ABSTRACT
The death awareness movement, indeed much of the 20th century, has placed great emphasis on the uniqueness of persons. The idea of the unique person is particularly a Western idea. In Eastern thought, the emphasis is on the erasing of all distinction so that the individual realizes that s/he is identified with that which is beyond all distinction. The Modern period of philosophy, saw an even greater emphasis on the denial of uniqueness. Modern philosophy was an outgrowth of the beginnings of science. Robert Kastenbaum has used the phrase “death system” to describe the manner in which we live out our dying and grieving. The death system is the set of ideas, customs, rituals and beliefs by which we organize our death and dying attitudes. The hospice movement has insisted that each person is unique and has rejected the possibility of treating persons as mere individuals.
