ABSTRACT
This chapter presents some central issues ingredient in choosing among different definitions of death, and discusses something about the history of the development of the definition of death. It attempts to a brief sketch of various definitions of death, as well as the presuppositions they involve and the purposes they serve. Death is to be pronounced before artificial means of supporting respiratory and circulatory function are terminated and before any vital organ is removed for purposes of transplantation. The use of wills, the establishment of trusts for children, and the signing of uniform acts for the donation of organs concern the world after one's death. The conceptual distinction between human personal life and human biological life thus invites ever more precise operational definitions of death as long as these are consistent with the well founded concern to avoid false positive determinations of death.
