ASKING THE ORACLE: THE VALIDITY OF INFORMED CONSENT UNDER EUROPEAN LAW

摘要

In ancient Greece, whenever people wanted a prediction of the future as to their planned actions, they were asking the oracles, which were believed that they were expressing the view of the gods. The answers of the oracles were famous for their ambiguity, to exclude any chance that gods were mistaken about the future. One of the most prominent examples of such ambiguity refers to a king, who was leaving for a military campaign and asked the oracle whether he will return alive. The oracle replied "you shall go and return not die", which depending on where a comma is placed could be 'you shall go and return, [you shall] not die' or 'you shall go and return not, [you shall] die'.