How the Body Became Integrated: Cybernetics in the History of the Brain Death Debate.

Although the term integration is central to the definition of brain death, there is little agreement on what it means. Through a genealogical analysis, this essay argues that there have been two primary ways of understanding integration in regard to organismal wholeness. One stems from neuroscience,...

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Publicado en:Journal of Medicine & Philosophy Vol. 47; no. 3; pp. 387 - 407
Autor principal: Scherz, Paul
Formato: Journal Article
Publicado: Oxford University Press / USA Jun2022
Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
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        atl: How the Body Became Integrated: Cybernetics in the History of the Brain Death Debate.
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        au: Scherz, Paul
        affil: The Catholic University of America , Washington D.C. , USA
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        subj:
          Brain Death
          Bioethics
          Dissent and Disputes
          Communication
          Brain
          Ways of Coping Questionnaire
      ab: Although the term integration is central to the definition of brain death, there is little agreement on what it means. Through a genealogical analysis, this essay argues that there have been two primary ways of understanding integration in regard to organismal wholeness. One stems from neuroscience, focusing on the role of the brain in responding to external stimuli, which was taken up in phenomenological accounts of life. A second, arising out of cybernetics, focuses on the brain's role in homeostasis. Recent debates over brain death are largely over this cybernetic understanding of integration. However, the phenomenological understanding of organismal wholeness can be seen in arguments by the President's Council on Bioethics in favor of brain death. This essay argues that the cybernetic understanding of life is problematic and should be discarded. A phenomenological understanding of life can provide a better basis for arguments over definitions of life and death.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype: Journal Article
      ougenre: Article
    language: English
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