PHL 2170 How Should We Die?

Death is one of the few non-negotiable certainties of human life. It can be a source of both terror and relief; it has contributed to and shaped the entire gamut of human expression from literature to visual art to music and beyond. Yet we rarely make space for its consideration either in the classroom or in our lives. This course is designed to help us ask what we do (or should) believe about death and dying, to investigate how our beliefs about death and dying impact how we live our lives (both as individuals and as members of communities), and to consider the manifold ethical considerations brought to the fore by reflections on mortality.

Credits

4 sh

Course Types

Expression

Offered

• Fall
• Winter
• Spring

1. Students will be able to engage critically with a wide array historical and philosophical theories of death and mortality, from the ancient world to the contemporary age.
2. Students will reflect on death as not merely a biological inevitability, but as a site of choice, resistance, and refusal in political and societal contexts.
3. Students will explore the pressing ethical considerations that attend questions of death and dying, including physician assisted suicide, life-saving measures, and the monetization of death as an industry.