The Meaning of Mourning brings perspectives from leading philosophers, psychologists, theologians, writers, and artists exploring different dimensions of death, loss, and grief. They together form a wide-ranging study of some of the most difficult and formative experiences in human life.

Grief is a universal human response to death and loss. Mourning is an equally universally observable practice that enables the bereaved to express their grief and come to terms with the reality of loss. Yet, despite their prevalence, there is no unified understanding of the nature and meaning of grief and mourning. The Meaning of Mourning: Perspectives on Death, Loss, and Grief brings together fifteen essays from diverse disciplines addressing the topics of death, grief, and mourning. The collection moves from general questions concerning the putative badness of death and the meaning of loss through the phenomenology and psychology of grief, to personal and cultural aspects of mourning. Contributors examine topics such as theodicy and grief, reproductive loss, mourning as a form of recognition of value, the roots of grief in early childhood, grief in COVID-times, hope, phenomenology of loss, public commemoration and mourning rituals, mourning for a devastated culture, the Necropolis of Glasgow, and the “art of outliving.” Edited by Mikołaj Sławkowski-Rode, the volume provides a survey of the rich topography of methodologies, problems, approaches, and disciplines that are involved in the study of issues surrounding loss and our responses to it and guides the reader through a spectrum of perspectives, highlighting the connections and discontinuities between them.

Introduction

Mikołaj Sławkowski-Rode

Chapter 1: Hume and Doctor Johnson on Death

Jerry Valberg

Chapter 2: The Problem of Mourning

Eleonore Stump

Chapter 3: What Can the Roman Catholic Liturgies of the Dead Offer Mourners: Solidarity with the Deceased and Hopeful Protest?

Richard Conrad, OP

Chapter 4: Toward a Philosophical Theology of Pregnancy Loss

Amber L. Griffioen

Chapter 5: Mourning: A Phenomenology

Balázs M. Mezei

Chapter 6: Mourning and the Recognition of Value

Cathy Mason and Matt Dougherty

Chapter 7: Grieving and Mourning: The Psychology of Bereavement

Colin Murray Parkes

Chapter 8: Bereavement, Grief, and Mourning

John Cottingham

Chapter 9: Mourning and the Second-Person Perspective

Mikołaj Sławkowski-Rode

Chapter 10: Mourning Academic Mentors and Mentees

Douglas J. Davies

Chapter 11: Mourning and Memory, Private and Public Dimensions

Anthony O’Hear

Chapter 12: The Work of Mourning

Roger Scruton

Chapter 13: Sidgwick’s Dilemma

Leslie Chamberlain

Chapter 14: “Israel but the Grave…” The Art and Architecture of Mourning

Alexander Stoddart

Chapter 15: The Difficult Art of Outliving

Raymond Tallis

About the Contributors