Philosophical Thinking About Death And Dying

by Barry, Vincent E.

• ISBN13: 9780495008248
• ISBN10: 0495008249
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-03-30
• Publisher: Cengage High School

Summary

No one likes to think about death, but what if someone asked you what you believed about it? PHILOSOPHICAL THINKING ABOUT DEATH AND DYING walks you through the major metaphysical and ethical issues surrounding death and dying, showing you what others have thought so you can form your own opinion. Plus, it covers what science is telling us about the process of dying. This philosophy textbook is easy to use and full of study tools, so you'll be ready to get a great grade in class as well.

Table of Contents

Preface	xv
Introduction: Philosophical Thinking and Death	1	(1)
Philosophy and The Death of Ivan Ilyich	2	(2)
Metaphysics	2	(1)
Epistemology	2	(1)
Ethics	3	(1)
Philosophical Thinking	4	(1)
Philosophical vs. Ordinary Thinking	5	(1)
Philosophical Thinking and Death	6	(1)
Three Kinds of Fundamental Questions	6	(1)
The Value of Philosophical Thinking About Death and Dying	7	(2)
References	9	(2)
PART I The Nature of Death
Introduction: The 9/11 Memorial and Death Denial	11	(4)
Definition and Criteria of Death	15	(17)
The Death of Terri Schiavo	15	(1)
Traditional Heart-Lung Definition	16	(2)
The Challenge Posed by Biomedical Technology	17	(1)
The Challenge Posed by Transplantation	17	(1)
Whole-Brain Death Definition	18	(1)
Challenges to the Whole-Brain Formulation	18	(3)
Return to the Heart-Lung Formulation	19	(1)
Adopt a Higher-Brain Formulation	19	(1)
Adopt a Brainstem Formulation	20	(1)
The Biological vs. Psycho-Social Debate: Organisms vs. Persons	21	(4)
Death of the Organism: A Biological Perspective	21	(1)
Death of the Person: A Psycho-Social Perspective	22	(1)
Problems with the Person-Based View	23	(1)
The Person-Based Reply	23	(2)
Lingering Questions About Brain Death	25	(3)
Definition or Permission?	25	(1)
Help or Harm?	26	(2)
Event or Process?	28	(1)
Conclusions	28	(2)
References	30	(2)
Death in the West	32	(19)
A Wisconsin Death Trip	32	(1)
Premodern Attitude (To 1900): Death Visible and Tamed	33	(11)
Early Middle Ages (500-1000): Death as Destiny	34	(3)
Later Middle Ages (1000-1400): Death of Self	37	(3)
The Age of Enlightenment (1650-1750): Fear Checked by Reason	40	(2)
Romanticism (1750-1850): Fear Sublimated in the Death of Others	42	(2)
The Modern Age (1900-1975): Death Invisible and Wild	44	(2)
Scientific vs. Traditional Worldview	45	(1)
Postmodern Age (1975-Present): Death Open and Available	46	(2)
The Fear of Death	48	(1)
Conclusions	48	(1)
References	49	(2)
The Consciousness of Death	51	(19)
The Beheading of Nicholas Berg and the Imminence of Death	51	(1)
The Instinctual Basis of the Fear of Death	52	(3)
The Argument from Biology	52	(1)
The Argument from Psychoanalysis	53	(2)
Existential Thought and the Fear of Death	55	(1)
Kierkegaard	55	(6)
Human Nature as a Union of Opposites	56	(1)
``The Predicament of the Existing Individual''	57	(1)
``The Dizziness of Freedom''	58	(1)
``Shut-upness''	58	(1)
Objective vs. Subjective Thinking	59	(1)
Relation with the Infinite	60	(1)
Heidegger	61	(6)
Awareness of One's Being	62	(1)
``Thrownness'' and ``Angst''	62	(1)
``Being-Towards-Death''	63	(1)
``Fallenness''	63	(1)
``Fleeing in the Face of Death'' vs. ``Living in the Light of Death''	64	(1)
Death as an Event	64	(2)
Death as an Existential Phenomenon	66	(1)
Conclusions	67	(1)
References	68	(2)
The Evil of Death	70	(15)
Waiting for Godot	70	(1)
The Problem of the Evil of Death	71	(5)
Death as Not Bad: The Epicurean Argument	71	(2)
Death as Bad: Deprivation Theory	73	(3)
The Rationality of Death	76	(3)
Is It Irrational to Fear Death?	77	(1)
Is It Rational to Be Led by the Fear of Death?	78	(1)
Conclusions	79	(1)
References	80	(3)
PART II Survival of Death
Introduction: A Death in the Family	83	(2)
The Self and Its Relation to Death	85	(19)
Dualistic View of Human Nature	86	(4)
Plato	86	(1)
The Soul's Existence	86	(3)
Descartes	89	(1)
The Mind-Body Problem	90	(1)
Responses to the Mind-Body Problem	91	(5)
Reductive Theories of Mind	92	(2)
Critical Responses to Reductive Theories of Mind	94	(2)
The Persistence of Personal Identity	96	(5)
Body	96	(1)
Soul	97	(1)
Memory	98	(1)
No-Self	99	(1)
Hume	99	(2)
Conclusion	101	(1)
References	101	(3)
Survival Hypotheses	104	(18)
Disembodied or Pure Individual Mind	105	(1)
Resurrection	106	(5)
Judaism	106	(1)
Islam	107	(1)
Christianity	108	(3)
Reincarnation	111	(5)
Hinduism	111	(1)
Buddhism	112	(2)
Christianity	114	(1)
Western Philosophy	115	(1)
Mystical Union	116	(3)
Hinduism	116	(1)
Taoism	117	(1)
Buddhism	118	(1)
Western Philosophy	118	(1)
Conclusions	119	(1)
References	119	(3)
Bases for Afterlife Belief	122	(23)
``After-Death.Com'' and Life Everlasting	122	(1)
The Argument from Theology	123	(1)
The Argument from Morality	123	(2)
The Argument from Globalism	125	(1)
The Argument from Human Development	126	(4)
Irenaean Theodicy	126	(2)
Bergson's Elan Vital	128	(2)
The Argument from Parapsychological Phenomena	130	(4)
Past Life	130	(1)
Near Death Experiences	131	(1)
Deathbed Visions	131	(1)
Apparitions and Materializations	132	(1)
Out-of-Body Experiences	133	(1)
Messages from the Dead and the Beyond	134	(1)
Conclusions	134	(4)
References	138	(3)
PART III Voluntary Death
Introduction: Quinlan, Perlmutter, Cruzan	141	(4)
Conceptual Issues in Suicide and Euthanasia	145	(16)
Garrett Hardin and the Profile of Suicide	145	(2)
Suicide: The Problem of Definition	147	(2)
Self-Sacrificial Deaths	147	(1)
Coerced Deaths	148	(1)
Euthanasia	149	(1)
Definition: Narrow and Broad Interpretations	150	(1)
Killing vs. Allowing to Die	151	(5)
A Distinction with a Difference?	154	(1)
Yes (Narrow Interpretation)	154	(1)
No (Broad Interpretation)	155	(1)
Voluntary and Nonvoluntary Decisions	156	(2)
Voluntary Decisions	157	(1)
Nonvoluntary Decisions	157	(1)
Conclusions	158	(1)
References	159	(2)
History and Contemporary Opinion	161	(18)
Suicide as an Office to God, Neighbor, Self: Plato and Aristle	161	(1)
Suicide as Rational: The Stories	162	(1)
Suicide as Sinful: Augnustne and Aquinas	163	(1)
Suicide as Beneficial to Self and Others: Hume	164	(2)
``On Suicide''	165	(1)
Suicide as Violating Moral Responsibility: Kant	166	(3)
The Argument from Free Will	166	(1)
The Argument from Human Nature	167	(1)
The Argument from Autonomy	168	(1)
Argument from Divine Will	168	(1)
Suicide as a Social Utility: Bentham and Mill	169	(2)
Assisted Suicide: The Contemporary Picture	171	(4)
Physician Assistance	171	(1)
World Legal Opinion	172	(1)
U.S. Public and Professional Opinion	172	(2)
Initiatives and Legislation	174	(1)
Oregon's Death with Dignity Act	174	(1)
Conclusions	175	(1)
References	176	(3)
Individual Morality	179	(18)
The Assisted Death of Velma Howard	179	(1)
Principles	180	(8)
Utility/Happiness	180	(4)
Respect for Persons	184	(2)
Natural Law	186	(2)
Virtue	188	(5)
Conclusions	193	(1)
References	194	(3)
Social Policy and Law	197	(17)
Gonzales v. Oregon	197	(1)
Individual Rights	198	(5)
Human Rights	199	(2)
Welfare Rights	201	(2)
Equality	203	(3)
The General Welfare	206	(4)
State Paternalism	206	(1)
Self-Regarding vs. Other-Regarding I rtues and Vices	207	(1)
The Case for Indirect Harm	208	(1)
The Case Against Indirect Harm	208	(2)
Conclusions	210	(1)
References	211	(3)
Futile Treatment and the Duty to Die	214	(18)
The Case of Helga Wanglie	214	(1)
Medical Futility: Physician Beneficence v Patient Autonomy	215	(2)
Arguments for Limiting Patient Autonomy	217	(2)
Professionalism	217	(1)
Responsible Stewardship	218	(1)
Arguments Against Limiting Patient Autonomy	219	(3)
Physician Bias	219	(1)
Uncertain Prognoses/Mistaken Diagnoses	220	(1)
Lack of Social Consensus	220	(1)
Social Contract	221	(1)
The Duty to Die	222	(6)
From Patient to Family-Centered Bioethics: The Ideas of John Hardwig	224	(2)
Hardwig's Critics	226	(1)
Logical Problems	226	(1)
Practical Problems	227	(1)
Conclusions	228	(1)
References	229	(3)
Conclusion: Life, Death, and Meaning	232	(22)
Death Gives Meaning to Life	233	(4)
Death as Necessary for Life	233	(1)
Death as Part of the Life Cycle	234	(1)
Death as Ultimate Affirmation	235	(1)
Death as Motive to Commitment and Engagement	235	(1)
Death as Stimulus to Creativity	236	(1)
Death as Socially Useful	236	(1)
The Meaning of Life	237	(3)
Theistic	238	(1)
Non-Theistic	239	(1)
Progress and Meaning	240	(4)
Self-Consciousness and Freedom	240	(1)
Science	241	(1)
Critics of Progress	242	(1)
Schopenhauer	242	(1)
Von Hartmann	242	(1)
Nietzsche	243	(1)
Criticism of the Western Conception of ``Progress''	243	(1)
The Challenge of Nihilism	244	(1)
Responses to Nihilism	245	(4)
Refusal or Rejection	245	(1)
Acceptance	245	(2)
Affirmation	247	(2)
The Examined Life, Death, and Meaning	249	(5)
Index	254