Not everyone views death in the same way, as you probably guessed from all those definitions. Plus, having so many viewpoints on one subject leads to lots of arguments, like the ones below...

Brain Dead = Death?
If you're ever in need of a new liver or lung, a brain dead patient who matches your tissue type is an ideal donor. Someone who is brain dead has no electrical activity in his or her brain, meaning that the brain is not functioning. There are no brain waves, he or she lack a brain stem reflex, and most importantly, cannot breath on his or her own. But the big question that keeps cropping up is: is this person dead?

According to the legal definition, yes. If your brain is irreparably damaged, you are dead. You won't be making any decisions about your estate any time soon. Science looks at heart and lung function in addition to brain function, so according to the medical community brain death is tricky.

For the most part, living without brain function isn't living. You can't breathe without a machine, eat without a tube and you might as well forget about keeping up with what's happening on Heroes. Still, there have been cases of brain dead patients with spontaneous heart function lasting well beyond a decade, and it's a little hard to think of someone as dead when their heart's still pumping.

Here's where morality comes into play. One of the most recent cases illustrating this dilemma involved Terri Schiavo, a middle-aged woman in a persistent vegetative state. Though she wasn't technically brain dead (she was capable of breathing on her own), she showed no mental activity and wasn't capable of moving or feeding herself.

The question here is the same asked about those classified as brain dead--is she essentially dead or still living? Of course the argument on both sides is much more layered and very sensitive.