Is Death Irreversible?

Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 48 (5):492-503 (2023)
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Abstract

There are currently two legally established criteria for death: the irreversible cessation of circulation and respiration and the irreversible cessation of neurologic function. Recently, there have been technological developments that could undermine the irreversibility requirement. In this paper, I focus both on whether death should be identified as an irreversible state and on the proper scope of irreversibility in the biological definition of death. In this paper, I tackle the distinction between the commonsense definition of death and the biological definition of death to show that even the commonsense concept of death is specified by biological facts. Resting on this argument, I argue that any definition of death is a posteriori. Thus, irreversibility is part of any definition of death because the actual phenomenon of death is irreversible. In addition, I show that the proper domain of irreversibility in a definition of death is circumscribed by physical possibilities and that irreversibility in the definition of death refers to current possibilities for the reversal of relevant biological processes. I conclude that, despite recent technological advancements, death is still irreversible.

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Nada Gligorov
Albany Medical College

Citations of this work

Certainty, Science, and the Brain-Based Definition of Death.Dominique E. Martin, Cynthia Forlini & Emma Tumilty - 2023 - American Journal of Bioethics Neuroscience 14 (3):279-282.
“Death” and Its Discontents.Nicholas Sparks - 2023 - Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 48 (5):413-421.

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Two Dogmas of Empiricism.W. V. Quine - 1951 - Philosophical Review 60 (1):20-43.
The essential moral self.Nina Strohminger & Shaun Nichols - 2014 - Cognition 131 (1):159-171.

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