We believe we have direct access to ourselves while we guess or interpret others. But is this really true? Research from the Choice Blindness Lab at Lund University has shown that we know a lot less about ourselves than we think. In 2005, Cognitive Scientist Petter Johansson and his research...
On people’s world view in the 1600s. If you visit Läckö castle, you will see a mural from around 1670 depicting Fortuna, the goddess of luck, balancing on one leg on a sphere floating in the sea. In her hands, she holds a sail which is catching the wind. Above,...
Opinion In 2009 a proposal for stricter legislation against homosexuality was made Uganda, which among other things involved the death penalty. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni justified his acceptance of the law amendment by stating that he was taking a stand against Western social imperialism. The problem is that he had a point. When conducting our Master’s degree projects in Kenya...
Are we witnessing a new form of death taking shape in our society? A death that puts the individual at the centre and imposes new demands on three professional groups who encounter death: doctors, undertakers and priests. Professor of Ethnology Lynn Åkesson has been dealing with this question for many...
You can’t take anything with you when you die. Perhaps you should think about how your property will be distributed after your death and what this means for your surviving next of kin. Are the statutory rules on inheritance sufficient or should you write a will? This depends on your...
Opinion: Göran Hermerén, Professor emeritus in Medical ethics, Lund university The heading “The right to my own death” immediately raises three questions: is there such a right? What is it based on? Could it come into conflict with other people’s interests or rights? The central ethical research questions in this...
In death, animals and man meet There is only one way to be born, but a thousand ways to die. Archaeologists’ studies of death and burial rites reveal much about how our views on the value of humans and animals have varied between different periods and in different cultures. A...
An organ donor can save the lives of up to eight other people. In spite of this, the current number of organ donations is not sufficient to meet existing needs. One problem is that not all possible organ donations are carried out. And one of the reasons for this is...
Water has always been the difference between life and death. In the Old Testament, drought is commonly attributed to poor relations with God. Ola Wikander takes us back and tells us about the perception of water in ancient times. In the Old Testament, drought is a sign that something is...
