There is a widespread recognition that anthropology is a factor underlying much of the  social, political, economic, and religious malaise of modern Ireland. Anthropology is the study of what it means to be a human being, an examination of what is at the core of human identity, an analysis of what promotes human flourishing, an exploration of human nature in the light of the social sciences, history, philosophy and religion. The surest sign of a deep crisis in anthropology is our contemporary inability to talk seriously about death in the public forum.