Libertarianism, Self-Ownership and Consensual Killing

Abstract

I argue that, under a broad range of circumstances, consensual killing (suicide, assisted suicide, and killing another person with their permission) is morally permissible and forcible prevention is not. The argument depends crucially on the following claims: (1) Agents have certain control rights over the use of their person (a form of self-ownership). (2) These rights are understood in choice-protecting terms. (3) The relevant consent is that of the agent at or prior to the time of action (and not that of the agent in the future). (4) There are no impersonal duties. (5) God, if he exists, has given us no commands not to use natural resources for the purposes of consensual killing.