THE POSTMODERNIZATION OF DEATH AND DYING

The very concept of postmodernity suggests a significant change in the conduct of contemporary social life. Five aspects of this change are described. They are: the normalization of persistent and diffuse chang e; the abandonment of the concept of nature as necessarily embodying l awful regularity; the death of telos, or the discrediting of the conce pt of a history as a master, purposeful narrative; adaptations to larg ely unanticipated levels of individuation; and potential changes in th e politics of the self. Implications of these changes are explored by speculative consideration of their impacts on death and dying.