John Benjamins Publishing Company
Moral ortothanasia and the right to die
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Fernando Lolas Stepke
Abstract
Based upon a historical analysis of death and dying in different contexts and reflecting on the interfaces between religion, philosophy, and medicine, this paper elaborates on the ethical quandaries associated with the process of dying from three different narrative perspectives: first, second, and third person. A sound pragmatics of care is developed when these three narrative voices are integrated into a meaningful whole. The process becomes then a true ortothanasia: dying is in harmony with personal expectations and desires, the needs of relevant others and the regulations implicit or explicit in society. It is contended that beliefs and practices designed to fit into one of the narratives may not necessarily serve to explain phenomena in other discourses. A right ortothanasia demands an hermeneutics of death and a dialectics of dying.
Abstract
Based upon a historical analysis of death and dying in different contexts and reflecting on the interfaces between religion, philosophy, and medicine, this paper elaborates on the ethical quandaries associated with the process of dying from three different narrative perspectives: first, second, and third person. A sound pragmatics of care is developed when these three narrative voices are integrated into a meaningful whole. The process becomes then a true ortothanasia: dying is in harmony with personal expectations and desires, the needs of relevant others and the regulations implicit or explicit in society. It is contended that beliefs and practices designed to fit into one of the narratives may not necessarily serve to explain phenomena in other discourses. A right ortothanasia demands an hermeneutics of death and a dialectics of dying.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Presentation 1
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Section I. Three disciplinary approaches to the subject of death
- Death 11
- Moral ortothanasia and the right to die 23
- In the wake of loss 35
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Section II. Discourse analysis in health settings
- The gift of continuing to live in the body of someone else 49
- Giving meaning to illness and death 67
- Religion, collusion, and “fighting” 85
- Rhetoric of death in clinical case reports and clinical tales 97
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Section III. Death in literary texts
- ‘Letters to Lucilius’ and death 113
- Montaigne, the essay and the end of life 125
- Memory, mothers and post-Freudian melancholia in Mercè Rodoreda’s ‘Night and Fog’ 147
- The scenography of death in contemporary poetry 167
- Beyond the limits of death 179
- Index 195
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Presentation 1
-
Section I. Three disciplinary approaches to the subject of death
- Death 11
- Moral ortothanasia and the right to die 23
- In the wake of loss 35
-
Section II. Discourse analysis in health settings
- The gift of continuing to live in the body of someone else 49
- Giving meaning to illness and death 67
- Religion, collusion, and “fighting” 85
- Rhetoric of death in clinical case reports and clinical tales 97
-
Section III. Death in literary texts
- ‘Letters to Lucilius’ and death 113
- Montaigne, the essay and the end of life 125
- Memory, mothers and post-Freudian melancholia in Mercè Rodoreda’s ‘Night and Fog’ 147
- The scenography of death in contemporary poetry 167
- Beyond the limits of death 179
- Index 195
