Political Concepts for the Ethical Debate on Dilemmas on Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia

This essay is a reflection on some of the political elements embedded in the ethical problems of medically assisted suicide and euthanasia. The thesis work is that political theoretical founda­tions of modern nations are aimed to protect the lives of people, a fact that responds to a series of historical processes of the very development of modern political theory. These fundamentals directly affect the cultural and political positions for the refusal to accept the legalization or regulation of the two practices in question, thus denying the right of self-determination in human decision making on the own life and death.