What do Socrates, Hypatia, Giordano Bruno, Thomas More, and Jan Patocka have in common? First, they were all faced one day with the most difficult of choices: stay faithful to your ideas and die or renounce them and stay alive. Second, they all chose to die. Their spectacular deaths have become not only an integral part of their biographies, but are also inseparable from their work. A "death for ideas" is a piece of philosophical work in its own right; Socrates may have never written a line, but his death is one of the greatest philosophical best-sellers of all time. Dying for Ideas explores the limit-situation in which philosophers find themselves when the only means of persuasion they can use is their own dying bodies and the public spectacle of their death. The book tells the story of the philosopher's encounter with death as seen from several angles: the tradition of philosophy as an art of living; the body as the site of self-transcending; death as a classical philosophical topic; taming death and self-fashioning; finally, the philosophers' scapegoating and their live performance of a martyr's death, followed by apotheosis and disappearance into myth. While rooted in the history of philosophy, Dying for Ideas is an exercise in breaking disciplinary boundaries. This is a book about Socrates and Heidegger, but also about Gandhi's "fasting unto death" and self-immolation; about Girard and Passolini, and self-fashioning and the art of the essay.

What do Socrates, Hypatia, Giordano Bruno, Thomas More, and Jan Patocka have in common? First, they were all faced one day with the most difficult of choices: stay faithful to your ideas and die or renounce them and stay alive. Second, they all chose to die. Their spectacular deaths have become not only an integral part of their biographies, but are also inseparable from their work. A "death for ideas" is a piece of philosophical work in its own right; Socrates may have never written a line, but his death is one of the greatest philosophical best-sellers of all time. Dying for Ideas explores the limit-situation in which philosophers find themselves when the only means of persuasion they can use is their own dying bodies and the public spectacle of their death. The book tells the story of the philosopher's encounter with death as seen from several angles: the tradition of philosophy as an art of living; the body as the site of self-transcending; death as a classical philosophical topic; taming death and self-fashioning; finally, the philosophers' scapegoating and their live performance of a martyr's death, followed by apotheosis and disappearance into myth. While rooted in the history of philosophy, Dying for Ideas is an exercise in breaking disciplinary boundaries. This is a book about Socrates and Heidegger, but also about Gandhi's "fasting unto death" and self-immolation; about Girard and Passolini, and self-fashioning and the art of the essay.

An illustrated selection of answers to the title's question, submitted online and collected by Ben Nemtin, Dave Lingwood, Duncan Penn and Jonnie Penn, collectively known as The Buried Life and featured in the MTV reality television series of the same name. Some answers include essays relating how the online submissions were accomplished. Also included are brief essays on how the four young men accomplished some of their lists' tasks and their experiences helping others complete their lists.

Progress in medical science has increased our understanding of what happens when the brain begins to fail. Psychology delves ever more deeply into the nature of the self. In Dying to Live, Blackmore, a leading expert in near-death experiences, explores what psychology, biology, and medicine have to say about this extraordinary aspect of death and dying.. . . the best resource for materialist arguments that currently exists. . . . Blackmore's book is the most up-to-date catalogue of misgivings about the dualist concept of self and the religionist's desire for the afterlife vis-a-vis experiences near-death. . . . a fine book. -Journal of Scientific Exploration. . . one of the most intelligent and comprehensive examinations of the near-death experience to date. For thoroughness of treatment and tidiness of theory, the book is quite without equal. -Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research[This book is] brilliant though controversial . . . -ChoiceHer book is a model of understanding and . . . moving in its course through a sensitive subject. -New ScientistWell documented and well researched . . . The author's impartial treatment of diverse beliefs on the subject helps readers to see how scientific and spiritual points of view can coexist. There's much to think about here. -School Library Journal

Political Theory on Death and Dying provides a comprehensive, encyclopedic review that compiles and curates the latest scholarship, research, and debates on the political and social implications of death and dying. Adopting an easy-to-follow chronological and multi-disciplinary approach on 45 canonical figures and thinkers, leading scholars from a diverse range of fields, including political science, philosophy, and English, discuss each thinker’s ethical and philosophical accounts on mortality and death. Each chapter focuses on a single established figure in political philosophy, as well as religious and literary thinkers, covering classical to contemporary thought on death. Through this approach, the chapters are designed to stand alone, allowing the reader to study every entry in isolation and with greater depth, as well as trace how thinkers are influenced by their predecessors. A key contribution to the field, Political Theory on Death and Dying provides an excellent overview for students and researchers who study philosophy of death, the history of political thought, and political philosophy.

The series Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft (BZNW) is one of the oldest and most highly regarded international scholarly book series in the field of New Testament studies. Since 1923 it has been a forum for seminal works focusing on Early Christianity and related fields. The series is grounded in a historical-critical approach and also explores new methodological approaches that advance our understanding of the New Testament and its world.

This third edition of a popular textbook has been completely revised by the joint editors, Janet Moscrop and Joy Robbins. As in previous editions, the focus is on the person dying at home, in residential care or in hospital and the emphasis is on teamwork in caring for the individual and their relatives and friends. Experts in all aspects of care have contributed to this complete revision of the previous text and each chapter is written by a different member of the multiprofessional team. The chapter on the terminal care of people suffering from AIDS has been enlarged and consideration is also given to care of those in the term inal stages of other non-malignant diseases. Other new material includes chapters on complementary therapy, the use of the day centre, the value of volunteers, diversional therapy and respite care. The chapter on bereavement covers many aspects of grief and loss and there is a sensitive approach to the need for supporting staff in this spe cialized work. Consideration is also given to the needs of dying and griev ing people from differing ethnic backgrounds with varying cultural expectations in a pluralistic society. The third edition offers a broad overview of the support given to the dying person and the carers by medical and nursing staff, physiothera pists, pharmacists, social workers, the chaplaincy and members of the pastoral care team. Students of all these disciplines should find this book both readable and informative.