A Discussion of Avery Weisman's Notion of Appropriate Death

Abstract

This article traces uses of the term “appropriate death,” as introduced by Avery Weisman in 1970, and some of the term's philosophic difficulties. It is concluded that “appropriate death” has been used to refer to a clustering of three components: 1) consistency in functioning; 2) idiosyncratic views of appropriate; and 3) features which contribute toward a better death. It is then argued that the core concept-the one which gives the term special usefulness-is an emphasis on the idiosyncratic. Comments concerning theoretical implications of “appropriate dying” are discussed relative to the concepts of living will and euthanasia.