This winter school addresses philosophical questions about the nature and significance of the dead body. Death is a multidimensional phenomenon, the corpse has many meanings: symbolic, biological, aesthetic, legal, moral, environmental, personal, political.
The course approaches the corpse from 5 different philosophical angles:
- metaphysical questions (f.e. how does a corpse relate ontologically to the person?)
- ethical questions (f.e. do corpses have rights?)
- political questions (f.e. how do states exercise power over dead bodies?)
- ecological questions (f.e. how does the perspective of the body as food, or as waste, open new ways of thinking and acting?)
- aesthetic questions (f.e. what does the corpse reveal about our discomfort with decay, materiality and dependence?)
The winter school takes place in Antwerp, with lectures and workshops by international guest speakers (confirmed: death studies scholar from the University of Aberdeen and artistic researcher ) as well as researchers from the interdisciplinary Death Care Project which focuses on legislation and practices in Belgium (running 2024-2028).
Target group
The winter school is designed for Master students and (early) PhD students with a background in philosophy or in death studies.
Prerequisites: Knowledge of or affinity with philosophical methods and approaches is required as our target audience is Master students in Philosophy.
Campus
This winter school takes place at Stads91³Ô¹ÏÍø (Prinsstraat 13, 2000 Antwerp) of the University of Antwerp. This 91³Ô¹ÏÍø is located in the city centre.
Micro-credential and study credits (ECTS)
Successful completion of the summer/winter school can be awarded with 6 credits according to the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS). Credits will be awarded by the University of Antwerp based on preparation, participation and submission of the assignments as follows:
- Participation in 3 reading groups during the winter school (accompanied by homework assignments to be uploaded on the student portal) 15%
- Diary on student portal: 5 posts reflecting on the day 5%
- Glossary in a paper notebook handed out at the beginning of the winter school: 10 key concepts explained in your own words 10%
- Presentation of research design (3 slides answering three questions: Which research question do you want to write about? Why is that important? What is needed to answer it?) 20%
- Paper 3000 words 30% (deadline 3 weeks after the end of the winter school)
To include the credits in the curriculum at the home institution, participants need an agreement with the responsible person at their university. University of Antwerp students eligible to include the ECTS credits as part of their study programme must register via Mobility Online and SisA.
All certificates of completion are issued as a micro-credential.
Learning outcomes
- Understand why the dead body has an ambiguous status, metaphysically, legally, emotionally, morally.
- Being able to articulate and argue for/against different positions regarding the metaphysical status of the dead body.
- Being able to read and discuss academic papers in death studies.
- Being able to explain the political, ethical and aesthetic aspects of death care in discussion with the literature.
- Being able to explain in one's own words the key concepts in philosophical debates about death and the dead body
- Develop a personal reflection and positioning within the debates presented, both orally and on paper.
Programme
Draft programme (version 30 October 2026)
Monday
10:00-11:00
Intro to ‘the philosophy of the dead body’ starting from the metaphysics of the dead body showing how ethics, aesthetics, politics are entailed.
Katrien Schaubroeck
11:00-11:30
Explaining the assignments, the building, the programme, Blackboard
Katrien Schaubroeck
11:30-12:15
Unconference
12:15 lunch
13:30
William Faulkner’s ‘As I lay dying’ and metaphysical questions
Kalin Pak
15:00-15:30
Coffee break
15:30-17:00
Book club in parallel groups
Caitlin Doughty, From here to eternity. Traveling the World to Find the Good Death, 2017.
Tuesday
9:00 –10:30
Moral foundations of health care and care for the dead and the bereaved
Vikki Entwistle
10:30-11:00
Coffee break
11:00-12:15
The legal framework: the Belgian law on body disposal and cemeteries
Hanne Dielis
Lunch
13:30-15:00
Ethical dilemmas in the funeral sector – a narrative approach – discussion tables on cases
Vikki Entwistle
Coffee
15:30-16:30
Book club in parallel groups
Nina Lykke, Vibrant Death. A Posthuman Phenomenology of Mourning, 2022.
16:30-17:00
Plenary
Wednesday
9:00-12:00
Listening to the Threshold, an artistic practice
Anaïs Chabeur
Lunch
13:30-15:00
The politics of death
Speaker TBC
15:30-17:00
Interactive session on social death
Moderator TBC
Informal dinner
19:30 – 21:00
Screening of documentary ‘Ceux qui veillent’ by Karima Saïdi (2025)
Thursday
9:00 – 10:30
Muslim death care in Belgium
Eva Verschueren
Coffee
11:00-12:30
Organ donation and images of the dead body
Gert Olthuis
Lunch
13:30-15:30
Visit to the Ruusbroec Institute Library, and their collection of relics.
Guided tour by Tine Van Osselaer
16:00-17:00
Book club: graphic novels about death and grief
Gert Olthuis
Friday
9:00 – 10:30
Mapping grief. The spatial dimensions of bereavement, mourning and remembrance
Discussing this framework of Avril Maddrell
Coffee
11:00-12:15
The ethics of green death
Kalin Pak
Long lunch break (offering time to finish the slides and the glossaries)
14:00-15:30
Presentations of research design in 3 slides.
15:30-16:30
Closure