Lydia Dugdale: the lost art of dying

New GodPod episode. How well do we deal with our own death? What is a ‘technology-dependant death’, and should we want it?

Nick Jones

Nick is the senior editor of Seen & Unseen.

A medieval book illustration of a person dying in bed.

A 15th Century ars moriendi, or ‘art of dying’ image.

Basel University, via WikiCommons.

How well do we deal with our own death? What is a ‘technology-dependant death’, and should we want it? Just because we can prolong our lives, should we?

These are just some of the questions pondered by our three presenters – Jane Williams, Micheal Lloyd and Graham Tomlin – along with physician and ethicist, Dr Lydia Dugdale.

Lydia talks the presenters through the historical shifts that have caused us to go from speaking about death openly and honestly, to having a newfound societal imagination that tells us that ‘death won’t come to us’ – and why that’s a problem.

This is one of the most thought-provoking episodes of GodPod yet.

For more about Lydia and her bestselling book – The Lost Art of Dying: Lydia S. Dugdale (lydiadugdale.com)

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A group of comedians pose on a TV show set.

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