Death is the termination of the biological functions that define a living organism. The word refers both to a particular process and to the condition that results thereby. The nature of the latter has been for millennia a central concern of the world's religious traditions and of philosophical enquiry. Belief in some kind of afterlife or rebirth has been a central aspect of many religious traditions. Since contemporary science has yet to identify the origin and nature of consciousness, any view about the existence or otherwise of consciousness after death remains speculative.

Phenomena which commonly bring about death include predation, malnutrition, accidents resulting in terminal injury, and disease. Death of an entire species is known as extinction. Human activity has increased the number of extinctions in recent times, one cause, for example, being the destruction of ecosystems as a consequence of the spread of industrial technology.

Almost all animals fortunate enough to survive hazards to their existence eventually die from senescence. Rare and remarkable exceptions include the hydra and the jellyfish turritopsis nutricula, both thought to be, in effect, immortal. Causes of death in humans as a result of intentional activity include suicide, homicide and war. From all causes, roughly 150,000 people die around the world each day.

Physiological death is now seen as less an event than a process: conditions once considered indicative of death are now reversible. Where in the process a dividing line is drawn between life and death depends on factors beyond the presence or absence of vital signs. In general, clinical death is neither necessary nor sufficient for a determination of legal death. A patient with working heart and lungs determined to be brain dead can be pronounced legally dead without clinical death occurring. Precise medical definition of death, in other words, becomes more problematic, paradoxically, as scientific knowledge and medicine advance.

Death is the permanent end of the life of a biological organism. Death may refer to the end of life as either an event or condition. In many cultures and in the arts, death is considered a being or otherwise personified, wherein it is usually capitalized as "Death".

Contents

• 1 Sourced
  • 1.1 Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895)
• 2 Unsourced
  • 2.1 Living with death - quotes and anecdotes
  • 2.2 Coming to terms with death
  • 2.3 Death
  • 2.4 Death and relationships
  • 2.5 Death and the meaning of life
  • 2.6 Others
  • 2.7 Humor
• 3 See also
• 4 External links

Sourced

• A free society, to be truly worthy of that name, owes healthy, competent individuals the right to end their lives on their own terms.
  • Jacob M. Appel, American physician and bioethicist, Next: Assisted Suicide for Healthy People, July 16, 2009.

From Wikiquote under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Tue Jul 27 12:40:28 2010