Hastings Center Report
A Prescriptive Metaphysics of Death
Abstract: Much of the debate over whether brain death is death has focused on whether the loss of all brain functions entails the loss of the integration of the human organism as a whole. However, there has been growing recognition that the legal definition of death is not a matter that can be settled by such biological considerations alone and that metaphysical considerations about our nature, along with social and ethical considerations about how brain dead individuals should be treated, are relevant to the choice of criteria for determining death. In this paper, I show how some of the leading proponents and opponents of brain death acknowledge the relevance of metaphysical, social, and ethical considerations and how this may provide some common ground in working toward a consensus on brain death. I also address how in a liberal society disagreement over the criteria for determining death due to disagreement over metaphysical, social, or ethical considerations should be managed in the medical and legal context.
