This volume meets the increasing interest in a range of philosophical issues connected with the nature and significance of life and death, and the ethics of killing. What is it to be alive and to die? What is it to be a person? What must time be like if we are to persist? What makes one life better than another? May death or posthumous events harm the dead? The chapters in this volume address these questions, and also discuss topical issues such as abortion, euthanasia, and suicide. They explore the interrelation between the metaphysics, significance, and ethics of life and death, and they discuss the moral significance of killing both people and animals, and the extent to which death harms them. The volume is for all those studying the philosophy of life and death, for readers taking applied ethics courses, and for those studying ethics and metaphysics more generally.

Covers a full range of issues concerning the philosophy of life and death
Addresses key topical issues such as abortion, euthanasia, and suicide
Explores the interrelation between metaphysics, significance, and the ethics of life and death

Table of Contents

Introduction Steven Luper
Part I. The Metaphysics of Life and Death:
1. The nature of life Mark A. Bedau
2. The nature of people Eric T. Olson
3. Persistence and time Katherine Hawley
4. The malleability of identity Marya Schechtman
5. The nature of human death David DeGrazia
Part II. The Significance of Life and Death:
6. Assessing lives Noah Lemos
7. On the length of a good life Eyjólfur K. Emilsson
8. Mortal harm John Martin Fischer
9. When do we incur mortal harm? Jens Johansson
10. The symmetry problem James Warren
11. Posthumous harm Simon Keller
12. Life`s meaning Steven Luper
Part III. The Ethics of Life and Death:
13. Enhancing humanity Nicholas Agar
14. Procreating David Archard
15. Abortion Michael Tooley
16. Killing ourselves Thomas Hill, Jr
17. Killing in self-defense Kadri Vihvelin
18. Imperfect aiding Matthew Hanser
19. Killing and extinction Krister Bykvist.

Editor

Steven Luper, Trinity University, Texas
Steven Luper is Chair of the Philosophy Department at Trinity University, Texas. He is author of several books, including A Guide to Ethics (2001) and The Philosophy of Death (Cambridge, 2009), and editor of, most recently, The Skeptics: Contemporary Essays (2003) and Essential Knowledge (2004).

Contributors

Steven Luper, Mark A. Bedau, Eric T. Olson, Katherine Hawley, Marya Schechtman, David DeGrazia, Noah Lemos, Eyjólfur K. Emilsson, John Martin Fischer, Jens Johansson, James Warren, Simon Keller, Nicholas Agar, David Archard, Michael Tooley, Thomas Hill, Jr, Kadri Vihvelin, Matthew Hanser, Krister Bykvist