Midwest Studies in Philosophy, Volume XXIV, Life and Death: Metaphysics and Ethics is an important contribution to the literature on the intersection of issues of metaphysics and issues of ethics. In the Midwest Studies tradition, twenty of the more important philosophers writing in this area have contributed original papers that extend the boundaries of philosophical discussion of issues that are of both theoretical and practical concern to a wide-ranging audience. Topics considered include the concept of human life, the relationship between the concept of personal identity and the understanding of death, normative appraisals of death, capital punishment, euthanasia, the postponement of death and the impact of a theory of death and afterlife on one's ethical perspective.

Peter A. French holds the Cole Chair in Ethics at the University of South Florida. He has taught at the University of Minnesota, Morris, served as Distinguished Research Professor in the Center for the Study of Human Values at the Univeristy of Delaware, and most recently served as Lennox Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. His books include The Scope of Morality (1980), Collective and Corporate Responsibility (1980), and Responsibility Matters (1992). He has published numerous articles in several prestigious philosophy journals.

Howard K. Wettstein is chair and professor of philosophy at the University of California, Riverside. He has taught at the University of Notre Dame and the University of Minnesota, Morris, and served as visiting associate professor of philosophy at the University of Iowa and Stanford University. He is the author of Has Semantics Rested on a Mistake? and Other Essays. (1992).