Almost over: aging, dying, dead

Discussing philosophical, legal, and medical issues related to aging, dying, and death, this text considers different views about whether and why death is bad for the person who dies, and whether these views bear on why it would be bad if there were no more persons at all. The book looks at how the general public is being asked to think about end-of-life issues by examining some questionnaires and conversation guides that have been developed. It also considers views about the process of dying and whether it might make sense to not resist death, or even to bring about the end of one's life, given certain views about meaning in life and what things it is worth living on to get and do.

This book is a philosophical discussion of moral, legal, and medical issues related to aging, dying, and death. One of its aims is to decide whether and when it might make sense to not resist or bring about the end of one's life. To answer this question it considers views about meaning in life and what makes life worth living. It also evaluates recent attempts to help the general public plan in advance for the end of life. It also considers whether or not physician-assisted suicide is morally permissible and if it should be legalized.

""Abstract: This book is a philosophical discussion of moral, legal, and medical issues related to aging, dying, and death. It considers different views about whether and why death is bad for the person who dies, and whether these views bear on why it would be bad if there were no more persons at all. The book looks at how the general public is being asked to think about end of life issues, as well, by examining some questionnaires and conversation guides that have been developed for their use. It also considers views about the process of dying and whether it might make sense to not resist death, or even to bring about the end of one's life, given certain views about meaning in life and what things it is worth living on to get and do. Some hold that it is not only serious illness but ordinary aging that may give rise to some of these questions and the book considers various ways in which aging and the distribution of goods and bads in a life could occur. Physician assisted suicide would be one way to end one's life and the book examines arguments about its moral permissibility and whether or not it should be legalized as a matter of public policy. This discussion draws on capital punishment debates concerning State action and also on methods of balancing costs and benefits. The book examines the views of such prominent philosophers, medical doctors, and legal theorists as Shelly Kagan, Susan Wolf, Atul Gawande, Ezekiel Emanuel, Cass Sunstein, and Neil Gorsuch, among others. ""--