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Thanatology is the scientific study of death. It investigates the mechanisms and forensic aspects of death, such as bodily changes that accompany death and the post-mortem period, as well as wider psychological and social aspects related to death. It is primarily an interdisciplinary study offered as a course of study at numerous colleges and universities. The word is derived from the Greek language. In Greek mythology, Thanatos (θάνατος: "death") is the personification of death.〔()〕 The English suffix ''-ology'' derives from the Greek suffix ''-logia'' (-λογια: "speaking"). == History == In 1903, Russian scientist, Élie Metchnikoff, who was famous for his work in microbiology and the discovery of phagocytosis, advocated that without systematic attention to death, life sciences would not be complete. Through this argument, Metchnikoff called for the establishment of a scientific discipline devoted to the study of death. He argued that those who were dying had few or no resources for the experience of dying and that an academic study would help those facing death to have a better understanding of the phenomenon and reduce their fear of it. Metchnikoff based his ideas for an interdisciplinary study on the fact that while medical students had their obligatory encounters with cadavers through anatomical studies there was almost no instruction on how to care for the dying, nor was there any research into death included in the curriculum. Because few scholars and educators agreed with Metchnikoff, the support he needed for the realization of his suggestion didn't materialize for decades. Following World War II, the world was haunted with the memories of the many casualties. During this period of reflection many existential philosophers began considering life-and-death issues. One in particular was Herman Feifel, an American psychologist who is considered the pioneer of the modern death movement. Feifel broke the taboo on discussions of death and dying with the publication of his book ''The Meaning of Death''. In this book, Feifel〔("Encyclopedia of Death and Dying: Herman Feifel" )〕 dispelled myths held by scientists and practitioners about death and the denial of its importance for human behaviour. It earned wide attention and became a classic in the new field, including as it did contributions from eminent thinkers such as psychiatrist Carl Jung, theologian Paul Tillich and philosopher Herbert Marcuse. Through ''The Meaning of Death'', Feifel was able to lay the foundation for a field that would eventually be known as Thanatology. The field was to improve death education and grief counselling by the use of valid death-related data, methodology and theory. However, this is only one of several important books in the field of thanatology. Other key texts include ''The Experience of Death'' by Paul-Louis Landsberg, the sections on temporality and death from Martin Heidegger's ''Being and Time'', as well as works of a fictional nature, such as Leo Tolstoy's ''The Death of Ivan Ilyich'' and ''As I Lay Dying'' by William Faulkner. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Thanatology」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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