1. Active euthanasia is referred to James Rachels as mercy killing. It is thought of by people that killing is morally worse than letting someone die. However, I can’t say that I completely agree with that because the difference is that when you assist someone you are ending his or her misery. When someone you just let someone die you know they are suffering every minute of their last existence. I don’t think that active euthanasia is really an issue if it is what the person wants or if they are incapacitated their will allows it. Our nation gives the death penalty by lethal injection and that most certainly is not voluntarily to the other party so I don’t see why our nation is against someone who truly desires it. Passive euthanasia is when …show more content…
A Kantian viewpoint would see assisted suicide as something that should not be done. Kant believed that an act was only morally right if the person would universalize the act. If the person committing this act would want everyone to act this way then it could be morally right. However, assisted suicide would not be an act that should be morally right in Kant’s viewpoint because the act of helping someone kill themselves should not be universalized.
The Utilitarian would view this differently from a Kantian standpoint in the way that a utilitarian wants whatever brings the greatest amount of happiness to the most number of people. When thinking of assisted suicide the patient is the one who desires the assistance. The person is in pain and suffering and his or her family has to watch their loved one suffer until death finally ends it. Assisted suicide would could be argued that it would make the one suffering happier to escape the suffering as well as the loved ones who have to watch until they die suffer. This would mean that assisted suicide could bring the greatest amount of happiness because it ends the suffering of a person. They would have the ability to say goodbyes to everyone and go out with their own control. They also wouldn’t have to face the days, weeks, or even months of suffering while their body