Comparative Study of the Conflict between Euthanasia Theory and Christianity in the Prehistory and Establishment of Bioethics in the US, UK and Japan

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K00023
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 01010:Philosophy and ethics-related
• Research Institution: Ritsumeikan University
• Principal Investigator: OTANI Izumi 立命館大学, 産業社会学部, 教授 (30454507)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 安楽死 / 尊厳死 / 高齢社会 / 格差社会 / 『PLAN 75』 / ナチス安楽死政策 / T4計画 / トリアージ

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The COVID-19 pandemic made it impossible to conduct national and international research on J.F.Fletcher, but I took this as an opportunity to re-position my research in today's contemporary situation. This has revealed that the mechanism of identifying 'certain lives' as a burden on society based on their productivity and attempting to solve society's problems by eliminating their existence is common to the following phenomena.
Firstly, the Nazi euthanasia policy not having been considered problematic even though it was known to the public in the USA at the time and in Japan after the war, and secondly, the film PLAN 75 (2022), which depicted a fictional Japanese society that legalised euthanasia for the elderly over 75, being well-received both in Japan and abroad and being perceived as realistic, especially in Japan.

Free Research Field

生命倫理学・生命倫理教育

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究成果の学術的意義は、ナチス政権下の安楽死政策の実態が、同時代の米国や第二次世界大戦後の日本で一般大衆に広く知られながらも問題化されてこなかった現象を明確にし、これをCOVID-19パンデミック及びロシア・ウクライナ戦争、ガザ・イスラエル戦争等の今日的状況に再配置したことにある。これにより、ナチスの安楽死政策と現在の安楽死・尊厳死論との関係を考究する本研究の社会的意義は一層リアリティをもつこととなった。
なお、カトリック教会等における聖職者の性加害や米国最高裁の中絶対応など、キリスト教をめぐる社会情勢の急変があり、本研究におけるキリスト教の論点については軽々な言及を控え、今後の課題とした。