Andrew Copson and Andrew Grey Chaired by Stephen Law

Leading humanist Andrew Copson and healthcare policy worker Andrew Grey debate whether it is morally acceptable to help someone to end their own life?

Do we have a right to die – including a right to medical assistance in bringing about our own death when we are painfully terminally ill? Or is it politically dangerous to allow assisted suicide –the first step on a dangerous slippery slope that will likely lead to people being killed who are merely a burden or inconvenience, or who are deemed by others to have lives not worth living? Is it always morally wrong to take a life, or to assist someone in taking their own life, no matter what the circumstances?

Copson is chief executive of Humanists UK and former director of education and public affairs for Humanists UK. He is also president of the International Humanist and Ethical Union and author of Secularism: Politics, Religion, and Freedom.

Grey is author of Dignity at the End of Life: What’s Beneath the Assisted Dying Debate? He has worked in healthcare policy and information for the past five years, focussing on life-limiting conditions and has discussed moral issues on national media. He has undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in theology and ethics.

Discussions are chaired by Dr Stephen Law, philosopher, editor of The Royal Institute of Philosophy Journal Think – Philosophy for Everyone and author of The Philosophy Gym and The Complete Philosophy Files.