ABSTRACT
In the Judeo-Christian tradition, death, the fact that the life of individuals ends in death, is regarded as an integral element of the gift of life. In relation to the gift of life received from God, dying is seen as a counter-gift, as a way of repaying the initial gift: the death of the individual, especially in the fullness of a complete life, is itself the gift which constitutes a full reciprocation of the original gift of life. The gift of dying for the other is able to escape the economy of exchange, precisely because the giver gives him/herself irreversibly, that is, without recompose and return. Besides the giving of one's life for the other, which appears in the ethical dimension of self-sacrifice, there is also another kind of gift of death, which is a highly contentious issue. The right to die has been subject to great controversy in recent years in many countries.
