The semiotics of death and its medical implications

Abstract

In any discussion pertaining to this world, human beings are bound to the medium of language. We are often unaware of the degree to which language, as the physical shape of all thought, exerts its influence on the distinctions we make and consequently on the formation of our notions and ideas. The way we think shapes the way we speak, but also conversely, the language we speak shapes the thoughts we think. The languages we live in are the result of all preceding evolution of thought, cultural interaction and the communication thereof within a linguistic community, already presenting us with a preformed way of structuring and interpreting the world (Weltanschauung) at the time of primary language acquisition. We are not able to step out of the medium of language, but we are able to step out of one particular language into another, thereby critically evaluating the distinctions, terms and notions we usually take for granted. Surprising new perspectives open up on seemingly well-known objects of debate, and from the meta-linguistic point of view, more often than not what appeared to be a problem on the object level turns out to be an inherent feature of the language we use to discuss it. A case in point is the phenomenon called death.