Exploring the Philosophy of Death and Dying: Classical and Contemporary Perspectives

Description

Exploring the Philosophy of Death and Dying: Classical and Contemporary Perspectives is the first book to offer students the full breadth of philosophical issues that are raised by the end of life. Included are many of the essential voices that have contributed to the philosophy of death and dying throughout history and in contemporary research. The 38 chapters in its nine sections contain classic texts (by authors such as Epicurus, Hume, Nietzsche, and Schopenhauer) and new short argumentative essays, specially commissioned for this volume, by world-leading contemporary experts. Exploring the Philosophy of Death and Dying introduces students to both theoretical issues (whether we can survive death, whether death is truly bad for us, whether immortality would be desirable, etc.) and urgent practical issues (the ethics of suicide, the value of grief, the appropriate medical criteria for declaring death, etc.) raised by human mortality, enabling instructors to adapt it to a wide array of institutions and student audiences. As a pedagogical benefit, PowerPoints, discussion questions, and test questions for each chapter are included as online ancillary materials. Cover Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents List of Contributors Acknowledgements Introduction Part I: When Do We Die? A Death-Scene Introduction to Part I When Do We Die? Chapter 1: Defining Death: A Report on the Medical, Legal and Ethical Issues in the Determination of Death (excerpt) Summary of Conclusions and Recommended Statute Introduction CHAPTER 1 Why “Update” Death? Developing Confidence in the Heart–Lung Criteria The Interrelationships of Brain, Heart, and Lung Functions Loss of Various Brain Functions Conclusion: The Need for Reliable Policy CHAPTER 3 Understanding the “Meaning” of Death The “Whole Brain” Formulations The “Higher Brain” Formulations The Non-Brain Formulations Chapter 2: Defining Death in a Technological World: Why Brain Death Is Death I. II. III. Notes References Chapter 3: We Die When Entropy Overwhelms Homeostasis Introduction Evolution, Entropy, Death Whole-Brain Death Higher-Brain Theory of Death Death Determination Practices References Chapter 4: What It Is to Die I. The Paradox of Cryptobiosis II. Applications to Human Death? III. What It Is To Be Alive: Activism Stated IV. Cryptobiotic Things Are Neither Alive Nor Dead V. The Capacitist Objection to the No Metabolism Argument VI. The Activist Reply VII. The Exhaustivist Argument for Capacitism VIII. What Is It to Die? Cessation and Neutral Incapacitation IX. What Is It to Be Capable of Undergoing the Relevant Processes? X. Conclusion Notes References Part II: Can We Survive Our Death? Death, be Not Proud Introduction to Part II Chapter 5: The Tragic Sense of Life (excerpts) II III VI X Chapter 6: Can We Survive Our Deaths? Human Life, Human Death Resurrection The Soul Legacy Conclusion Notes Bibliography Chapter 7: The Possibility of an Afterlife I. Introduction II. Souls and Divinely Sustained Afterlives III. Lockean Persons and the Afterlife IV. Transhumanist Persons and an Atheistic Afterlife V. Material Animals and the Afterlife VI. Hylomorphic Animals and the Afterlife VII. Conclusion Notes Part III: Can Death Be Good or Bad for Us? If So, When Is It Good or Bad for Us? Ozymandias Introduction to Part III Chapter 8: Letter to Menoeceus: Epicurus Chapter 9: Two Arguments for Epicureanism I. Introduction II. What Makes an Event Harmful? III. The Timing Argument IV. Harm-at-a-Time V. Posthumous Well-Being VI. Timeless Badness VII. The Future Well-Being Argument VIII. The Capacity Problem IX. Conclusion Notes References Chapter 10: Why Death is Not Bad for the One Who Dies Why Death is Not Bad for the One Who Dies Two Epicurean Arguments The Existence Variant The Hedonic Variant Deprivation and Death’s Badness Conclusion Notes Chapter 11: Death Is Bad for Us When We’re Dead I. Epicurus’ Reasoning and the Deprivation Account II. The Deprivation Account and the Timing Problem III. The Timing Problem and Subsequentism IV. Subsequentism and Other Solutions to the Timing Problem V. Conclusion Notes References Chapter 12: Making Death Not Quite as Bad for the One Who Dies I. Introduction II. Deprivationist Views of the Value of Death III. Making Death Less Bad for the One Who Dies Notes Bibliography Part IV: Can Lucretius’ Asymmetry Problem Be Solved? Death Introduction to Part IV Chapter 13: On the Nature of Things (excerpts) Chapter 14: If You Want to Die Later, Then Why Don’t You Want to Have Been Born Earlier? I. Introduction The Symmetry Argument II. Why the Impossibility Solution Fails The Big Bang Argument III. Objections III.1 Possibility and Deprivation III.2 What Does It Mean to Be Born Earlier? IV. Asymmetrical Salience IV.1 Difference in Control IV.2 Difference in the Times Each Event Is a Threat IV.3 Difference in Uncertainty V. Conclusion Notes Chapter 15: Coming Into and Going Out of Existence Notes Part V: Would Immortality Be Good for Us? Immortality Because I Could Not Stop for Death Introduction to Part V Chapter 16: The Epic of Gilgamesh (excerpts)* TABLET X TABLET XI Note Chapter 17: The Story of the Man Who Did Not Wish to Die Chapter 18: How to Live a Never-Ending Novela: (Or, Why Immortality Needn’t Undermine Identity) Note References Chapter 19: Taking Stock of the Risks of Life without Death I. Introduction II. Boredom and the Threat of Running Out of Life’s Pages III. Is There Really a Finite Number of Books in the Library? IV. Do All of the Books Really Have a Finite Number of Pages? V. Couldn’t We Just Re-read the Books Once We’ve Forgotten Them? VI. How Do These Contingencies Bear on What We Should Choose for Ourselves? VII. Conclusion Notes Bibliography Chapter 20: Immortality, Boredom, and Standing for Something I. Introduction II. The Necessary Boredom Thesis III. The Value-Filled World Argument IV. Skepticism about the Necessary Boredom Thesis V. A More Modest Predicament VI. Immortality and the Source of Boredom VII. A Lingering Hope VIII. Conclusion Notes Part VI: What Is the Best Attitude to Take Toward Our Mortality? O Living Always, Always Dying Introduction to Part VI Chapter 21: Death, Mortality, and Meaning Notes Chapter 22: Fitting Attitudes Towards Deprivations Clarifying the Question Fitting Attitudes Objections Objection 1: instrumental rationality Objection 2: Draper’s challenge Concluding Remarks Notes References Chapter 23: The Enchiridion (excerpts) Chapter 24: Setting the Wheel of Dhamma in Motion (excerpts) Notes Chapter 25: Voluntary Death (excerpts) XXI. Voluntary Death Part VII: How Should We React to the Deaths of Others? Introduction to Part VII Chapter 26: Letter to Lucilius Letter LXIII. On Grief for Lost Friends Notes Chapter 27: Why Grieve? Notes Chapter 28: The Significance of Future Generations I. Doomsday II. Lessons from the Past III. Back to the Future Notes References Chapter 29: Death and Survival Online Introduction 1. Memorialized Digital Remains 2. Digital Reanimation Notes References Part VIII: Is Suicide Rationally or Morally Defensible? The Suicide’s Argument Introduction to Part VIII Chapter 30: Whether One is Allowed to Kill Oneself (excerpts) Note Chapter 31: Of Suicide (excerpts) Chapter 32: Suicide Is Sometimes Rational and Morally Defensible Fates Worse than Death: The Rationality of Suicide Countervailing Considerations? The Morality of Suicide Sanctity of Life Murder Unnatural Cowardice Interests of Others Conclusion Notes Chapter 33: Suicide and Its Discontents Notes Bibliography Chapter 34: An Irrational Suicide? I. Introduction II. Reasons for Considering Suicide Irrational and Ethan’s Case II.1 Suicide Is Incomprehensible II.2 Suicide Is Insane II.3 Suicide Is Unreasonable III. Would Suicide Be Rational in Ethan’s Case? IV. Conclusion Notes References Part IX: How Does Death Affect the Meaningfulness of Our Lives? The Road Not Taken Introduction to Part IX Chapter 35: World as Will and Representation (excerpts) Chapter XLIX. The Way of Salvation Chapter 36: Death in Mind: Life, Meaning, and Mortality Introduction: The Meaning Mandate Part-Life Meaning: Additivism Whole-Life Meaning Whole-Life Meaning: Achievementism Whole-Life Meaning: Narrativism Part-Life Meaning: Engagementism Final Thoughts? Notes Works Cited Chapter 37: Meaning in Life in Spite of Death I. Death Sucks, but Why, Exactly? II. The Value of Meaning in Life III. Does Meaning Require Immortality? III.1 Obtaining Justice III.2 Making a Difference III.3 Enjoying Moral Freedom IV. Does Great Meaning Require Immortality? V. Conclusion Notes References Chapter 38: Out of the Blue into the Black: Reflections on Death and Meaning Much Ado about Nothing? Universal Mortality The Life of Sisyphus Repetition Futility Ultimate Significance Bibliography Index