Death and irreversibility.

• The concept of irreversibility plays a central role in most discussions of how to understand and determine human death. This seems to relativize death, since the possibilities of reversal will always depend on circumstance. I discuss the conceptual problems created by this fact, arguing that their seriousness depends on whether we take our conception of death to be a definition or criterion. Relativity is probably not fatal in a definition of death; it might even be desirable in a policy criterion. The concept of permanence is no less philosophically problematic in this context than irreversibility.

Ämnesord

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Medicinska och farmaceutiska grundvetenskaper -- Neurovetenskaper (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Basic Medicine -- Neurosciences (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

permanence

relativity

irreversibility

criteria

death

definitions

Publikations- och innehållstyp

art (ämneskategori)

ref (ämneskategori)