ON THE SAME SIDE OF THE COIN

THE INTERMITTENCE OF JOSÉ SARAMAGO'S DEATH AND THE ISSUES OF THE END OF LIFE

Abstract

Death has always been a theme that intrigued humanity. Its complexities and difficulties to explain, or at least give a reason, were responsible for the creation of religions and metaphysical attempts to answer the question of why human beings die. Based on this subject and on the work of José Saramago, As intermittences of death, deals with what it would be like to die. With the discussions proposed by the book on suspended death, bioethics and the theme of euthanasia and assisted suicide are also discussed, trying to guide the discussion under the paradigm of the dignity of the human person. The dialectical and dialogic method is used in the present work, aiming to answer the specific objectives of clarifying the concept of death for the law, comparing the discussions proposed by Saramago in his book with the actuality of the Law and comparing the concepts of euthanasia and assisted suicide and, finally, the general objective of contrasting death in the work of José Saramago with current bioethical discussions.