“As thin as a sheet of light”: Jane Addams on Narrative and End-of-Life Care

Abstract

Jane Addams’ short book The Long Road of Woman’s Memory, which has largely been ignored by philosophers, identifies two important powers of memory. In addition to consoling the elderly and enabling them to make meanings of their pasts, memories also have the power to calcify into stories that reinforce shared moral values and incite moral progress. These observations serve as the starting point for a conversation on narrative medicine and its potential for improving medical treatment for patients receiving end-of-life care. In addition to filling in one of the many gaps that exists in the literature surrounding Addams’ work, I also aim to contribute to the growing scholarship on person-centered end-of-life care in the field of bioethics.