On the structure of the euthanasia debate: observations provoked by a near-perfect for-and-against book. Review symposium on euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide

Something is amiss with the euthanasia debate, and I want to use a smart new book to try to show what it is. The book is Euthanasia and Physician- Assisted Suicide: For and Against, an eagerly awaited volume by three well-known philosophers, Gerald Dworkin, R. G. Frey, and Sissela Bok. Dworkin and Frey are on the "for" side of the euthanasia and physicianassisted suicide debate; Bok is on the "against" side. This little book provides an ideal occasion to comment on the structure of the debate over euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide, a debate that has been developing over the past ten years or so in medical, academic, and public circles; indeed, this little book is a virtually perfect specimen for showing what is going on in these debates. More important, however, it is also a near-perfect specimen for showing what, unfortunately, isn't going on.