Ethics of Death and Dying: Historical Perspective

Abstract

The ethical dilemmas surrounding dying and death today can be understood more adequately when placed in an historical perspective. The methodology of intellectual history is employed to examine the sequence of cultural stages from prehistory to the contemporary scene, using the concept of the death system (Kastenbaum) as an organizing formulation. It is suggested in conclusion that a modern version of the meliorist ethos can lend support to the on-going modes of biomedical research and the application of the activist therapeutic principle in medical practice. Humanity has labored and suffered too much to abandon hope at this time and either submerge the personality of the individual or turn to a nihilistic “death worship” (Borkenau).