Dying is not an event, it is a phenomenon to be understood existentially...
Abstract
Heidegger's conception of death as an attitude toward life, overlooked in current literature on death and dying, offers potential for deepening our understanding of the care of non-critically ill patients. By breaking away from the notion of death as an event distinct from life and viewing it as an anticipated possibility at every moment of life, Heidegger provides insight into our attempts to evade death through our fundamental attitudes and value commitments, which in turn determine our behavior and actions. When combined with a method of application — the Nietzschean principle of reversal — these insights permit the understanding of diverse types of human mentality confronted with significant situations. Among the most important applications of these conceptions is to persons in need of medical care, and the resultant types, which are sampled as hypothetical cases, carry important implications for the sensitive care and psychosocial management of non-terminally ill patients.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aristotle,De Anima.
Camus, Albert,The Fall, trans. J. O'Brien, New York, 1956.
Camus, Albert,The Myth of Sisyphus, New York, 1959.
Charon, Jacques,Death and Western Thought, New York, 1963.
Dostoyevsky, Fyodor,Crime and Punishment, tr. C. Garnett, New York, 1958.
East Tennessee Cancer Research Center, ‘What Is the East Tennessee Cancer Research Center?’ (flyer) 1976.
Epicurus, ‘Letter to Menoeceus’, in W. J. Oates (Ed.),The Stoic and Epicurean Philosophers, New York, 1940, pp. 30–33.
Feifel, Herman,The Meaning of Death, New York, 1959, pp. xi–xvi.
Freud, Sigmund,Beyond the Pleasure Principle, New York, 1959.
Heidegger, Martin,Being and Time, tr. J. Macquairie and E. Robinson, New York, 1962.
Jolivet, Regis,Le Probleme de la Mort chez M. Heidegger et J. P. Sartre, Paris, 1950.
Jung, Carl G., ‘The Soul and Death’, in H. Feifel (Ed.),The Meaning of Death, New York, 1959, pp. 3–15.
Kierkegaard, Sören,Concluding Unscientific Postscript, tr. D. F. Swenson and W. Lowrie, Princeton, 1941.
Kierkegaard, Sören,Fear and Trembling and the Sickness Unto Death, tr. W. Lowrie, Princeton, 1941.
Kübler-Ross, Elizabeth,On Death and Dying, New York, 1970.
Margolis, Joseph,Negativities, Columbus, Ohio, 1975.
Nietzsche, Friedrich,The Geneology of Morals, tr. F. Goeffing. New York, 1956.
Nietzsche, Friedrich,Thus Spake Zarathustra, tr. T. Common,The Philosophy of Nietzsche, New York, 1954.
Nietzsche, Friedrich,Twilight of the Idols, The Portable Nietzsche, tr. W. Kaufmann, New York, 1954.
O. Henry, ‘The Last Leaf’,The Pocket Book of O. Henry Stories, New York, 1956.
Plato,Phaedo.
Sartre, Jean-Paul,Being and Nothingness, tr. hazel Barnes, New York, 1956.
Sartre, Jean-Paul,Nausea, tr. L. Alexander, New York, 1964.
Sudnow, David,Passing On: The Social Organization of Dying, Englewood Cliffs, 1967.
Wittgenstein, Ludwig,Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, tr. D. F. Pears and B. F. McGuinness, New York, 1961.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Cebik, L.B. The significance of death for the living. Metamedicine 1, 67–83 (1980). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00883520
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00883520