TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2009//
TI  - Death and irreversibility
JO  - Reviews in the neurosciences
A1  - Egonsson, Dan
SP  - 275
EP  - 281
VL  - 20
IS  - 3-4
N2  - The concept of irreversibility plays a central role in most discussions of how to understand and determine human death. This seems to relativize death, since the possibilities of reversal will always depend on circumstance. I discuss the conceptual problems created by this fact, arguing that their seriousness depends on whether we take our conception of death to be a definition or criterion. Relativity is probably not fatal in a definition of death; it might even be desirable in a policy criterion. The concept of permanence is no less philosophically problematic in this context than irreversibility.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0334-1763
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/
ID  - ref1
ER  -