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Hector Wittwer

Keywords: Leichnam, Tod, Unbegreifbarkeit des Todes, Fortexistenz, postmortale Rechte

In this article, I attempt to answer three philosophical questions which are raised by the existence of corpses: (i) Is the state of a corpse epistemologically opaque or incomprehensible? (ii) Are corpses dead human beings? (iii) Do we have moral obligations to corpses? I argue that human beings can, in succession, exist in two ways: as living human beings, and then, as dead humans. Furthermore, it is possible to justify direct moral obligations to dead human beings.

Deutsche Zeitschrift für Philosophie, Akademie Verlag

Print ISSN: 0012-1045
Volume: 56, 01/2008
Pages: 097 - 117

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