濟慈（John Keats，1795－1821）《夜鶯頌》一詩中對生死神秘遞換的抒情，迄今仍然被不朽地傳唱：

我在黑暗裡傾聽；啊，多少次
我幾乎愛上了寧謐的死亡，我在詩思裡用盡了好的言辭，
求他把我的一息散入空茫；
而現在，哦，死更是多麼富麗……

波德萊爾在《腐屍》一詩中如是描寫死亡如下：

燦爛的陽光照耀在這團腐肉上，
仿佛要將其烤熟，
又如——向大自然百倍地歸還
合成一體的萬物。
蒼天俯瞰——這堆華美的屍骨，
儼如一朵鮮花怒放，
惡臭如此強烈，令人不堪忍受，
你幾近昏厥於草地。

至於哲學家，卡繆（Albert Camus，1913－1960）在《置身於苦難與陽光之間》中也如是說：「死亡是我們無法擺脫的，每個人都有自己的死。歸根結底，太陽還是溫暖著我們的身骨。」
死亡向來是文學、哲學和藝術重要的永恆主題，但卻在社會學中未能發展成較有系統的研究領域。本課程的目的，企圖從社會學的理論視野大大方方直面探討死亡與臨終，包括三個主要面向：死亡的社會特質及民眾態度、社會如何看待死亡；臨終的社會結構及個體化經驗（諸如臨終的醫療制度化、何謂「善終」、猝死的社會組織化、臨終與死亡的身體）；死後儀式、追憶悼念與倖存。
本課程的授課目的，在於讓同學們從死亡的本質、死亡的歷程，以及面對和接受死亡的必然性來喚起對死亡的自覺，更進而掌握對生死的自覺，使個體在面對死亡時能有自主性，終而能超越面臨生死的困境，並探索生死的終極問題，展現完美的生死尊嚴。

• 本課程探討之核心議題
 ・終極叩問：凝視死亡與生存美學
 ・孔子：未知生焉知死vs. 未知死焉知生
 ・預知死亡紀事：生命最後的規畫、從疾病入侵到絕症、重病者的心理變化
 ・死亡失落於哀傷：悼亡書寫
 ・死亡的尊嚴與生命的尊嚴
 ・生前預立遺囑書寫的心靈成長歷程
 ・死亡教義問答：與死亡協商
 ・那些死亡教會我的事
 ・死亡文學與美學
 ・死亡如此靠近，迎接死亡，身心如何安頓
 ・超越死亡，活出意義來
 ・存在之思：諦觀生命實相
 ・禪宗公案：活在當下，生死無懼
 ・生寄死歸於「此在」的「能在」：瀕臨死亡讓我們整個「存在」改變我們的「能在」
 ・如何面對親人、朋友的死亡：認識各種形式的思絡
 ・作業：《生預遺囑》、跟三個你最想感謝的人珍重道別

Out,out,
The brief candle
Life's but a walking shadow
——莎士比亞《馬克白》

那美好的仗，我已經打過了，當跑的路，我已經跑盡了，所信的道，我已經守住了。
——《聖經》提摩太後書

I die!I faint!I fail!
——雪萊《哀歌》

生命是從死亡那端開始的。
——沙特（Jean-Paul Sartre）

使生如夏花之絢爛，死如秋葉之靜美。
——泰戈爾

沒有生活之絕望，就不會有對生活的愛。
——卡繆（Albert Camus）

小教堂的鐘
安詳地響起
穿白衣歸家的牧師
安詳地擦著汗
我們默默地聽著，看著
安詳地等著……
終有一次鐘聲裡
總有一個月份
也把我們靜靜接了去……
——鄭愁予《鐘聲》

「由於我曾在古米(Cumae)目睹西比爾吊死於籠中。而當眾男孩問她：西比爾，你要的究竟為何呢？時，她回答：『我欲求一死。』」
“For once I myself saw with my own eyes the Sibyl at Cumae hanging in a cage, and when the boys said to her ‘Sibyl, what do you want?' she replied, ‘I want to die.'”
——艾略特（T.S.Eliot）《荒原》

死者倘不埋在活人的心中,那就真的死掉了.
——魯迅《華蓋集續編·空談》

我感到興趣的是:為所愛而生,為所愛而死。
——卡繆（Albert Camus）《鼠疫》

我們愛母親、愛父親、愛身邊的人、愛溫柔的事物、愛美麗的事物、愛故鄉、愛別人，然後……愛那讓自己倍感棘手的人，一如全盤接受這樣的人生，我們也要愛死亡。
讓死亡成為人生最極致的幸福。
——赫塞（Hermann Hesse）《荒原狼》

飛快地，一條小魚兒潛入小溪；
輕輕觸及死去朋友的手
愛著他，將額頭和衣服撫平。
一絲燈光把小屋中的幽靈喚醒。
——特拉克爾（Georg Trakl）《沉鬱》

人死了，就像水消失在水中。
——博爾赫斯（Jorge Luis Borges）《另一次死亡》

The lyricism of the mysterious transition between life and death in John Keats's (1795-1821) poem "Ode to a Nightingale" is still immortally sung today:

I listened in the dark; ah, how many times
I almost fell in love with the peaceful death. I used up all the good words in my poems and thoughts,
Ask him to spread my breath into the void;
And now, oh, how rich is death...

Baudelaire described death in his poem "The Rotting Corpse" as follows:

The bright sun shines on this mass of carrion,
It seems to be roasted,
Another example - return to nature a hundredfold
All things integrated into one.
Looking down from the sky - this pile of gorgeous corpses,
Like a flower in full bloom,
The stench was so strong it was unbearable,
You almost fainted on the grass.

As for the philosopher, Albert Camus (1913-1960) also said the same in "Between Suffering and Sunlight": "Death is something we cannot escape. Everyone has his own death. In the final analysis, the sun still warms our bodies and bones."
Death has always been an important and eternal theme in literature, philosophy and art, but it has not developed into a more systematic research field in sociology. The purpose of this course is to explore death and dying in a broad and direct manner from a sociological theoretical perspective, including three main aspects: the social characteristics of death and public attitudes, and how society views death; the social structure and individualized experience of dying (such as the institutionalization of end-of-life medical care, what is a "good death", the social organization of sudden death, dying and the dead body); post-mortem rituals, memorials, mourning, and survival.
The purpose of this course is to enable students to arouse awareness of death from the nature of death, the process of death, and the inevitability of facing and accepting death, and then master the awareness of life and death, so that individuals can have autonomy when facing death, and ultimately be able to transcend the dilemma of life and death, explore the ultimate issues of life and death, and demonstrate the perfect dignity of life and death.

• Core issues discussed in this course
・Ultimate inquiry: staring at death and survival aesthetics
 ・Confucius: How can one know death if one does not know life vs. How can one know life if one does not know death?
 ・Chronicles of predicting death: the final planning of life, from disease invasion to terminal illness, and the psychological changes of seriously ill people
 ・Death is lost in grief: mourning writing
 ・The dignity of death and the dignity of life
 ・The spiritual growth process of writing a will before death
・Catechism on Death: Negotiating with Death
 ・What death taught me
・Death literature and aesthetics
 ・Death is so close, how do you prepare your body and mind to welcome death?
・Beyond death and live with meaning
・Thinking of existence: observing the reality of life
・Zen koan: Live in the present, without fear of life or death
 ・Life and death are attributed to the "being" of "here": approaching death causes our entire "being" to change our "being"
 ・How to face the death of relatives and friends: Understand various forms of thoughts
 ・Assignment: "Making a Will", saying goodbye to the three people you want to thank the most

Out, out,
The brief candle
Life's but a walking shadow
——Shakespeare's "Macbeth"

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
——The Bible, 2 Timothy

I die!I faint!I fail!
——Shelley's "Elegy"

Life begins at the end of death.
——Jean-Paul Sartre

Make life as gorgeous as summer flowers and death as quiet and beautiful as autumn leaves.
——Tagore

Without the despair of life, there would be no love for life.
——Albert Camus

chapel bell
ringing peacefully
The priest who returns home in white
Quietly wiping sweat
We listened and watched silently
Waiting peacefully...
Finally once the bell rings
There is always a month
He also picked us up quietly...
——Zheng Chouyu's "The Bell"

"Because I once saw Sybil hanging in a cage in Cumae. When the boys asked her: Sybil, what do you want?, she replied: 'I want to die.'"
"For once I myself saw with my own eyes the Sibyl at Cumae hanging in a cage, and when the boys said to her 'Sibyl, what do you want?' she replied, 'I want to die.'"
——T.S. Eliot, "The Waste Land"

If the dead are not buried in the hearts of the living, they are really dead.
——Lu Xun's "Sequel to Huagai Collection·Empty Talk"

What interests me is: live for what you love and die for what you love.
——Albert Camus, "The Plague"

We love our mother, we love our father, we love the people around us, we love tender things, we love beautiful things, we love our hometown, we love others, and then... we love the people who make us feel more troublesome. Just as we fully accept this kind of life, we must also love death.
Let death be the ultimate happiness in life.
——Hermann Hesse, "Steppenwolf"

Quickly, a small fish dives into the stream;
To gently touch the hand of a dead friend
Love him and smooth your forehead and clothes.
A flicker of light awakens the ghost in the cabin.
——Georg Trakl, "Melancholy"

When a person dies, he disappears like water.
——Jorge Luis Borges, "Another Death"

• 主要書目
Glennys Howarth, 2007, Death and dying: a Sociological Introduction. UK: Polity press.

• 參考書目
Ariès, P. ,1974 , Western Attitudes toward Death: from Middle Ages to the Present, the Johns Hopkins University Press.
Behavioral Scientist (ABS), Sage Pub., vol. 6 (May, 1963 special issue), pp: 61-65.
Clark, D. (ed.) ,1993, The Sociology of Death: Theory, Culture, Practice, oxford, UK: Blackwell.
Durkheim, Èmile , 1951, Suicide, New York: The Free Press, pp: 145-276.
Elias, N. ,1985/2002, Über die Einsamkeit der Sterbenden, Frankfurt a. M.: Suhrkamp.
Evans, G & Farberow, N. L. (eds.) ,1988, The Encyclopedia of Suicide, Facts On File
Feifel, H. (ed.).1977, New meanings of Death, New York: McGraw-Hill.
Feldman, K. ,1995, Leben und Tod im Werk von Talcott Parsons. In: Feldmann, K. & Fuchs-Heinritz, W. ,1995, Der Tod ist ein Problem der Lebenden, Frankfurt a. M.: Suhrkamp stw. pp: 140-172.
Feldmann, K. & Fuchs-Heinritz, W. ,1995, Der Tod ist ein Problem der Lebenden, Frankfurt a. M.: Suhrkamp stw.
Feldmann, K. & Fuchs-Heinritz, W., 1995, Der Tod als Gegendstand der Soziologie. In: Feldmann, K. & Fuchs-Heinritz, W.(Hg.) ,1995, Der Tod ist ein Problem der Lebenden, Frankfurt a. M.: Suhrkamp stw.
Franz Rosenzweig ,Translated by Barbara E. Galli,1921,The Star of Redemption.US: The University of Wisconsin Press.
Fuchs-Heinritz, W. et al. (Hg.) ,1994, Lexikon zur Soziologie, Westdeutscher Verlag.
Fulton, R. ,1965, Death and Identity, New York : Wiley.
Hahn, A. ,1995, Tod und Zivilisation bei Georg Simmel. In: Feldmann, K. & Fuchs-Heinritz, W. ,1995, Der Tod ist ein Problem der Lebenden, Frankfurt a. M.: Suhrkamp stw., pp: 80-95.
Hahn, A. ,2000, Konstructionen des Selbst, der Welt und der Geschichte, Frankfurt a. M.: Suhrkamp stw.
Kastenbaum, R & Aisenberg, R. ,1972, The Psychology of Death, New York: Springer.
Korte, H. ,1992, Einfuehrung in die Geschichte der Soziologie, UTB.
Macke, A. (ed.) ,1972, Death in American Experience, New York:
Macke, A.

• Main bibliography
Glennys Howarth, 2007, Death and dying: a Sociological Introduction. UK: Polity press.

• Bibliography
Ariès, P., 1974, Western Attitudes toward Death: from Middle Ages to the Present, the Johns Hopkins University Press.
Behavioral Scientist (ABS), Sage Pub., vol. 6 (May, 1963 special issue), pp: 61-65.
Clark, D. (ed.), 1993, The Sociology of Death: Theory, Culture, Practice, Oxford, UK: Blackwell.
Durkheim, Èmile, 1951, Suicide, New York: The Free Press, pp: 145-276.
Elias, N. ,1985/2002, Über die Einsamkeit der Sterbenden, Frankfurt a. M.: Suhrkamp.
Evans, G & Farberow, N. L. (eds.) ,1988, The Encyclopedia of Suicide, Facts On File
Feifel, H. (ed.).1977, New meanings of Death, New York: McGraw-Hill.
Feldman, K. ,1995, Leben und Tod im Werk von Talcott Parsons. In: Feldmann, K. & Fuchs-Heinritz, W. ,1995, Der Tod ist ein Problem der Lebenden, Frankfurt a. M.: Suhrkamp stw. pp: 140-172.
Feldmann, K. & Fuchs-Heinritz, W. ,1995, Der Tod ist ein Problem der Lebenden, Frankfurt a. M.: Suhrkamp stw.
Feldmann, K. & Fuchs-Heinritz, W., 1995, Der Tod als Gegendstand der Soziologie. In: Feldmann, K. & Fuchs-Heinritz, W.(Hg.) ,1995, Der Tod ist ein Problem der Lebenden, Frankfurt a. Franz Rosenzweig ,Translated by Barbara E. Galli,1921,The Star of Redemption.US: The University of Wisconsin Press.
Fuchs-Heinritz, W. et al. (Hg.) ,1994, Lexikon zur Soziologie, Westdeutscher Verlag.
Fulton, R., 1965, Death and Identity, New York: Wiley.
Hahn, A. ,1995, Tod und Zivilisation bei Georg Simmel. In: Feldmann, K. & Fuchs-Heinritz, W. ,1995, Der Tod ist ein Problem der Lebenden, Frankfurt a. M.: Suhrkamp stw., pp: 80-95.
Hahn, A. ,2000, Konstructionen des Selbst, der Welt und der Geschichte, Frankfurt a. M.: Suhrkamp stw.
Kastenbaum, R & Aisenberg, R. ,1972, The Psychology of Death, New York: Springer.
Korte, H. ,1992, Einfuehrung in die Geschichte der Soziologie, UTB.
Macke, A. (ed.), 1972, Death in American Experience, New York:
Macke, A.