Aging, death, and human longevity : a philosophical inquiry / Christine Overall.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Overall, Christine, 1949-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Aging.

Longevity.

Terminal care.

Physical Description:

xi, 264 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Berkeley : University of California Press, [2003]

Summary:

Life expectancy increasing dramatically for both social and scientific reasons. This book explores the arguments for and against increasing the length of human life and proposes a progressive social policy for responding to a longer-lived population.

Contents:

1. Introduction: "Death Twitches My Ear" 1

2. "Remember You Must Die": Arguments against Prolonging Human Life 23

3. Age Rationing and "Generational Cleansing": Evaluating the "Duty to Die" 64

4. "One Swallow Does Not Make a Summer": Arguments in Favor of Prolonging Human Life 95

5. "From Here to Eternity": Is It Good to Live Forever? 124

6. "The Death of Death": Immortality, Identity, and Selfhood 155

7. Personal and Policy Implications: "Rage against the Dying of the Light"? 183.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 239-253) and index.

ISBN:

0520232984

OCLC:

49276438