PHI 2396 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Louis Pojman, Alan Watts, Pineal Gland
27 Mar 2018
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Defining death (vaughn, weijer, skelton and al. , chapter 10, pp. 259-275) The starting point: bruce tucker"s case-head injury-heart transplantation to klett- tucker"s brain- dead. Consequence: redefinition of death in terms of brain function (p. 165). Brain not funcitoning at that time so pronounced dead. Four definitions: the departure of the soul from the body: Plato, orthodox jewish ( a person is dead only when there is cessation of breathing) Separation between body and soul; when your soul leaves you you can no longer breather. and christian traditions, rene descartes (when the pineal gland at the base of the brain left the body at death) Departure of soul to body is first definition of death. Neuroscience is questioning the notion of a separate spiritual entity (pp. When soul leaves body the irreversible cessation of cardiovascular pulmonary function : The person is dead when the heart and lungs stop functioning :
