This volume discusses the philosophical issues connected with the nature and significance of life and death, and the ethics of killing.

Introduction Steven Luper; Part I. The Metaphysics of Life and Death: 1. The nature of life Mark A. Bedau; 2. The nature of people Eric T. Olson; 3. Persistence and time Katherine Hawley; 4. The malleability of identity Marya Schechtman; 5. The nature of human death David DeGrazia; Part II. The Significance of Life and Death: 6. Assessing lives Noah Lemos; 7. On the length of a good life Eyjólfur K. Emilsson; 8. Mortal harm John Martin Fischer; 9. When do we incur mortal harm? Jens Johansson; 10. The symmetry problem James Warren; 11. Posthumous harm Simon Keller; 12. Life's meaning Steven Luper; Part III. The Ethics of Life and Death: 13. Enhancing humanity Nicholas Agar; 14. Procreating David Archard; 15. Abortion Michael Tooley; 16. Killing ourselves Thomas Hill, Jr; 17. Killing in self-defense Kadri Vihvelin; 18. Imperfect aiding Matthew Hanser; 19. Killing and extinction Krister Bykvist.