ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the ways in which philosophers cultural expectations with respect to death are likely to be transformed by the legalization of assisted suicide. Anthropologists and social historians are likely to do better than philosophers in their efforts to characterize death, insofar as they can investigate the many faces of death in different cultural contexts: Death in battle may be heroic; death in youth may be tragic; death in old age benign. Religions and other self-consciously spiritual narratives offer a more literal relationship with death, insofar as they see death as a continuation of life. The agency of medical doctors is likely to remain more conflicted, insofar as healing remains their primary role. Many doctors may find it difficult to change hats and aid people in dying. But as doctors come to be employed primarily by managed-care organizations, they will inevitably come to reflect the efficiency concerns of their employers.
