Ernest Becker Response To Death

The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.” (Mark Twain). This quote from the famous American writer is the basis for what became one of the hardest ideas to comprehend, death. Death has always been a complex term, causing one to struggle with what the true definition is. It is also hard to wrap your mind around what does it truly mean to die. These are the questions we long for the answer. Whether we acknowledge it or not, death has always been feared by many. Death remains an impossible question, one that has been unexplained since beginning of time. Even though dying is a natural, we as a human race still fear it. What can be done to defeat this never-ending battle? According to Montaigne’s “To Philosophize is to Learn to Die” and Cory Taylor’s “Questions for Me About Dying” we can overcome this by living to the fullest, living with no regrets, living a legacy, and lastly not fearing the inevitable. If you want to conquer the question of life, live in the moment.

That’s the thing about death: it sneaks up and robs a person of their life, taking away all of their happiness. People indulge themselves in the idea of fearing death rather than facing it. Death is an unknown territory where no survivors have ever came back to share their experience. The US Army Private, Roy Scranton’s article “Learning How to Die in the Anthropocene” shines hope where he explains how fear can be conquered if the idea of dying is accepted. It is fear that paralyzes people from moving toward the idea of death. If people started to embrace the present, they will understand the inevitability of death and start discrediting fear.

The philosophical question being asked already introduces the finitude of human existence, since, according to Martin Heidegger human beings, as Da-sein, exist “as thrown being(s)-toward-its-end,”1 recognizing death is recognized as a possibility of Da-sein. However, it is important to define death in Heidegger’s context because he establishes the idea that death is a reality that we, as human beings, encounter as a possibility of being. As such, the relation between death and authentic existence must also be clarified, so as to fully understand what it truly means to be Da-sein.

Before connecting a person’s fear of death to personal identity, one must first understand the problem of personal identity, which is how is personhood defined and by what criterion is the sameness of identity over time and throughout change identified. The two main theories that attempt to resolve the problem of personal identity are ego theory and bundle theory. Ego theory endorses or espouses a view that there is a stable subject of experiences. Bundle theory means that the self is truly a long line of impressions based off other impressions. He says, “ordinary survival is about as bad as being destroyed and having a Replica,” exemplifying his theory that we are already living with a replica of ourselves from the past

Death is inevitable part of human experience, which is often associated with fear of unknown, separation, and spiritual connection. Death is an individual experience, which is based on unique perceptions and beliefs. Fear of death and dying seems to be a universal phenomenon, which is closely associated with apprehension and uneasiness. Death is allied with permanent loss, thus personal experiences of grief are similar in many different cultures. There are different mourning ceremonies, traditions, and behaviors to express grief, but the concept of permanent loss remains unchanged in cross cultural setting. With this paper I will identify cross-cultural perspectives on death and dying, and will analyze

Death is a topic that unites all of humanity. While it can be uncomfortable to think about, confronting death in unavoidable. “Dying” addresses that discomfort and universal unwillingness to consider the inevitability of death. Pinsky’s use of imagery, symbolism, and tone create a poetic experience that is like death, something every reader can relate to. In “Dying,” Pinsky describes how people are oblivious and almost uncaring when it comes to the thought of death. Pinsky is trying to convince the reader that they shouldn’t ignore the concept of death because life is shorter than it seems.

Terror management theory (TMT) asserts that human beings have natural tendency for self-preservation if there is threat to one’s well–being (Greenberg, Solomon, & Pyszczynski, 1997). It notes that we are the cultural animals that pose self-awareness on the concept of past and future, as well as the understanding that one day we will die. We concern about our life and death but aware that it is unexpected by everything. The worse matter is that we become aware of our vulnerability and helplessness when facing death-related thoughts and ultimate demise (Pyszczynski & Greenberg, 1992). The inevitable death awareness or mortality salience provides a ground for experiencing the existential terror, which is the overwhelming concern of people’s

By biological logic, we human beings will face death sooner or later in our life and death has its very own ways to approach us - a sudden deadly strike, a critical sickness, a tragic accident, a prolonged endurance of brutal treatment, or just an aging biological end. To deal with the prospect of death come different passive or active reactions; some may be scared and anxious to see death, some try to run away from it, and some by their own choice make death come faster. But Viktor Frankl, through his work Man’s Search for Meaning, and Bryan Doyle; in his essay “His Last Game” show us choices to confront the death, bring it to our deepest feelings, meaningful satisfaction. To me, the spirit of the prisoners at deadly concentration camps, Frankl’s Logotherapy theory of “. . . striving to find a meaning in one’s life is the primary motivational force in man.” (99), as well as the calmness of Doyle’s brother on his last ride, like an awaken bell, remind us of how precious life is, how we should find the significance in every act of living, determine to live a meaningful life at any circumstances; hence, when death comes, we can accept it without anxiety nor regrets.

Bob admits to Dr. Marvin that he has problems. He states, “I worry about diseases, so I have trouble touching things. Public places are nearly impossible (Oz, 1991).” Bacillophobia, is defined as a fear of microbes (Tehran, 2014). This presents as Bob’s first phobia as he is unable to open doorknobs or press the buttons on the elevator without the use of a handkerchief. His second phobia that he presents with, is the concern over what happens if his heart stops beating. Fear of death is called thanatophobia (Collett, 1969). Ernest Becker, a theorist wrote The Denial of Death in 1973. This book proved too many that death anxiety is real. Testifying that it is so extreme, it may actually be what produces many, if not all, of the specific fears and phobias that people deal with on a daily basis (Kastenbaum, 2002). The explanation of death

Although the author and I agree that the life expectancy has greatly increased in the past 1000 years and medicine has changed, our old ways of viewing death have not. The author discusses how death is perceived, in which she concludes, “Therefore death in itself is associated with a bad act, a frightening happening, something that in itself calls for retribution and punishment”(220). Kubler-Ross analyzed how people viewed death and determined that it is never depicted positively in most circumstances. She felt people never found peace with death itself, typically finding something to blame to make death seem

In addition, Cicirelli said, “The meanings of death and life are interdependent. Life gains its meaning from the fact of death. How, when, where, and why one anticipates dying influences the meaning of the life that one has. Such a view implies changing individuals over time, and consequently a life-span perspective on development of personal death meanings and related death fears. One would expect the individual to develop different personal meanings and death fears over the course of life from early childhood to adolescence, young adulthood, middle adulthood, and old age”( Cicirelli 715). When I was seven years old, I fear of death because the dead body and the coffin. There are a lot of Chinese horror movie talk about dead people who become zombies, then at night, they will come out of

When faced with the inevitable fate of death, the reaction of the population is very different because of their relation to life. Some men did not stop for death; they “hurried to and from” grinding their teeth in anger, which indicated their frustration in their inability to change the inevitable. Some “hid their eyes and wept” because of their unwillingness to accept the end while others rested “Their chins upon their clinched hands.” The latter watched their world fall apart bravely and smiled at their fate.

Heidegger takes up an old idea that death is not the event which ends life but a profound reality which in-forms it, and he seeks to take this truth so fully into our being that we are compelled to embrace authentic existence and leave the world of false sociableness (Dollimore 161-162)

We live in a world marked by a culture of death. the constant manifetations of ruptures with one itself as lonelines, sadness, with no sence, unstopping search of false

Within all these theoretical standpoints, the theme and process of coming to terms with death and relationship could be regarded as the essence of an existential quest; one