The author’s concern in this article is to show that some of the arguments advanced in favour of euthanasia are inadequate, particularly the contention that an individual ought to be allowed to die with dignity, that is by passive euthanasia. He attempts to demonstrate that the idea of death with dignity varies in past & present culture & in living religions. He concludes that the modern insistence that pain in the greatest evil in life is incorrect; rather the evil even greater than pain is to deny that pain, even excruciating pain, is radically an ingredient of the human condition.