‘Some of Us Think People Belong to Each Other’: Examining Our Mortality as an Experience of Relationality and Mutual Vulnerability

Abstract

Western culture presents the human person as an independent and self-sufficient individual. From a perspective that considers the individual as all-important, the end of self-control and individual experience in death is an unmitigated harm. This perspective contributes to death anxiety and poor end-of-life care. In contrast, this paper explores experiences of mortality within the context of human relationality and dependence. Drawing upon Levinas’ ideas of responsibility, I discuss how individuals are shaped by their own and others’ vulnerability. I argue that mortality holds value as an experience of mutual vulnerability. I discuss mortality as an experience of relationality, and I argue that such relationality can mitigate the harms of death. I conclude by considering how we should respond to our mortality. This paper argues for the development of communities in which death is discussed publicly; in which mortality is recognized as an integral condition of human existence and accepted; and in which the vulnerable, the dying and the bereaved are well-cared for.