Reasons and the Fear of Death
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Death, violent or otherwise, is a matter of widespread concern with ongoing debates about such matters as euthanasia and the nature of brain death. Philosophers have often argued about the rationality of fear of death. This book argues that that dispute has been misconceived: fear of death is not something that follows or fails to follow from reason, but rather, it forms the basis of reasoning and helps to show why people must be cooperating beings who accept certain sorts of facts as reasons for acting. Within the context of this account of reasons, the book gives a new understanding of brain death and of physician-assisted suicide. Booknews Philosophers have argued back and forth about whether the fear of death can be justified by arguments of rationality. Ewin (philosophy, U. of Western Australia) suggests that both sides have gotten the question wrong. Fear of death, he suggests, is prerational, underlying all of the concepts with which we reason. Rather than reifying "Reason," we should see reasons as emerging from a complex of emotion, cognition, and other aspects of being human that emerged from our evolutionary history. In approaching reason and death in this way, we can shed new light on the moral judgements on euthanasia and related questions. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
AcknowledgmentsCh. 1Introduction1Ch. 2Reason and the Fear of Death9Ch. 3Concepts and Their Formal Elements27Ch. 4Evolution and Ethics49Ch. 5Concepts, Rationality, and Death83Ch. 6What Is Death?107Ch. 7The Reasonableness of Assisting Death135Bibliography157Index163About the Author167
