The Brain and Somatic Integration: Insights Into the Standard BiologicalRationale for Equating “Brain Death” With Death.
The mainstream rationale for equating “braindeath” (BD) with death is that the brain confers integrative unity uponthe body, transforming it from a mere collection of organs and tissues toan “organism as a whole.” In support of this conclusion, the impressivelist of the brain's myriad integrative fu...
| Publicado en: | Journal of Medicine & Philosophy Vol. 26; no. 5; pp. 457 - 479 |
|---|---|
| Autor principal: | |
| Formato: | Artículo |
| Publicado: |
Oxford University Press / USA
Oct2001
|
| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=5700173&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 5700173 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 03605310 MPS jtl: Journal of Medicine & Philosophy issn: 03605310 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Oct2001 vid: 26 iid: 5 pid: 622 pub: Oxford University Press / USA artinfo: ui: 5700173 10.1076/jmep.26.5.457.3000 ppf: 457 ppct: 22 formats: fmt: @attributes: type: P size: 104KB tig: atl: The Brain and Somatic Integration: Insights Into the Standard BiologicalRationale for Equating “Brain Death” With Death. aug: au: Shewmon, Alan D. su: Brain death Human physiology sug: subj: Brain death Human physiology ab: The mainstream rationale for equating “braindeath” (BD) with death is that the brain confers integrative unity uponthe body, transforming it from a mere collection of organs and tissues toan “organism as a whole.” In support of this conclusion, the impressivelist of the brain's myriad integrative functions is often cited. Uponcloser examination, and after operational definition of terms, however, onediscovers that most integrative functions of the brain are actually not somaticallyintegrating, and, conversely, most integrative functions of the body are notbrain-mediated. With respect to organism-level vitality, the brain'srole is more modulatory than constitutive, enhancing the quality and survivalpotential of a presupposedly living organism. Integrative unity of a complexorganism is an inherently nonlocalizable, holistic feature involving the mutualinteraction among all the parts, not a top-down coordination imposed by onepart upon a passive multiplicity of other parts. Loss of somatic integrativeunity is not a physiologically tenable rationale for equating BD with deathof the organism as a whole. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y custom: © 2019 Journal of Medicine and Philosophy Inc.. item: Journal of Medicine & Philosophy holder: Oxford University Press / USA dt: @attributes: year: 2001 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
|---|