SURVIVAL

Motive:

1. the characteristics of human condition (a temporary existence in a vulnerable

organic structure) and the presence of numerous aggressive factors at work in

our inner and outer environments;

2. the remarkable efforts people make in order to stay alive;

3. the relative difficulty experienced by those who decide to put an end to their

lives, i.e., the complexity of the decision making process and the reaction of

the public coming into contact with suicidal behaviour victims, a reaction

characterised in many cases by dogma, ignorance and prejudice.

Linguistic description

Etymology: ME surviven < OFr survivre < L supervivere < super- = above,

beyond; vivere = to live.

Definition: survival

1. The act or fact of surviving, esp. under adverse or unusual circumstances.

2. A person or thing that survives or endures, esp. an ancient custom, observance,

belief, or the like.

Synonym: continuation, endurance.

Definition: to survive

1. To live or exist longer than or beyond the life or existence of; to outlive.

2. To continue to live after or in spite of.

Synonym: to outlive, to last, to persist, to exist.

Word family: 1. survival (n), 2. survivor (n), 3. survivability (n), 4. survivorship

(n), 5. survivalism (n), 6. survivalist (n), 7. to survive (v), 8. survival (adj), 9.

survivable (adj).

E.g.:

1. Among the majority of patients with advanced stage disease so treated, immune

response augmentation appears to prolong survival.

2. The survivors of the fire were taken to a hospital.

3. Survivability is the ability to remain alive or continue to exist; Title:

Developmental competence and post-thaw survivability of buffalo embryos produced

in vitro.

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4. Survivorship is the condition of being a survivor; brain tumour survivorship

involves much more than the label “survivor.” Survivorship is an ever-changing

process, an experience of living with, through, or beyond brain tumour disease.

5. Survivalism is a commonly used term for the preparedness strategy and subculture

of individuals or groups anticipating and making preparations for future possible

disruptions in local, regional or worldwide social or political order.

6. Survivalists often prepare for this anticipated disruption by learning skills (e.g.,

emergency medical training), stockpiling food and water, preparing for self-defense

and self-sufficiency, and/or building structures that will help them to survive or

"disappear."

7. Few survived after the holocaust; He survived the operation.

8. Survival techniques.

9. Would an atomic war be survivable?; A survivable, but very serious, illness.

Phrases: survival of the fittest; survival analysis; survival tips / tricks /

techniques / skills; survival gear / equipment / kit / tools / supplies; wilderness

survival / tropical island survival / outdoor survival; torture survivor /war

survivor / lung cancer survivor.

Related notions: life, life expectation, life span, death, immortality, NDE (near death

experience).

Factors that determine the need to survive and those creating the tendency to self-

destruction:

Biological and psychological life preservation motivations vs. suicide, eugenics

and euthanasia; Sigmund Freud’s life and death wish theory; suicide as rational

decision (e.g.: soldiers – avoid capture, avoid revealing information under torture;

extermination camp prisoners – avoid suffering by drinking tobacco tea or

learning to slow down the heart rate ); media and the suicide epidemics.

The role of education in favour or against self-inflicted death (e.g.: Christian

dogma vs. Japanese traditions and radical Islamic teachings).

Our understanding of the purpose of existence (philosophical, religious, and

subjective points of view and the idea of purpose, given or created by us).

Factors that shorten or prolong life:

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Individual level: biological, psychological, social and cultural identity and

lifestyle.

External components: time and space co-ordinates + social, political, economic

and environmental systems, health care systems, prohealth education, including

respect for others + war, natural catastrophe, and accidents.

Natural and artificial factors – e.g.: population growth; increase in elderly

population; depletion of natural resources; pollution of air, water and the soil;

species dying out; climate change; the perspective of famine; financial instability

and unemployment; conflicts escalating into local or regional wars; negative

impact of science and technology (computer addiction; large scale use of food

additives; loss of privacy due to electronic surveillance; theft of personal data

including credit cards data; iatrogenic death; genetically modified foods; the arms

race ).

Types of survival:

Physical, psychological, social, moral, intellectual, cultural, linguistic, and

spiritual.

Levels of survival:

Individual (human, animal, vegetal), community, planet (Gaia theory = planet as a

complex interacting system; Solaris), universe (death of the universe theory).

The Romanian case.

The survivor type

Characteristics and examples; Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe vs. superheroes

(Superman, Batman, Spider-Man and X-Men).

The student survival guide.

Survivor stories.

Are you a survivor?

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