The death of a living soul

We are bedevilled with varying definitions of death, ranging from higher brain death to cardiovascular or somatic death. They all try to capture what is essential to our reasoning about the importance of human death. This column argues that what they all neglect is the Aristotelian inspiration of many of the attempts at reformulation of the definition. Aristotle's work on the soul focuses on the loving soul as the form of humanity that makes human living and dying the morally significant phenomenon that engages law-makers and ethicists alike. The form of humanity comprises a holistic package of properties which cannot be dealt with in a reductive manner and which our criteria for death must answer to. When that is clarified, the role of these criteria and their importance both become more transparent.