Memento mori revisited: unravelling the role of choice regarding death and dying in old age
- Start: 2020
- Status: ongoing
More and more people want to have control over when and how they die. This involves complex choices. This research analyses how this changes our approach to death and what impact this has on our lives, old age and the way we die. Dutch Research Council (NOW) has awarded Els van Wijngaarden a VENI grant for this research. Els van Wijngaarden became an associate professor at Radboud UMC in 2022.
Description
Our attitude towards death is undergoing a fascinating change. A growing group of older people are determined to exercise choice and control over the timing and manner of their death, resulting in a new awareness of death. Els van Wijngaarden’s Veni project is groundbreaking because it investigates the influence of the growing emphasis on freedom of choice with regard to death on how we live at the end of our lives. It unravels the socio-cultural and relational dynamics associated with such choices.
To achieve this goal, the project is divided into three interrelated sub-projects:
- Based on the work of Ricoeur and Taylor, I formulate a philosophical treatise on choice that focuses on its socio-cultural and relational anchoring, including an analysis of the relationship between choice and social imaginaries (understood as shared beliefs and images of a particular socio-cultural group, in which moral claims about fundamental values of society play a role).
- Based on the work of Ricoeur and Taylor, I formulate a philosophical treatise on choice that focuses on its socio-cultural and relational anchoring, including an analysis of the relationship between choice and social imaginaries (understood as shared beliefs and images of a particular socio-cultural group, in which moral claims about fundamental values of society play a role).
- Finally, I combine the empirical findings (subproject 2) with the philosophical insights (subproject 1) to analyse the underlying moral experience.
This results in a new ethical theory, which aims to refine our moral discernment with regard to the complexity of the relevant decision-making processes and to provide new insights and a new vocabulary. My expertise in the field of self-determined mortality in old age, combined with my extensive experience in empirical-phenomenological research and interdisciplinarity, place me in a unique position to conduct this research. In addition to its academic relevance, my Veni findings will inform policymakers, healthcare professionals and the public about ways to deal with these concrete choices regarding death and dying.
Researcher
dr. Els van Wijngaarden
(Co-)funding
This project is made possible by funding from the NWO Talent Programme Veni.
Also see:
Contact
Els van Wijngaarden currently works as a senior researcher for Radboud UMC.