Izazovi produljenja ljudskoga života na razmeđu poboljšanja i agonije

Abstract

The main aim of this paper is to present two different forms of human life extension. On the one hand there is dysthanasia, i.e. therapeutic persistence in the provision of life-sustaining measures to terminally ill patients, and on the other hand, transhumanism as a philosophical viewpoint which in its core strives towards unlimited extension of human life with the fundamental desire to eliminate disease, ageing and death. By putting them in correlation with the healthcare practice, the paper points to implications in clinical practice and draws attention to ethical and anthropological issues in connection with life extension.

Keywords

• dysthanasia
• transhumanism
• medical technology
• life extension
• disease
• death
• immortality
• bioethics