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The Semiotics of Death and its Medical Implications

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Brain Death and Disorders of Consciousness

Part of the book series: Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology ((AEMB,volume 550))

Abstract

In any discussion pertaining to this world, human beings are bound to the medium of language. We are often unaware of the degree to which language, as the physical shape of all thought, exerts its influence on the distinctions we make and consequently on the formation of our notions and ideas. The way we think shapes the way we speak, but also conversely, the language we speak shapes the thoughts we think. The languages we live in are the result of all preceding evolution of thought, cultural interaction and the communication thereof within a linguistic community, already presenting us with a preformed way of structuring and interpreting the world (Weltanschauung) at the time of primary language acquisition. We are not able to step out of the medium of language, but we are able to step out of one particular language into another, thereby critically evaluating the distinctions, terms and notions we usually take for granted. Surprising new perspectives open up on seemingly well-known objects of debate, and from the meta-linguistic point of view, more often than not what appeared to be a problem on the object level turns out to be an inherent feature of the language we use to discuss it. A case in point is the phenomenon called death.

Die Grenzen meiner Sprache bedeuten die Grenzen meiner Welt.

[The limits of my language signify the limits of my world.]

(Ludwig Wittgenstein, Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus 5.6)

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    D. Alan Shewmon MD (Professor of Neurology and Pediatrics)

  2. Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Elisabeth Seitz Shewmon Ph.D. (Linguist, Formerly Assistant Professor of Slavic Linguistics)

  3. Eberhard-Karls-University, Tübingen, Germany

    Elisabeth Seitz Shewmon Ph.D. (Linguist, Formerly Assistant Professor of Slavic Linguistics)

Authors
  1. D. Alan Shewmon MD
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  2. Elisabeth Seitz Shewmon Ph.D.
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Havana, Cuba

    Calixto Machado

  2. David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, California, USA

    D. Alan Shewmon

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Shewmon, D.A., Shewmon, E.S. (2004). The Semiotics of Death and its Medical Implications. In: Machado, C., Shewmon, D.A. (eds) Brain Death and Disorders of Consciousness. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, vol 550. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-306-48526-8_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-306-48526-8_8

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4757-0976-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-0-306-48526-8

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