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 2009

FRANCISCO JAVIER ANSUÁTEGUI ROIG
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Extract

In societies with an established system of rights, human dignity occupies the vertex of the moral statute. Freedom and equality are specific derivations of that higher value. Taking freedom and equality seriously necessarily means articulating a system of rights that places at its apex the value that unifies both: human dignity.

Type
Special Section: The Many Voices of Spanish Bioethics
Information
Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics , Volume 18 , Issue 3 , July 2009 , pp. 262 - 269
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

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References

1. The concept of dignity is, to a large extent, rather abstract. Identifying its concrete contents and dissecting its components is a complex task. It is simpler to point out determined situations as violations of human dignity. Nonetheless, human dignity presents an irreducible core, pervaded by the notions of autonomy and self-realization. See Peces-Barba G. La dignidad de la persona desde la Filosofía del Derecho. Madrid: Dykinson; 2003.

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