C. G. Prado, choosing to die: elective death and multiculturalism

The central practical issue that this thorough, stimulating, and important book addresses is whether suicide can be rational in the context of terminal illness. Answers to this issue can be readily formulated in the familiar context of western political thought, with its liberal paradigm of autonomy: yes, suicide can be rational if elected in a clear-thinking, voluntary way, without pressure or undue influence, external or internal, and with full information, but without other impairment; or no, suicide is irrational, since it may be based on a narrow, pessimistic view of one's future, on short discounts and high emotionality, or because it fails to recognize the impossibility of discerning what (if anything) comes after death.