A provocative analysis of how our attitudes toward our own mortality underlie society's health-care policies, especially regarding care of the dying and termination of medical treatment, as well as laws on living wills, euthanasia, and assisted suicide. These issues have long concerned medical ethicist Callahan (What Kind of Life, 1990, etc.), but, here, his focus shifts from legal and policy questions to the relationship of death to the self, as well as to nature, society, and modern medicine. The author examines some of our present ``illusions''—that death can be eliminated by eradicating lethal diseases; that we can manage both our selves and technology well enough to select the moment when medical treatment should be halted; that euthanasia or assisted suicide is an acceptable way to achieve a peaceful death. He targets what he terms the ``mistaken belief'' that control over one's life is a necessary condition of self-worth, as well as the notion that death is a great evil. For Callahan, death is an unavoidable part of life, acceptable when neither biologically nor morally wrong. His concluding chapter deals with the pursuit of a peaceful death, which he defines at some length in specific personal, medical, and social terms. The goal of a peaceful death, he says, should be an integral part of medicine- -but he cautions that this isn't likely to happen outside of a supportive cultural and economic context. Callahan believes that public ambivalence and confusion about the proper stance toward death shape medicine's viewpoint and, in turn, are shaped by it. As he sees it, the task is to create a new cultural understanding of death that will help define our social policies. Well-considered and convincing arguments designed to stimulate private thought and public discussion; of special interest to medical ethicists and health-care policy-makers.
Pub Date: Aug. 3, 1993
ISBN: 0-671-70830-9
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1993
BOOK REVIEW
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.
A compendium of charts, time lines, lists and illustrations to accompany study of the Bible.
This visually appealing resource provides a wide array of illustrative and textually concise references, beginning with three sets of charts covering the Bible as a whole, the Old Testament and the New Testament. These charts cover such topics as biblical weights and measures, feasts and holidays and the 12 disciples. Most of the charts use a variety of illustrative techniques to convey lessons and provide visual interest. A worthwhile example is “How We Got the Bible,” which provides a time line of translation history, comparisons of canons among faiths and portraits of important figures in biblical translation, such as Jerome and John Wycliffe. The book then presents a section of maps, followed by diagrams to conceptualize such structures as Noah’s Ark and Solomon’s Temple. Finally, a section on Christianity, cults and other religions describes key aspects of history and doctrine for certain Christian sects and other faith traditions. Overall, the authors take a traditionalist, conservative approach. For instance, they list Moses as the author of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) without making mention of claims to the contrary. When comparing various Christian sects and world religions, the emphasis is on doctrine and orthodox theology. Some chapters, however, may not completely align with the needs of Catholic and Orthodox churches. But the authors’ leanings are muted enough and do not detract from the work’s usefulness. As a resource, it’s well organized, inviting and visually stimulating. Even the most seasoned reader will learn something while browsing.
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2005
ISBN: 978-1-5963-6022-8
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
This a book of earlier, philosophical essays concerned with the essential "absurdity" of life and the concept that- to overcome the strong tendency to suicide in every thoughtful man-one must accept life on its own terms with its values of revolt, liberty and passion. A dreary thesis- derived from and distorting the beliefs of the founders of existentialism, Jaspers, Heldegger and Kierkegaard, etc., the point of view seems peculiarly outmoded. It is based on the experience of war and the resistance, liberally laced with Andre Gide's excessive intellectualism. The younger existentialists such as Sartre and Camus, with their gift for the terse novel or intense drama, seem to have omitted from their philosophy all the deep religiosity which permeates the work of the great existentialist thinkers. This contributes to a basic lack of vitality in themselves, in these essays, and ten years after the war Camus seems unaware that the life force has healed old wounds... Largely for avant garde aesthetes and his special coterie.
Pub Date: Sept. 26, 1955
ISBN: 0679733736
Page Count: 228
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Sept. 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1955
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
