The Metaphysics and Ethics of Death

James Stacey Taylor is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at The College of New Jersey. He primarily writes on autonomy theory, and the metaphysics of death, as well as on how these theoretical issues relate to matters of practical ethical concern.

this book contains many significant contributions to the field. It is a collection of essays by various authors who have established themselves as important contributors to the growing literature in this area, and who generally take this opportunity to present elaborations or developments of their views... Overall, there is much here to reward 'philosophical thanatologists,' whether they are new to the field or already well steeped in the literature.

• Contributors ; Acknowledgements ; Introduction - James Stacey Taylor ; Section I: Classical Approaches to Death and their Critics ; The Damage of Death: Incomplete Arguments and False Consolations - Martha Nussbaum ; The harm of death in Cicero's first Tusculan disputation - James Warren ; Epicurus on the Value of Death - Kai Draper ; Section II: Death, and the Value of Death ; The Evil of Death One More Time: Parallels between Time and Space - Harry S. Silverstein, ; Adaptation - Steven Luper ; Death and Desires - Ben Bradley and Kris McDaniel ; Kripke's Moses - Palle Yourgrau ; Concepts of Value and Our Thinking about Death - Stephen E. Rosenbaum ; Section III: Posthumous Harm ; The Vulnerability of the Dead - Geoffrey Scarre ; Welfare and Harm After Death - Barbara Baum Levenbook ; Section IV: Death and Bioethics ; Doing Posthumous Harm - John Harris ; Suicide: A Qualified Defense - David Benatar ; Brain Injury and Survival - Walter Glannon ; Index