Where Life Lies

Defending the Concept of Higher Brain Death from a Thomistic Perspective

Abstract

My paper seeks to bring into agreement a Thomistic understanding of the human soul and the modern medical concept of “higher brain death.” Navigating an intense personal event catalyzed my argument that the destruction of the faculties which rationality requires is what constitutes death in an individual. This has ramifications for anyone wondering about what it means to be alive—as well as those in the medical field.