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On Abolishing “Death”: An Etymological Note
Author(s) -
Shneidman Edwin S.
Publication year - 1983
Publication title -
suicide and life‐threatening behavior
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.544
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1943-278X
pISSN - 0363-0234
DOI - 10.1111/j.1943-278x.1983.tb00015.x
Subject(s) - demise , word (group theory) , event (particle physics) , philosophy , history , linguistics , political science , law , physics , quantum mechanics
The distinction is made between two uses of the word “death,” specifically, your death (the death of the other) and my death (the death of the self). It makes (logical, epistemological and phenomenological) sense for me to speak of your death, but not for me to speak of my death—inasmuch as, by reasonable definition, I cannot possibly ever experience my death. Dying is experienceable—although one can never be certain. The word death is a perfectly good word for the demise of the other; the word omega is suggested to allude to that non‐event (the cessation of the self) now routinely spoken of as “my death,”