Closing Thoughts

Dying is hard and people cope in different ways.  Here's one:

http://chronicle.com/article/A-Feminist-Professors-Closing/131611/

Your Obituary (for 24-26 Apr 12)

Review the Preface and pp. 6-13 of Barry and The Death of Ivan Illyich.  What is the meaning of life?  What are you not realizing about life?  How might an examination of life inform your living?  Answer this question, in part, by thinking about your own obituary.  What do you need to do now in order to have that obituary?  Feel free to reference Barry, Palmer & Tolstoy in your response.

You + Philosophy + the Real World (24Apr12)

Philosophy in the world

Your lived experience

• What experiences in your life are hard to reconcile with our course material?  (Be specific in identifying the material).  Why is it hard?  What else could you do to square your thinking/philosophizing and your lived experience?

More Philosophy?

• Would you take an additional philosophy course if money/time weren’t factors?  Explain.

The Diving Bell & the Butterfly

What observations or questions do you have about the film?

April current events

*New* 22Apr12 Perhaps Joel Sparkle was right in general, just not about heroin. . .
 For a small group of researchers and their patients facing death, psychedelic drugs aren’t a hippie palliative. They’re a new way to approach the most dire time of life. http://nyti.ms/JkfNTQ

16April12 http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2012/04/dying-green-explores-conservation-through-natural-burial.html?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=fanpage&utm_campaign=pbs In countries hardest hit by the downturn, including Ireland and Italy, small-business men and entrepreneurs are increasingly taking their own lives. http://nyti.ms/IFqjpf

Grapes of Wrath

I saw a production of Grapes of Wrath over the weekend at the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company.  It was a fantastic performance and I'll bribe you with extra credit (up to 5 points and you have to write a review of it).  You can rush (cheaper) student tickets an hour or two before the show.  I'll post some quotes from the play later this week, but I think the novel/play have much to say to a class like ours.

Ivan Ilych

What else do you want to say about Ivan?  He did not die well -- what steps can you take to die better?

Good Friday (for 2Apr12)

So, I would be remiss not to post this topic:
As appropriate, reflect on the meaning of Easter, death, new life, spring, etc.

Plato & Aristotle

Cave video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2afuTvUzBQ

What questions do you have about these ancient philosophers?  What criticisms?

Happiness / Gratitude

I decided to dedicate an entire post to current events and discussions about human nature focusing on happiness, starting with this sweet article about how a loving, supportive partner is good for your brain!
A happy marriage relieves stress and makes one feel as safe as an adored baby. http://nyti.ms/H2dFNm
(I am grateful for my sweet husband, my engaged students, and a beautiful spring!)

*new* UN discusses measures of happiness
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/un-discusses-gross-national-happiness-indicator-as-successor-to-gross-domestic-product/2012/04/02/gIQAJJKorS_story.html

Chpt 9 PAS

Current Events March 2012

*new*  E.O. Wilson's new book Social Conquest
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/09/books/edward-o-wilsons-new-book-social-conquest-of-earth.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20120409

Minimize intensive care at end-of-life
Here's a relatively short TED talk about not dying in intensive care:

http://www.ted.com/talks/peter_saul_let_s_talk_about_dying.html

Death in South Africa
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-17289794

Self-immolations of Tibetan Monks
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/23/world/asia/in-self-immolations-signs-of-new-turmoil-in-tibet.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20120323

positive side of traumatic experience
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/25/magazine/post-traumatic-stresss-surprisingly-positive-flip-side.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20120325

Search for Kony
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-17498382

Soldier kills 16 in Afghanistan, 12 Mar 12
http://www.npr.org/2012/03/12/148456123/afghan-shooting-leaves-many-unanswered-questions?ps=rs
op-ed 20 March: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/20/opinion/brooks-when-the-good-do-bad.html
more info on solider: http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/robert_bales/index.html 

Decisions Doctors Make about Dying March 2012

http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB10001424052970203918304577243321242833962-lMyQjAxMTAyMDAwMTEwNDEyWj.html?mod=wsj_share_email_bot

Oregon & dying
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=148466780

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2012/03/08/148236468/oregon-emphasizes-choices-at-lifes-end

Tornadoes -- death & destruction

Reflections on the storms from 2 March?  Were you impacted?  Does watching the impact on others make you reflect more seriously on death & dying?  Does watching the assistance rendered to those who lost much make you reflect on human nature?  Thoughts, comments, observations?

The right questions

We've read about many religions.  Most of us are more familiar with Christianity and its teachings about the afterlife.  Do you think your beliefs about the afterlife do inform your actions in the here and now?  Should it?  In other words, what would you do differently if you knew there was no afterlife? 

Does a definitive answer to "is there an afterlife" help you?  Or is it a question that we don't really need to ask and/or ponder?

Music / Film / Books

Post your favorite links to music, film, and books related to the course.

 I'll start with Alison Krauss and Gillian Welch "I'll Fly Away"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdRdqp4N3Jw

Suicide

Please look around for current (reputable) resources and information on suicide.  I'll start:

http://www.suicideprevention.uconn.edu/resources.html
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/suicide.html

http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/suicide-in-america/suicide-in-america-frequently-asked-questions.shtml

http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/suicide-in-the-us-statistics-and-prevention/index.shtml

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/06/magazine/06suicide-t.html?pagewanted=all

Rutgers student's suicide
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/02/06/120206fa_fact_parker  

Chpt 8 Questions

Please comment on chapter 8 here, and we'll have a separate post for suicide specifically.

Chpt 10 Darwinianism

Noam Chomsky was referenced in your chapter -- in the discussion about language.  I just thought you'd be interested in this article about him.
http://www.salon.com/2012/02/11/book_event_with_noam_chomsky/singleton/

Islam (end of Feb)

You asked very good questions of Fatmah today.  Following up on some of that:

Here is a call to prayer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vF9xQyXzD4
and another:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUHDYlJHaOQ&feature=related

Here is a link to some information about Islam (not specifically about death or dying, though).  I'm not sure this is the most clear source if you don't know much about Islam, but you might get some help:
http://en.islamtoday.net/Beliefs-Teachings

Chpt 1 Confucianism (end of Feb)

We'll post some more specific prompts soon, but feel free to ask questions or make general observations here.

Chpt 6 The Bible (beginning of Lent - end of Feb)

Sparkles:

I'll send you my notes on the chapter, but what do you want to discuss here since we won't really have time in class? 

Also, and especially for Karlie: a link to Bobby McFerrin's 23rd Psalm
 http://www.mp3videosearch.com/mp3/search/Bobby-McFerrin-The-23rd-Psalm

Judaism (end of Feb)

What questions do you still have about Judaism generally and about practices surrounding dying?

Other comments about our visit with Rabbi Terlinchamp?

Current Events Feb/Mar 2012

15Feb12 David Brooks' op-ed about society & the role of government.  Note his picture of human nature.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/14/opinion/brooks-the-materialist-fallacy.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha212

15Feb12 A long story, but well worth it, about a solider who was burned in Afghanistan and his recovery.  The focus of the story is the man, but also a treatment for pain.   You'll have a better sense of the experience of severe burns, the treatments, including many surgeries, and especially the mental fortitude necessary to survive. http://m.gq.com/news-politics/newsmakers/201202/burning-man-sam-brown-jay-kirk-gq-february-2012

15Feb12 "Army Studies Workout Supplements After Two Deaths"
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/03/business/army-studies-workout-supplements-after-2-deaths.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha25

Existentialism: Sartre

What say ye about existence preceding essence?  What about Sartre can you appreciate?  With what do you disagree -- why?

What other follow-up from class discussion would you like to pursue here?

Existentialism: de Beauvoir

Simone de Beauvior was Sartre's life-long love, intellectually and sexually, but she would never marry him and they both had multiple lovers (of both sexes).  They are, however, as you saw in my photograph, buried together in Paris.  Her influence on his philosophical work (and vice versa) should not be underestimated, even though she is not always acknowledged as such (e.g., Stevenson's chapter). 

Her most influential work was called The Second Sex (Le Deuxieme Sexe for Karlie).  In it she writes (a great deal) about women as defined as non-men:  as the second sex.  The less important sex.  She kicks off what is called the second wave in feminism (I misstated in class:  the first wave revolved around suffrage--the right to vote; the second wave focuses more on equality in work and life).  More about de Beauvoir at the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy:  http://www.iep.utm.edu/beauvoir/  and at the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy:  http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/beauvoir/

In The Second Sex she observes 'I am a woman' but that a man doesn't even have to remark upon his sex--it is just assumed.  We default to think that a speaker/writer is male, and we must attention to sex only when it is a female (note:  we could say similar things about defaulting to white, to Christian, to heterosexual, to able-bodied, etc.).  She says that women are "defined and differentiated in relation to man and not he in relation to her; she is the inessential confronting the essential.  He is the Subject, he is the Absolute--she is the Other."  Women define themselves and are defined by men as non-men, as Other, and that much female identity is tied-up with not-male or from the point-of-view of the male, and especially the male gaze.  This is still a significant tenet of feminism:  that women are defined by men, but they should have their own independent, stand-alone identity.  (Note that I'm not saying that women can't be in meaningful relationships with men, just that women do not exist solely for the pleasure of and service to men).

Obviously there is an enormous trove of topics to discuss here.  I'm happy to support the discussion in whatever way you'd like to take it.  But you might start by thinking about what de Beauvoir meant by the "Second Sex" and whether her criticism still holds water in today's society (some 60 years after it was originally published).

Buddhism (9 Feb)

Immolation of three Buddhist monks in China last week:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-16895812

A list of video interviews with Thich Nhat Hanh a renowned Vietnamese Buddhist monk.
https://www.google.com/search?q=thich+nhat+hanh+video&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a 

A Charlie Rose interview with the Dalai Lama
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4235480941561974775

Mindful Eating
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/08/dining/mindful-eating-as-food-for-thought.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha210

Chpt 4 (for 7 Feb 12)

1. M. Scott Peck: "We get to die... I don't know about you, but I'm getting a bit tired. Not so tired that I'm ready to call it quits, but if I thought I'd have to wade through this crap for another three or four hundred years, I would cash in my chis sooner rather than later." Does Peck have a pessimistic view of life? Is he waiting for Godot?
2. Epicurus believed that nothing comes from nothing, that nothing exists except for atoms moving in void, and that the soul therefore must be made of atoms. With this in mind, death therefore must be the natural dispersion of particular combination of atoms that comprise a human soul. What does this say about the belief in afterlife? Is death truly the end?
3. Can the acceptance of death truly relieve anxiety?

Current Events Feb 2012

*new* 13 Feb 12 Philosophy + materialism (remember Marx?) + contemporary living
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/12/living-in-the-material-world/

6Feb12  Op-Ed about capital punishment in North Carolina
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/06/opinion/race-and-death-penalty-juries.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha211 

1Feb12  "Life after death faces legal battle"
Nebraska is one of several US states considering laws to legally hand social web accounts of deceased individuals to personal representatives.
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/news/magazine-16801154 >

Human Nature:  Sex & Gender
http://news.yahoo.com/gender-bender-parents-reveal-childs-sex-five-years-151000816.html
http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/01/24/parents-who-hid-childs-gender-for-five-years-now-face-backlash/
http://shine.yahoo.com/parenting/couple-finally-reveals-childs-gender-five-years-birth-180300388.html

Chpt 3 (for 2 Feb 12)

1. Are we the only animal that is aware of its mortality? What do we make of the fact that we will die? What do we feel in response to that fact and why?
2. Rank states: "We have a need to feel that life matters, that we are both special and a part of something larger and more encompassing." Do you agree? Why?
3. Epicurus stated: "When I am, death is not, and when death is, I am not." Is he right? Based on this statement is fear and anxiety concerning death irrational?

Definitions of Death / Becky Tacy's visit

Dear Sparkles,

Please discuss your definitions of death and/or issues related to Prof. Tacy's visit today.  I would like you to start by discussing death as an event vs. a process.

Other prompts from Jillian & Kelsey's presentation:
* When is a person dead and when can we harvest his/her organs?
* Is there a difference between being declared dead and no longer living?
* Is it unethical to take someone off of life-support?  If it depends on the situation, explain.

Marx (end of Jan12)

Here are some related links regarding wealth and class, workers and jobs, the election and political influence.  Do you think Marx's critique of capitalism still holds?  To what degree?

{You don't have to read all these - you can respond here to something we discussed in class, or to something else you thought of regarding Marx, address the question above regarding his critiques, and/or comment on one or more of the stories below (whatever interests you).}

* Regarding the use of technology for selling girls

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/26/opinion/how-pimps-use-the-web-to-sell-girls.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha212 

* Regarding the making of (working conditions) iPhones and iPads

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/26/opinion/how-pimps-use-the-web-to-sell-girls.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha212 

* Regarding Marx and the upcoming election:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/24/opinion/brooks-free-market-socialism-.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha212

* Regarding Gov. Romney's taxes:

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2012/01/24/us/24reuters-usa-campaign-romney-taxes.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha24

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-16696347

* Contemporary issues related to Marx, including a growing gap between the rich & the poor in the U.S.

http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/national/20050515_CLASS_GRAPHIC/index_03.html

 

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/i/income/income_inequality/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier

Philosophizing (Jan12)

Read the introduction to Barry and Ten Theories.  Discuss: What is philosophical thinking? Why is it valuable? Why is it difficult?

Frontline video Facing Death (1st Week Jan12)

Frontline Facing Death Nov 2010 http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/facing-death/

Dying Film questions

v  How do you want to die? Where do you want to die?

v  What support is necessary for someone to die at home?

v  How do most people in America die?

v  What’s the relationship of technology to issues in medical ethics?  Discuss the role of experimental treatments and the limits of technology in end-of-life care.  What is futile care?

v  How would you determine what is “appropriate care”?  Is doing nothing ever appropriate?  When? 

v  See more at  http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/facing-death/facts-and-figures/

Current Events Jan/Feb

*new* (well, it is actually an old article)
In class, Karlie has told us that her father died when she was in high school.  This article was written soon after he died.
http://www.kentucky.com/2008/06/07/1841992/bracken-county-its-better-to-stay.html

Grief as a symptom of depression?
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/25/health/depressions-criteria-may-be-changed-to-include-grieving.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha2 

Regarding Marx, capitalism, wealth:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/24/opinion/brooks-free-market-socialism-.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha212
and
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-16696347

Record High Army Suicide Rates in 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/20/us/active-duty-army-suicides-reach-record-high.html?_r=2&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha23 

You might have read about a woman who lost three young children and her parents in a house fire right around Christmas.  This short story is about her poise and wishes at the funeral.
After Losing All, a Mother Goes On - http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/01/15/her-girls-killed-in-a-fire-madonna-badger-finds-a-way-to-go-on

This Life:  Mourning in a Digital Age
By BRUCE FEILER
With religiosity in decline and families dispersed, new ways of mourning need to evolve. Here are some ideas.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/15/fashion/mourning-in-the-age-of-facebook.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&emc=eta1&adxnnlx=1326897723-VoDfATuKTvyHExN7iYifEw  

Burial Traditions
http://m.npr.org/story/145040523?url=/blogs/13.7/2012/01/12/145040523/cremation-burial-or-body-farm&sc=fb&cc=fp 

Introductions (1st Week)

Class:
We briefly introduced ourselves in class, but let's elaborate here.  Who are you, why are you taking this class, what kind of experiences with death have you had?

My mom died of renal cancer on 1 July 2011.  She went to the hospital on Good Friday and never came home.  My maternal grandmother died in September 2010.  This past fall 2011, I lost two cats within two months.  I hope that 2012 will be less sorrowful.