Death & Dying ASSIGNMENTS

Click on the module title below for more information or for the assignment for that module.

Assignments are intended to provide for an assessment of the learner's achievement and progress. Assignments and parts of assignments are intended to assess the learner's motivation, reading comprehension, critical thinking skills and appreciation of philosophy. Assignments may be revised. Assignments for modules 1 to 13 may be revised and resubmitted any number of times up to one month before the end of the semester. Assignments for modules 13 to 15 may be revised and resubmitted up to the date of the last scheduled class.

2. You may use any resources at all in answering these questions but if you want to work with another student on the non‑personal answer, then you must obtain permission from the instructor.

4. Students may and are encouraged to seek assistance from the instructor, if needed.

What arrangements would you like to make concerning your own body after you have died, and what sort of funeral or mourning procedures or rites would you like carried out? Why? Be as specific as possible. Write your own obituary and eulogy, assuming you were to die AT THE PRESENT TIME. Write them even if you don't want them. You may have a friend or relative write your eulogy for you.

I suggest that you create your assignments using your word-processing program and spell checker ,
then SEND FILE to the instructor or by email with the text inside the email message window. DO NOT send attachments .

If you were reasonably certain that you had only one more year to live, how would you try to spend it? Be as specific as you can: people (not names but relation to you); books, places to visit; activities; type of things to write or make; way of handling your death with those you meet, family, friends and strangers; decisions about hospitals and drugs; et alia. What if you had only one month? What if you had one day? Why aren't you doing some of these things now?

Which of all the novels and short stories concerning death which you have ever read, including the Death of Ivan Illych, has meant the most to you and why? Be somewhat extensive in your remarks, i.e. more than 400 words.

Describe the stages of death or dying, as presented by Dr. E. Kubler‑Ross. What are the symptoms? Give some examples of the indicative phrases, etc... How may one help another pass through each of these stages? What cautions should be made concerning the adequacy and applicability of Dr. Ross' analysis or of any theory concerning the feelings of those who are approaching death? Be somewhat extensive in your presentation. Does a person need special training to help someone believed to be close to death? What are the alternative modes for caring for those who are believed to be close to death ? What are Hospices? Will Hospices help? Are they necessary? Are they essential?

What are the five stages of Anticipatory Grief experienced by the members of the family of the ill person, as presented by Dr. Austin Kutscher? What symptoms? What can be done to help someone pass through these stages? How does anticipatory grief relate to subsequent bereavement? List and discuss all of Kutscher's 13 points. Be sure to comment on each of the 13 points. Do not simply list them or copy and paste them!

What are the three Stages of Grief according to Dr. Roberta Temes and Geoffrey Gorer? What are the symptoms? Cite examples of indicative phrases, etc...How may one help another to pass through these stages? What are some of the special problems in dealing with the grief of children: their cognitive development and special needs? What can one do to help children in grief?

Describe the difficulty in deciding when a person is really or finally dead. How should the difficulty be resolved? What should the law state? Why? Be as precise and as adequate as possible. Be clear as to which type pf law you want. If you wish to develop your own law then use legal language in the wording of the law. You are advised that it would be better to select one of the model laws to be found in the textbook or class handouts. Be sure to explain what you take to be the essentially significant features of human life, the absence of which would be death. Do not describe organ functioning alone as essential features characteristic of HUMAN life.

What should the law state concerning the donation and transplantation of organs from cadavers? What type of system should there be? What are "neo-morts"? What might they be good for? What disadvantages might there be with the use of "neo-morts"? Should they exist at all? Under what circumstances, if at all? What about the rights of the family and the long term effects of keeping "neo-morts"? What might the consequences of a non-voluntary system for obtaining organs and cadavers be?

Be as specific as possible. Be as clear as possible in determining the order of decision making. If you want one of the examples changed in some way, state how. Be sure that your choice is clear and that your law covers all possible cases. In your discussion be sure to consider all relevant distinctions, e.g., children and adults, competent and incompetent, persons never competent vs. formerly competent and conscious persons vs. unconscious persons.

1. Which of the issues covered this semester has been the most important and why so?

2. Which of the issues covered this semester has meant anything to you personally and why so?

3. Why are not more people aware of these troublesome questions, issues or problems?

4. Now that you have been educated as to these issues related to Death and Dying in what way will they have any consequence in your life?

7: What specific things do you think could be improved in the structure or design of the course and learning activities?

8: How would you improve the quality and participation in course discussions/interactions?

9: What changes would you suggest be made to the pacing or sequence of the content and activities for this course? (e.g., were the due dates doable for you? Were the course materials sequenced well?)

10: What changes would you suggest be made to the quantity of work required for this course?

11: How could the course be improved in terms of my interaction, participation, and management of the course?

12: What other suggestions, comments, or recommendations would you have for the instructor?

13. What advice do you offer to students who would be just entering the class at the very start of the semester?

OPTIONAL TOPICS for ASSIGNMENTS‑ Answer any five questions ‑ each worth 4 points.

1. What could the phrase "Death with Dignity" possibly mean? How could it be rephrased? How does it relate to Avery Weisman's notion of an "Appropriate Death"? Describe the characteristics of an "Appropriate Death".

2. How does the real possibility of the mass death and the total annihilation of the human species by nuclear, chemical, and biological warfare influence one's attitude toward death and toward one's mode of seeking immortality? Discuss this in terms of Robert Jay Lifton's remarks and analysis.

3. What relation is there between certain sports and death? Discuss this with reference to Edith Wyschogrod's concept of the "elemental". Illustrate.

4. Select any poet's works and discuss how their attitudes toward life and death are revealed in those works. Discuss several poems and relate them to the poet's biography.

5. Select any two dissimilar songs concerning death and dying and discuss them.

6. Select any two feature length films concerning death and dying and discuss them. Select films from the listing on page 12 of the course outline. You may substitute another film with the instructor's permission obtained prior to the submission of the essay.

7. What is TRIAGE? How does such a situation exist at the local, national and global level? Who shall decide who shall live when not all can be sustained? What method should be used? Why? How do you really think that the issue will be decided? What can be done?

8. Based on the discussion and pertinent articles, what is a "rite of passage~? What are the stages of the rite? Describe how the bodies of the deceased, their spirits and their survivors EACH pass through each of these stages in the belief systems and customs of various groups (cite at least three different cultures). What are the functions of such rituals, both the social and psychological?

9. Who was Edgar Cayce? What was his attitude toward death? How is one who believes and follows Cayce's "~Readings" likely to deal with their own death and the deaths of loved ones? Base you answers on the formal presentation or the Cayce literature.

10. What role does religious faith play in assisting believers in approaching their deaths and the deaths of loved ones? Be sure to consider the disadvantages as well as the advantages. What of religions which have no belief in an afterlife such as Buddhism? Compare and contrast several different religious traditions from the Eastern and Western hemispheres.

11. What does the "Commodification of Death" mean? How has the concept of a "natural death" changed in the last 700 years? What are the forces or agencies which have commodified death and which continue to do so? Are we likely to change our attitudes toward death in the industrialized, technological Western world? Contrast the "tamed death" with the "invisible death" or "forbidden death".

12. How did Socrates' death display the interrelationship of his attitudes toward life and death? Be sure to include Socrates' notion of the soul and its virtue and the theory of the corruption of being in the body? How was pursuing Philosophy similar to "practicing dying"?

13. What is suicide? Should suicide be prevented? In all cases? If not , why not? If so why? What are the main factors in determining your position? Be sure to consider the cases of POW's, martyrs, spies, those in intractable pain, the incurably ill, etc... Be clear and precise in stating your guiding principle. What criteria do you use in distinguishing cases in which you would prevent the attempt from those in which you would not prevent an attempt, if that is your position.

14. Of what use, if any, are reports of psychic phenomena such as NDE"s or"out‑of‑body? experiences to someone attempting to formulate a position or perspective on death and dying? What are the two extreme interpretations of the NDE ? What consequences do such experiences have for the living in the present?

15. How might the availability of selective abortion and amniocentesis effect our attitudes toward newborns, especially defective or anomalous newborns? Who shall have the "right of consent" as far as medical treatment for defective newborns is concerned? Who decides for the baby? Is the principle of refusing "extraordinary" means applicable in this case? Why or why not? Be sure to define as precisely as possible what would be meant by "extraordinary " means. Focus upon the pressures placed upon parents to abort the undesirable fetuses and the resultant unwillingness on the part of society to support those who do not.

16. What are the mutual rights and responsibilities of patients, family physicians and the society in which they live as far as judgments concerning defective infants, the retarded and the incompetent are concerned? How does the decision to offer support and care relate to the responsibility to provide for that support and care? What are the rights based upon ? What are the implications of your position for our current practices?

17. Write an essay on death and violence and the electronic media, tv, film, music videos and the consequences for contemporary life and culture.