[Revised entry by Adam Omelianchuk and David DeGrazia on July 10, 2026.
Changes to: Main text, Bibliography, notes.html]
The definition of death involves matters of philosophy and public policy. The philosophical investigation of death has focused primarily on two questions: What is human death? and How can we determine that it has occurred? A third question in the background is what relevance, if any, should ethical or practical considerations have on how we define and determine death? The first question is ontological or conceptual. An answer to this question will consist of a definition (or conceptualization) of death. Examples…

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