Life, Death, and Brain Death

Abstract

This chapter is primarily concerned with the issues associated with defining death and the philosophical debate on where the line between life and death should be drawn. While traditionally death has been defined as the permanent cessation of the heartbeat and respiration, modern clinical developments have forced a reevaluation of the both the concept of death in general and of brain death in particular. Future developments in cryonics and nanotechnology may require even further reappraisal of when a person is really dead. This chapter advances the philosophical position that organismal death is not an event so much as it is a process, and that life and death are not distinct binary states, but entities with degrees and gradations. Finally, it advances the notion that it is helpful to distinguish between the definition of death based on mere cessation of the heart beat and a “more substantial” form of death, such as exists following cremation (“absolutely irreversible death” or “information-theoretic death”).