Death By Thomas Nagel : Death

The following annotated chapter outline will help you review the major topics covered in this chapter.

Meaning and significance of death in the light of the Christian narrative is addressed and shows a deep understanding, including a detailed description and many examples.

Death is the most inevitable and unknown aspect of life. It is unescapable, and by most of today’s population, it is feared in the utmost regard. Our materialistic views and constant desertion of religious ideals has forced our society to view death as an ultimate end. Socrates and St. Augustine’s views on death differ from many views on the subject in 2017, however, for their time, these men had the power to influence a plethora of individuals with their theories. For Socrates, death should never be feared and should be considered a blessing if our souls were to ascend to heaven, or death could be an extensive slumber without any dreaming whatsoever. With

In “On Natural Death,” Thomas appeals to the readers by contemplating the subject of death with an academic approach that includes facts, data, and information. Thomas successfully transforms death from an awkward, emotional subject to a more comfortable intellectual one. This engages the readers by placing contemplation of death and dying within the confines of a more manageable and rational context. His gradual exhumation of death eases the audience into pondering the subject in the absence of emotional stress. The essay transitions from the death of an elm tree to that of a mouse. This is followed by Thomas giving a significant amount of attention to a scientific explanation of death, and then finally the description of the near death experience of a human. This use of an academic appeal moves the audience to a comfort zone with the subject of death and circumvents the common response of avoidance. The reader is simultaneously desensitized to the gravity of subject matter and given permission to consider death and dying without the normal societal negative stigma associated with the subject.

The purpose of this report was to provide a response to the following questions by referring to the concepts covered in the text and discussed in class.

2.) Answer the following questions based on a reading of the above document and material from your textbook.

This assignment is intended to ensure you understand some of the basic terms used in this course.

1. The paper fulfills the purpose of the assignment as described in the syllabus and in this document (up to 10 points)

Corr, C. A., Corr, D. M., & Bordere, T. C. (2013). Death & dying, life & living. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.

Please note that the instructor’s assignments may vary from the original syllabus you received from the student web page. Assignments in this document take priority. While the reading assignments and learning objectives remain the same, some of the assignments in this syllabus have been customized for this particular section.

Thomas Nagel’s article on death examined why he thinks death is considered a bad thing. He first considered that society would be indifferent to the death of people who are comatose for an extended period, versus those who immediately die. He also points out that few people are sad that they weren’t born prior to their birth. Essentially, anyone born significantly earlier than they were, would have been someone else. As a result, the time preceding to their birth does not prevent that individual from living. There is no expectation of life before we existed, but Nagel thinks death is a bad thing because that person could have potentially done more with their life.

The hedonist would argue that pleasure is the only intrinsic good in life, that joy and suffering are the only distinguishing marks of things beneficial or harmful to the human being. To the hedonist, life is like the common balance scale with suffering on one side and pleasure on the other. With pleasure being inversely related to suffering, in order to maximize the good of life, the hedonist strives to minimize suffering, thereby maximizing net pleasure (pleasure minus suffering).

Why are we allowed to be more humane to our pets than our parents? Physician-assisted suicide is a voluntary termination of one’s own life by administration of a lethal substance with direct or indirect assistance of a physician. Euthanasia is another term for this practice it provides a competent patient with a prescription for the patient to use with the primary intention of ending his or her own life. Compassion and Choices or Death with Dignity are names of supporters that promote euthanasia, also referred to as physician-assisted suicide, and believe that it is just as humane for terminally ill animals as it is for people. I too agree that it should be legally and morally open for choice to anyone suffering from a terminal

On Death and Dying By Elisabeth Kubler-Ross For my book review, I read On Death and Dying, by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross. Dr. Kubler-Ross was the first person in her field to discuss the topic of death. Before 1969, death was considered a taboo. On Death and Dying is one of the most important psychological studies of the late twentieth century. The work grew out of her famous interdisciplinary seminar on death, life, and transition. In this paper, I give a comprehensive book review as well as integrate topics learned in class with Dr. Kubler-Ross' work. Like Piaget's look at developmental stages in children, there are also stages a person experiences on the journey toward death. These five stages are denial/isolation, anger, bargaining,

This assignment has a maximum total of 100 marks and is worth 10% of your total grade for this course. You should complete it after completing your course work for Units 1 through 5. Answer each question clearly and concisely.