Learning to die. Analysis of the cultural role of voluntary death

Proceedings of ‏The 4th International Conference on Social Science, Humanities and Education

Year: 2020

DOI: https://www.doi.org/10.33422/4th.icshe.2020.12.39

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Learning to die. Analysis of the cultural role of voluntary death

Niccolò Martini

ABSTRACT: 

Voluntary death is a morally and legally grey area in many countries around the world.My speech is based on the research I conducted in Italy on the topic of euthanasia and assisted suicide for my master’s thesis. Specifically, I wanted to analyze the relationship between collective law and individual morality using as a case study the phenomenon of voluntary death, which has been making people talk about itself in recent years precisely because of its as yet undefined nature. Listening to the voices of the medical class, i.e. the social group that would be most affected by the possible legalization of euthanasia, it has emerged, among other things, that Italy lacks a real education to death. The research has opened a reflection on the range of voluntary death within a Nation where it is illegal. Numerous studies have determined the enormous symbolic baggage present within the concept of death, but in the study of the legalization of voluntary death a new factor has emerged: a legalization is not desired until the population receives a real education on the idea of having to die. Like sex, death is still a taboo in many societies around the world. is it therefore possible, or at least necessary, to educate to death? How could it be done? This research has exalted not only a cultural deficiency but also the desire to remedy it through death education, in order to exorcise the fear of an event that sooner or later everyone has to face.

Keywords: Culture; End-of-Life; Euthanasia; Legalization; Voluntary.