Reviving brain death: a functionalist view.

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Medical Ethics
• Philosophy of Death

Background:

• Current definitions of brain death, including whole brain death (WBD) and higher brain death (HBD), face significant challenges.
• Existing critiques have undermined the foundational support for both WBD and HBD, leading to a crisis in defining brain death.
• A return to cardiopulmonary definitions of death presents its own set of unresolved issues.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose a novel and more coherent standard for defining death based on brain function.
• To establish a functionalist definition of death centered on mental processing, moving away from biological or personhood-based criteria.
• To revive the concept of brain death by aligning it with the original intent of the 1968 Harvard criteria.

Main Methods:

• Critically analyze the limitations of objective biological determinations of death.
• Evaluate and reject current arguments for higher brain death (HBD) that rely on consciousness and personhood.
• Develop and defend a functionalist definition of death based on the permanent cessation of mental processing (conscious and unconscious).

Main Results:

• Demonstrates the failure of purely biological criteria for determining death.
• Highlights the inadequacy of consciousness or personhood as bases for defining higher brain death.
• Presents a functionalist approach centered on mental processing as a viable alternative standard for death.

Conclusions:

• The permanent cessation of mental processing offers a robust, functionalist standard for defining death.
• This functionalist approach addresses the shortcomings of existing biological and consciousness-based definitions.
• The proposed standard recaptures the philosophical essence of the original brain death criteria established in 1968.