Abstract

[Biolaw & Literature. The case of Ulysses and his living will] In this paper, I will reflect on advance health care directives, from a bioethical point of view. Advance directives, which deal with the right of self-determination, are now regulated by the Italian law no. 219/2017. I will look in depth at the concept of capacity for rational choice in advance decisions, by looking at the figure of Ulysses, who is considered to give his companions the first living will in Western history. From Homer’s “dilemmatic rationality” to the present time, this path will give the opportunity to consider advance directives as instruments of a dialogical-dialectical resolution of dilemmatic situations.