ABSTRACT
The Introduction explains the aims of the book, which are to track, reconstruct and classify certain repetitive patterns of judicial reasoning – called argumentative tools in the book – that are used by the European Court of Human Rights in cases raising particularly sensitive moral questions of limits of the right to privacy in the areas of medically assisted procreation, abortion and end-of-life situations. The book argues that the European Court of Human Rights does not assess individual cases using the legitimate aim of “morals,” and thus tends to avoid taking directly into account moral arguments of domestic authorities in individual rights. Nonetheless, it has developed specific argumentative tools, the aim of which, admittedly, is to convince the audience – States, individuals and public opinion – of the veracity of the decisions taken, but they often simultaneously reveal the ethical preferences of the judges. The Introduction contains a justification for the choice of research methods applied in the book and for the selection of cases subject to examination.
