Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #116836 in Books
• Published on: 1999-05-04
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

Synopsis
Through an exploration of one of the most explosive issues of our age - euthanasia and the right to die - M. Scott Peck helps the reader determine the spiritual lessons that dying is meant to teach them. It asks whether we have the ethical right to kill ourselves even though we have the power.

Customer Reviews

Euthanasia - soul versus mind, and society in the US
Dr Scott Peck overall presents a helpful exploration of the arguments for and against "mercy killing", though I would have preferred the exploration to be on the wider issue of physician assisted suicide. As such his views are largely from the point of view of terminally ill people as opposed to others who would potentially seek physician assisted suicide - the personality impaired and those with chronic conditions,though he does present a good variety of case illustrations.

Not surprisingly, as it is written from a,presumably, wealthy American's perspective, there is an overall assumption of affordability of health care which of course narrows the work's relevance as health care, including death care, is outside many Americans reach and this is a very different scenario from a country with a nationalised health service for whom the implications would be much wider.

He self confessedly would like a more spiritual, less secular society and his views are very much from the Christian perspective with something of an assumption of the individual's developing relationship with God but this does not overly get in the way of his presentation of the issues. I did find his perspective as a renowned psychotherapist a tad arrogant and somewhat intrusive - he tends to talk down - and of course we do not have the same psychiatric culture of psychotherapy in the UK which did have to be adjusted for. He very much rates the psychotherapists view on life, the universe and God etc. It did make me wish I had a library to delve into his references to further explore the issue and I applaud his efforts to cultivate discussion of the issue.