Correspondence
death-neocortical death-are con- meets the primary attribute of death but Correspondence ...
...The issue is simply our finite duty ten The Gutenberg Galaxy by way of primarily of cerebral function there fol- to the dying whom we cannot save but turning in a fire alarm, I find it curious lows necessarily the cessation of lower whose significance none of us can assess...
...No Christian should believe that a alien to the level of formal causality...
...For Jeffko holds to reach a very simple conclusion...
...Also by excessive stress conclusion to draw from exercising our on personhood one can win great vic- definitions...
...Order from: OXFAM AMERICA, 302 Columbus Ave., In general, care must also be exercised than was the intent of the original article...
...Contact: Sr...
...The explanation ago by Hans Jonas...
...To give in- 250 or 300 words naturally have a better Nostalgia, but no pious claptrap...
...that some readers have charged me with brain function, etc...
...tex going) he too hurriedly formed him on elementary feminist theology, a Howard usually analyzes...
...Mass at their funerals...
...of what is primary and secondary does tive use of the precise neurophysiological Earl Weis, SJ...
...treated in its pages...
...in providing them...
...assisted mechanically...
...b) spontaneous respiratory necesssarily" dying...
...through University Microfilm, 300 N. Zeeb Road, mality" or "organicity" in human life Why compose a definition by which a Ann Arbor, Mi...
...10016...
...Job description and ity...
...electroencephalographic monitoring tapestries at $25 each...
...not provide the moral grounds for what is term, "decerebrate...
...cant here about the mysteries of God's isms (we don't yet call a rubbish dump a PAUL RAMSEY love and call, the depths and struggles of "civic amenity site"), but his book is for Professor of Relgion, spirit-in-flesh, the remaking of the anyone who cares about responsible us- Princeton University church, the splendid power of wom- age...
...that Jeffko's philosophy obscures...
...Having writ- when there is irreversible cessation value...
...48106...
...Anonymity respected...
...that soon priests will not be giving "last Xerox makes everybody a publisher...
...Pei frequently out of dust of the ground: he put the brain showy chapter on physics and theology...
...Moment in time "fills this moment in article is the attempt at a formal definiThe earth-moving day is here...
...DALLAS M. HIGH Classified The second major problem of the arti- Professor of Philosophy cle follows from the fast...
...However, both fail...
...The Medical Association in 1968...
...My point here was made well long Theological Seminary in Washington...
...your memories to Dr...
...lists...
...say, stopping a respirator...
...believes his two-part definition of death Otto L. Bettmann's A Word from the Wise, HarBy contrast, those who today espouse indicates "what kind of life is significant mony Books, a division of Crown Publishers...
...Massachusetts...
...By taking this defini- use of extraordinary means...
...fortunately few will benefit from Pei's clare a person dead should brain activity ARTHUR A. COHEN has a new novel, Acts of last work...
...Serials Data Program No.: (and so also death...
...the lungs, of course, to start his neocor- And such a question is not settled by Commonweal: 478 redefining death, but as a moral question decisions about human life and death...
...Send inquiries to Box No...
...CHILEAN women whose husbands disIf he means a 'Anecessary condition," Finally, I would advise Professor appeared in the 1973 military takeover which can be readily admitted, then the Jeffko to reread the original article on have been making patchwork tapestries claim is a weak one, and aids little in the irreversible coma as published...
...There are two reasons for, [May 251 of Elizabeth Eisenstein's The Printing Press as an Agent of Change tories for the new sexual morality...
...What is original in the strength...
...critic presently working on a novel...
...Toronto, Canada tional route, more patients can simply be That is an...
...And to mix the requirement These books are as far apart in worth as power of dishonest language...
...in the path of currently developed brain MICHAEL CROSBY, advertising manager at pacemakers...
...The centuryHe cites "McLuhan's inability to love "Death is the irreversible cessation old reason is because it is useless to conthe printed word...
...While dying Commonweal is indexed in Reader's Guide to To the Editors: Walter Jeffko's lucid ar- may be a process, a person is not dead Periodical Literature, Catholic Periodical Index, Index of American Periodical Verse, Book Reticle ["Redefining Death," July 6] is until he is-well, dead...
...mon sense prevail: 6] that careful distinctions are needed, I We are waking up and rising, Environment is "one of the woolliest do not agree that he has been successful and soon our sister will know her vogue words of our time...
...This is the not the secondary ones, he no longer posbesetting sin of the present age...
...turbing is that the decerebrate state which Associate Director of an Office of ReHe says, "The cerebrum, or higher neurologically is recognized in man and search and Planning for a West Coast brain, would seem to be the sufficient experimentally produced in animals car- diocese...
...Philip Howard is sharp, even surprising, on ..organism as a whole" only creates conHoward gives us short essays on forty- feedback when he distinguishes its true, fusion...
...If he were to John Powell, SJ...
...function, e.g., in the case of Karen Quin- ing "bioethicists...
...cerebral) and secondary (cardiopulmo- sor Jeffko's article in the July 6th issue of Graduate Courses nary) functions, arguing that he has Commonweal, I was a little disappointed achieved a synthesis...
...If he means "sufficient condition" postures...
...He is, however, wrong tion...
...Instead they will be celebrating "For a man is not dead until all...
...To the Editors: While I agree with Walter sleep Generally, his good humor and com- G. Jeffko in "Redefining Death" [July the earth shall sleep...
...The author's position is clearly the rites" (the sacrament for the sick) to perThese are widely contrasting effects...
...Nor should anyone person can be, as it were, half-way dead ISSN 0010-3330...
...making use of the widely used but am- tween the red nucleus and the vestibular Associate Director biguous terms "seat" or "locus" in of- nucleus in the brain stem...
...Christology-Rev...
...sisted in all essential physiological funcFRANCINE CARDMAN teaches at Wesley (Continued from page 450) tions...
...which he can select his next platitude...
...stem in his cranium instead of down in And yet...
...It does not help to declare that Forked Tongue...
...physiological terms...
...extraordinarily ordinary To the Editors: John Ahern's review declared dead...
...Synoptic Gosviduals ought not to continue to live since appeared in the Journal of the American pels: Matthew-Rev...
...a sin sesses significant human life (although to because the separation of spiritual per- be sure, he is still alive), and his life is po sonhood from bodily life is adopted for longer worth prolonging-at least by the Message from McLuhan ulterior purposes...
...Publishing Co...
...My understanding is Let no reader suppose, however, that arson...
...The latest reabegins by manifesting a complete misun- Still a definition has operational use son is because the patient is dead and we derstanding of The Gutenberg Galaxy...
...Jacket illustration from these together in integral unity...
...Author coldefining death was ever simple, even Case Western Reserve University lecting short humorous or poignant perwith the so-called traditional way...
...a further up-dating of the definition of and worth saving...
...School, Confession, Commonweal welcomes letters on subjects minder from Aristotle, as applied in this Services, Sex, etc...
...Send trinsic elusiveness its due is not being chance of being published...
...and sec- tinue, of no benefit to the patient (alGalaxy makes no personal value judg- ondarily but necessarily of (a) lower though to be sure, he is still alive, and ments because it is concerned with for- brain function, including that of the provided he is "secondarily and mal causality and the study of effects, brain stem...
...first meaning of "necessarily...
...Pei endorses oversimple definition of irony from the organism...
...These courses are significant about life...
...31 August 1979: 479...
...History of Christian Thought-Rev...
...Interestingly, under certain cir- qualifications sent upon request...
...Telephone: of "man's rationality and animality," ically when a lesion has occurred be- 312/274-3000...
...What then is the view Digest and Book Review Index...
...I]f an individual Commonweal: 450 poses is unsatisfying-didactic chapters Hollander as "creative mentalities...
...tion...
...The question in this ROBERT L. KING teaches English at the Col- will be that before God breathed into case is not: has the person died...
...far outdistances the academician...
...are (Continued on page 478) fulfilled...
...Copyright ©1979 Commonweal object to the claim that our spiritual na- but still alive...
...over the value and quality of life...
...His comments on quantum are activity" is troublesome since it is diunder headings like "The Shrill Voice of similarly exact...
...point is that's mere stipulative definition most glaring of these errors is his repeti- Richard Smith, SJ...
...This level of descriptive narrative leaves ample room in the foregoing sentence...
...He Illurirations: Page 457...
...death-neocortical death-are con- meets the primary attribute of death but Correspondence sciousness-ridden dualists...
...gives the speaker a brief pause during that formal definition into general The earth shall be remade...
...not afford to be complacent about the what it is not...
...Christian Spirituality-Rev...
...Three graduate credits The author actually backs into the physiology, he would find that the term, each: $112 per credit...
...Brendan McGrath, on Jeffko's terms they are alive...
...their humble tasks, especially with such Professor and Co-Chairman Pre-Vatican U Church crucial issues as death...
...2) More importantly, the heavy four terms...
...examine any standard textbook on available through the Loyola Institute of Pastoral Studies...
...A re- sonal recollections...
...But I do not think of Neurosurgery, PRE VATICAN II CHURCH...
...not too force definitionss to do more than ROBERT J. WHITE, M.D., PH.D...
...moral grounds, that decerebrate indi- of the Harvard Medical School which Frederick Moriarity, SJ...
...Professor Eisenstein is concerned with efficient ory function...
...The former is not STEVEN KROLL is a New York writer and ROBERT L. KING yet technically possible, but may follow...
...there is something signifi- A few of Howard's entries are British- the spinal cord where it belongs...
...But listen...
...02116...
...latter reason for stopping treatment into causality: her title is The Printing Press What is the force of adding "but the first aspect of a de nition of death...
...ture is higher and primary, our animality The author takes the definitional route lower and secondary...
...but: how lege of Our Lady of the Elms in Chicopee, Adam the breath of life (aiming through should the person (patient) be dealt with...
...Second-class postage paid at New York, N.Y...
...It takes little imagtheology at Boston College and director of its Readers should return to Howard for the ination to go the next step...
...This...
...In these books, the journalist as well as respiration and circulation be Theft, due out early next year...
...Commonweal, 232 or even "necessary and sufficient condi- cumstances, the decerebrate state in man Madison Ave., N.Y., N.Y...
...The Fall semester offerat all...
...Terrence Keough, elusive but careful, especially in making 620 Gilmour Street, Ottawa, Canada...
...It is interesting University of Kentucky Married Priests that while the author rightly places high status and value on being a human being Decerebrate state CORPUS-National Association Rehe actually bases crucial moral decisions Cleveland, Ohio signed/Married Priests...
...To make my point briefly, Jack O'Brien, Ann Landers and Xaviera OED without attribution...
...With the onset of the instantane- that while (b) and (c) necessarily follow nothing more radical or preposterous is ous electronic environment of informa- upon (a), the latter (lower brain function) going on in up-to-the-minute discussions tion, it was reasonable to perceive the is compatible with cessation of cerebral of cerebral or neocortical death by leaddanger posed to the book and to literacy...
...Box 2649, on physiological standards of primary To the Editors: While I enjoyed Profes- Chicago, 60690...
...The OSB...
...Would Jeffko have a perFordham University's Lincoln Center Cam- Correspondence son declared dead, by definition, who is pus, has written for the New York Times, the fully functioning but is technically asNew York Post and other journals...
...death before the definition is complete person still surely alive no longer posIn a utilitarian society, untrained in the and the death of a human organism as a sesses significance, that he is not worth study of formal structures and patterns of whole can be properly declared...
...To since necessary conditions always leave cal "meat" in the discussion of that re- raise money for their families and for open the possibility of a reality more port and I believe that Professor Jeffko is cooperative work in the shanty towns of comprehensive and of a different charac- placing far too much emphasis on clinical Chile, Oxfam America is selling these ter than the conditions themselves...
...tion of the spontaneous activity of an You Don't Mean, by Mario Pei, Harper "A century that has seen great nations organism as a whole...
...virtually no one would, by definition, But, Howard commits his infrequent declare a person dead who has cerebral ]REVIEWERS faults following standards...
...Mary above error by giving himself an easy by definition, allows for the preservation Peter McGinty, CSJ, LOYOLA UNIVERwalk over the - controversial of distal brain stem function and usually SITY OF CHICAGO, 6525 North Sheriphilosophical-neurophysiological matter is produced either experimentally or clin- dan, Chicago, Illinois 60626...
...Not medical significance of the article deal- cember 19,1979...
...Howard cites the Ox- on the literary persona, and he lifts an "spontaneous activity is essential to an ford English Dictionary...
...The Gutenberg primarily of cerebral function...
...I see no gain from function...
...Boston, Mass...
...necessarily" to the word "secondarily" Minor-maybe major-objections as an Agent of Change...
...fails on two & Row, $9.95, 208pp„ WEASEL led down the road to ruin by lying prop- counts...
...Microfilm noteworthy for its comprehension of the practical use of distinguishing between from Vol...
...1, 1924, to current issues available unity of rational personhood with "ani- primary and secondary aspects of death...
...ration and circulation...
...Salary negotiable in accordance physiological locus of man's rational- ries its own unique set of reflexes and with qualifications...
...A few lines from the poem jargon can sometimes be useful, and his Spontaneous confusion "Call" convey this sense of the whole self-indulgence extends only to a few unwork: usual words ("borborygm") and to liter- Lexington, Kentucky It has been said that while women ary allusions, mostly to Shakespeare...
...saving...
...Pei's are activity but has respirator assisted respi= FATHER RICHARD P. McBRIEN is professor of made in pursuit of a wide audience...
...Equally disfering neurophysiological explanations...
...shouldn't pump a corpse...
...1) The article does not tell us WORDS, by Philip Howard, Oxford Uni- aganda, like sheep to the shambles, can- what "an organism as a whole" is, only versity Press, $10, 175pp...
...Most of us, I Institute for the Study of Religious Education same reasons they do to Orwell, but un- believe, would be quite reluctant to deand Service...
...Letters of not more than context, may still be useful...
...of total cessation with the designation they are distinct in approach...
...He pro- sons whose hearts still beat spontaneMARSHALL McLUHAN poses a two-step definition of death: ously...
...and if one of them is not Not by definition alone fulfilled- whether primary or secPrinceton, N.J...
...There is (arpilleras) as a protest against the practical decisions he wants to make considerable philosophical and theologi- Pinochet regime and for self-support...
...quark is "a delightful rected to respiratory and circulatory funcWomen's Lib" and "Education's piece of jargon...
...time with effortless, bland noise, and so tion of death and the effort to translate We women wake to move in fire...
...FRANCINE CARDMAN "Fine words butter no parsnips .. . The formal definition-"Death here is violence and confusion are not removed defined as the total and permanent cessaWEASEL WORDS: The Art of Saying What by calling them confrontation...
...He says, "It ena- in his knowledge of basic neurophysiol- GRADUATE COURSES in Theology, LOYOLA UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO, bles us to indicate what kind of human ogy and his lack of understanding of the Semester I, 1979-80, September 4, Delife is significant and worth living...
...the late Mario Pei glances at precise meaning from the one of "bogus emphasis on "cessation of spontaneous hundreds, perhaps thousands, of words science...
...The upshot will be Gutenberg had made everybody a reader, lan...
...tion" then few philosophers and few is reversible with the potential expecneurophysiologis s would concur since tancy of eventual normal cerebral func- Arpilleras there is little or no evidence for the claim...
...He is secure enough to know that ankind...
...At least it is not the case without ing with a definition of irreversible coma ings include: Themes and Methods in the the additional premise, establishedd on as published by the Ad Hoc Committee Interpretation of Biblical Thought-Rev...
...ondary-he is still alive...
...could can be raised against the confused for the noting of content and the making mean that (a) and thereafter (b) and (c) evaluative language in the quotation of value judgments, both of which are are necessary in addition to cerebral above...
...Here obligation-language should effect, efficient causality and moralizing Or the author could mean to say that be used, not the language of worth or is the only acceptable norm...
...and (c) spontaneous circulat- Professor Jeffko's effort to subsume the with reception aesthetics...
Vol. 106 • August 1979 • No. 15
