Citation

Egonsson D. Rev. Neurosci. 2009; 20(3-4): 275-281.

Affiliation

Department of Philosophy, Lund University, Kungshuset, Lundagård SE-222 22 Lund, Sweden. Dan.Egonsson@fil.lu.se

Copyright

(Copyright © 2009, Freund Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

20157997

Abstract

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.

Language: en