TRANSCENDING, NOT OUTLIVING THE SELF

Outliving the Self is analyzed in terms of the implicit imagery of imm ortality implied by both the title, and the thrust of the subject matt er. Although the author discusses the way that his respondents deal wi th death, and in his ''model scenario'' of cultural generativity he id entifies the second element of cultural identity as when the prospect of death enters a life, he returns to the image of symbolic immortalit y via generativity in the final sequence of his scenario. The avoidanc e of the reality of death is discussed in terms of Heidegger's placeme nt of death at the center of the human experience, and in terms of Lif ton's modes of 'symbolic immortality' in face of the twin threats of n uclear annihilation and environmental holocaust.