PubMed1976
If we eliminate the area of biological and psychological methods, aspects of human death can be experienced which go far beyond understanding death as a defect, as simple cessation of physiological functions. Only then does the total structure of human death as one of the most important "border situations" (Jaspers) of human life become evident. For man, coming to grips with his finality is a task which he cannot escape. This task, which is connected with the ability to experience a future, is an essential characteristic (Scheler) which differentiates man from animals. This is due to the fact that man's spiritual structure has been set in a biological matrix. This double structure of man also implies the possibility of a double cessation of his true nature. In addition to biological death, there is also a spiritual death in human existence where the biological matrix is fully intact: A biologically intact organism, which presents no problem for the internist, is then no longer in a position to participate in a mode of existence with appropriate norms, human dignity and goal orientations. Basically the problem is that the full I-Thou form in terms of Buber and Gebsattel can no longer be realized. Man has isolated himself, maneuvered himself out of this anthropological constitutionality as Zoon Politicon in the sense of Aristotle and put himself on the side-lines. He then no longer lives through and in others and, therefore, no longer participates in the medium and sphere of his only possible existence. The paradox remains, however, that, in contrast to biological death, the man who is existentially dead is condemned to life as many existential philosophers have said. He is condemned to freedom and can use this freedom to manipulate his death, to degrade it by making it an object, to materialize it to a "'ready-to-hand' thing" in Heidegger's terms. It can be psychologically energized and used as a defensive weapon; its various forms can be either used against each other or against itself. This was demonstrated by examples taken from the daily practice and from literature.