On corpses, selfishness, and ownership

A few years ago the government here in Italy decided to switch from old paper ID cards to the new plastic, credit card-style ones. I have no idea if this was EU-mandated—I didn’t bother checking—and I have zero problems with the change.

The card itself is not the part that interests me though. What interests me—and it’s part of the topic of this post—is the bureaucratic process to get the new card. In addition to the usual stuff—a photo, some data, a bunch of money—they now ask you if you want to be registered as an organ donor.

The fact that the government is asking that question intrigues me. Before I dive into this probably massive rant let me just say that next year, when it’s time for me to renew my ID, I’ll answer yes to that question. Take whatever you want from me when I’m gone, who gives a shit. If I can be helpful to someone even after I’m gone, that’s fucking awesome.

Ok so what I’m wondering is this: why is that even a choice I have? Hear me out: who owns my body after I’m dead? I assume this is both a legal and philosophical question and the answer probably changes based on where you live but the reason why I’m intrigued by it is because it’s one of those questions where I don’t have an immediate gut answer that feels right at an intuitive level.

When you’re alive you own your body… I guess. Are we even sure that you own your body? Sure maybe we can define you as a mind trapped inside a meat spaceship that is the body that you then own. But maybe what you are is a mix of both body and mind and so saying that you own the body isn’t quite right because you can’t own something you are. You are your body, you don’t own it. And who knows, maybe in the future we’ll be able to do a full brain transplant and at that point, this whole situation will change but as of right now—the 16th of June, 2025 at 9.54 am—that is not the case.

I guess your ownership of your body is implicit because it’s part of what you are. But then, unfortunately, you die. Sorry, happens to everyone, even the best, and you certainly are one of the best. And when you die, you no longer are. You no longer own a body. You no longer own anything as a matter of fact. Because you’re dead. Dead don’t own stuff. Because dead, are dead. I’d go as far as to say that the whole concept of ownership doesn’t apply to dead people because concepts don’t apply to them. Because they’re dead. You can’t argue concepts with someone who’s no longer here. They can’t give you their opinion, they can’t agree on anything. Because they’re dead.

Before I move on, I understand that things like inheritance and wills and shit like that are a thing and so yes, technically, the dead can take decisions about what will happen to stuff they own after they’re dead.

Let’s go back to bodies. So you’re dead—again, I’m sorry. Who owns you? A simple intuitive answer could be your heirs. Ok then let’s pretend you have four of them and they all want to do something different with their newly acquired property. What do we do then? Do we just chop you into four equal pieces? People already have a hard time deciding how to split a cake into equal parts and those are usually round so imagine what a mess would be to split a body into equal pieces. It would be a bloody mess!

So clearly can’t be them. So who’s left? It’s either nobody or the government. If it’s nobody then that means it’s a free-for-all to scavenge what’s salvageable from your now-dead body and even though that would make for a great movie plot I think that’s not a sustainable arrangement in a civil society.

Which leaves us with the government. You die, “the man” owns your body. That is for sure a simpler setup but if that’s indeed the case, then why should the government ask for permission to do something with my body once I’m gone? That’s the interesting—for me at least—conundrum I found myself ruminating on while walking the dog.

If some of you out there with legal expertise want to chime in and provide their informed opinion, I’m all ears because this is all so fascinating to me.

What’s not equally interesting is the moral implications of answering “no” to the organ donor question. People, as you know, come in all shapes, colours, and sizes. We all have our idiosyncrasies, we all have our quirks, that’s what makes life fun and worth living. And I don’t want to be the type of person who judges what others do in their lives. As long as it’s legal and it doesn’t hurt anyone, go nuts. Do whatever you want. I’m very libertarian in that sense.

BUT, and it pains me to say this, if you decide to not be helpful to someone else, to potentially save lives, and instead opt to take your dead body into the ground to let it rot and dissolve in a puddle of stinky glue, then you are a selfish jerk. I’m sorry.

And I’ll tell you more. I think this is probably the single most selfish action you can possibly take. There are many selfish things one can do when they’re alive, going from actions that are mildly annoying to straight-up batshit crazy and totally illegal. But in doing one of those things, no matter how despicable they are, you get something out of them. Maybe it’s just some perverse pleasure for being a dick, it doesn’t matter. It’s at least something.

But by not donating your organs after you’re dead? You’re getting nothing out of that. Literally nothing. Because you’re dead. There’s no twisted pleasure to be found there, nothing. It’s just pure selfishness.

Ok now, some of the more religious people out there might be all up and arms about this whole discussion. I get it. But I also don’t care. Believe in reincarnation, believe in whatever you want. As I said above, you do you, I don’t care. That doesn’t change the fact that it’s still selfish. Also, it’s the one decision you can make without facing real consequences. There’s going to be no consequences for you no matter what because you’re dead.

Anyway, long way for me to say that donating organs is cool, not doing it after you’re dead is selfish and ownership of corpses is an interesting topic and if you know more about it please do let me know.