The History of the Definition(s)of Death: From the 18th Century to the 20th Century

Becoming Really Dead: Dying by Degrees

“…As Leslie Whetstine, an American bioethicist, observes: 'One of the more problematical issues in intensive care is not so much what death "is" but instead "when" death occurs and the operational criteria used to confi rm it'. 14 If modern biomedicine can still be confounded, small wonder that an eighteenth-century surgeon might be troubled too. A recent article in the Lance t retraces some of the common physical signs of medical death in the past and their medical competency in context:…”

The Relevance of Scientific Practice to The Problem of Coordination

“…Harvey 1878; cf. Whetstine 2008). Despite this, growing cultural anxieties about being buried alive (cf.…”

Buried Alive? Fear of Failure in Antebellum America

“…The fear of being buried alive runs so deep in human history that one medical historian considers it “our most primal fear” (Bondeson). Studies of the history of premature burial have approached the topic from the perspective of European medical or American literary history, and explore what the stories reveal about the difficulty of defining the moment of death; popular ambivalence toward the medical profession; the fear of death and what, if anything, it leads to; the influence of Romantic and Gothic literary traditions; Edgar Allen Poe's undiagnosed seizure disorder; Emily Dickinson's fear of consciousness in death; and the Victorian era's domestication and sentimentalization of death (Alexander 25–31; Behlmer 206–35; Colman; Davies; Gannal; Josat; Jentzen; Laderman; Pernick 17–74; Peron‐Autret; Powner, 1219–23; Roach; Sachs; Snart; Whitstine 65–78; Wojcicka 176–86; Bazil 740–43; Calo). What these studies do not do, however, is examine the stories of premature burial in their social context.…”