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Illness, Injury, and the Phenomenology of Loss A Dialogue.

Cole, J. and Ratcliffe, M., 2022. Illness, Injury, and the Phenomenology of Loss A Dialogue. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 29 (9-10), 150-174.

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DOI: 10.53765/20512201.29.9.150

Abstract

This paper explores similarities and differences between grief over the death of a person and other experiences of loss that are sometimes termed ‘grief’, focusing on the impact of serious illness and bodily injury. It takes the form of a dialogue between a physician/ neurophysiologist and a philosopher. Adopting a broad conception of grief, we suggest that experiences of lost or unrealized possibilities are central to all forms of grief. However, these unfold in different ways over prolonged periods. Experiences of grief are complex, diverse, difficult to articulate, and frequently under-acknowledged. This diversity, we note, complicates discussions of how to distinguish typical from pathological forms of grief. We raise the concern that thinking of grief through the lens of bereavement eclipses other circumstances in which people are required to comprehend and adapt to loss. With this lack of acknowledgment, the phenomenology of grief is characterized in ways that are overly tidy and people are deprived of important interpretive resources.

Item Type:Article
ISSN:1355-8250
Additional Information:Matthew Ratcliffe would also like to thank the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council for funding the project ‘Grief: A Study of Human Emotional Experience’ (grant ref. AH/T000066/1).
Group:Faculty of Science & Technology
ID Code:37749
Deposited By: Symplectic RT2
Deposited On:02 Nov 2022 12:47
Last Modified:16 Nov 2022 09:56

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