Death is the ultimate transformative experience. "Death" here means not the state of being dead but rather the whole process of dying, culminating in the end of a person's life. Death is "epistemically transformative" because you cannot know what it is like to die until you experience dying and this experience can enable you to understand things in a new way. Death is "personally transformative" because it changes how you experience yourself in ways that you cannot fully grasp before these

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... es happen. At the same time, death is unlike any other transformative experience. It is final, all encompassing, and has fundamental significance. Its power to reveal new truths about your self and your life is exceptional. It offers prospective and retrospective perspectives that differ from those of any other experience. This chapter examines death by describing its unique characteristics as the ultimate transformative experience. The practical benefit of this perspective is to suggest new philosophical resources for physicians, hospice workers, policy makers, and family members who care for dying loved ones.