Theories Of Death Anxiety

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.

Death is the most inevitable and unknown aspect of life. It is unescapable, and by most of today’s population, it is feared in the utmost regard. Our materialistic views and constant desertion of religious ideals has forced our society to view death as an ultimate end. Socrates and St. Augustine’s views on death differ from many views on the subject in 2017, however, for their time, these men had the power to influence a plethora of individuals with their theories. For Socrates, death should never be feared and should be considered a blessing if our souls were to ascend to heaven, or death could be an extensive slumber without any dreaming whatsoever. With

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

The way I percieve death is that it is absoulute and no living thing can ever escape it. Nor should we be afraid of death it is simply a

This paper will analyze Lucretius’ symmetry argument in De Rerum Natura, and draw evidence in its conclusion that supports the Epicurean notion, of the nature of nothingness in death. In Epicurus’ “Letter to Menoeceus”, he argues that death is nothing to us and thus should not be feared. Epicurus’ views on death follow from his metaphysical and ethical views. He believed that the goodness or badness of something was directly correlated to its tendency to produce pleasure or pain. Death was simply the privation of the sense-experiences that we encounter every day. He also argues that death is not yet present when we are alive, and that we are not alive when death is present. Epicurus’ argues that the combination of these two arguments should deter us from fearing death. In Lucretius’s symmetry argument, every individual in the universe is made up of a specific combination of body and soul atoms. He argues that the finite body and soul atoms of each individual have recombined an infinite number of times. He further claims that because our atoms are finite, we have all existed an infinite number of times but recall our past lives due to the separation of our body and soul. Regardless of whether the soul is immortal or not, an individual’s sense experience dies along with the destruction of the body and soul. Understanding Lucretius’ and Epicurus’ views on death, we can conclude that they both support the notion of death being nothing to fear. They acknowledge that there is no

The question of whether death on an expiry date poses a harm to the one who dies has important ontological relevance concerning how we relate to death and including how death causes harm to us. I will argue that what matters for us with respect to life is mental continuity, and that an expiration date is only harmful in that it fails to cohere with our irrational tendency to project our current mortality beyond our own existence. In this paper I will first examine what it means to be harmed and appeal to the Epicurean notion of death to investigate in what sense an individual can be harmed by being in a state of death. Next I will use Nagel’s objections to the Epicurean notion of harmless death to understand how we may be harmed by projecting feelings about our own mortality. Finally, I will appeal to Lucretius’ argument that it is irrational to fear death and demonstrate that death can only harm us by virtue of our own irrational psychological orientation towards death.

As people go through life they become more aware that death is inevitable. They either live their lives scared of death or are open to embracing the inevitability of it. I try to live my life to the fullest not worrying about death, but sometimes that’s hard to do because I don’t know what happens after death. The books Tuesday’s with Morrie and The Epic of Gilgamesh have very unique protagonists that look at death in different ways. They are different because Morrie in Tuesdays with Morrie embraces dying and Gilgamesh in The Epic of Gilgamesh does everything in his power to find a way to live forever, which shows fear.

After reading the excerpt on Epicureanism, the statement, “Death is meaningless to the living because they are living, and meaningless to the dead... because they are dead” speaks of living in the moment. Death is a matter of life that happens to everyone at some point. Unfortunately, there is no possible way to escape death or else we would all be alive forever. Epicurus is saying people should not be so fixated on death to the point that it keeps them from living their life to the fullest. It doesn’t necessarily mean that death is “meaningless”, but rather Epicurus did not want worry about death prior to living. As far as, “meaningless to the dead, because they are dead”, the second part of this statement explains itself. Those that have

In both the Apology and Phaedo, Plato claims that we shouldn’t fear death because we do not have the wisdom and knowledge of life after death. Additionally, the soul is better off without the body because it impure the soul. In Letter to Menoeceus, Epicurus claims that death is nothing to us because it causes no pain and the more we fear death the less we will enjoy our mortal lives. In this essay, I will argue that Plato’s and Epicurus’s reasons are incompatible, though both claims were well explained, Plato argues that death should be embrace because it leads to a greater good, and in contrast, Epicurus argues that we should live in the moment with happiness and pleasure.

Epictetus affirms that people must trust the gods’ judgment in establishing a well and just universe. People must understand that death, like the rest of the universe’s events, is a deliberate element of the gods’ world. Therefore, people “should want [events] to happen as they do happen, and [their] life will go well” (Epictetus, 13). When people shape their perception of death in accordance with the gods’ wills, they are able to maintain equanimity. On the other hand, Epictetus argues, “If [people] are averse to illness or death or poverty, [they] will meet misfortune. So [people must] detach [their] aversion from everything not up to [them] (Epictetus, 12). People must not dwell on uncontrollable courses of events, like death, because it places their wills in opposition to the will of the gods, resulting in suffering. However, when people accept that death is an intentional aspect of the gods’ immaculate set up of the universe, they bring their wills in agreement with the gods’ wills and may live with composure.

(Saunders, page 50). The action of dying will never be experienced because all experience ceases upon the very occurrence of death. We should not cause ourselves anxiety by fearing what we will never take part in. Epicurus suggests we should not fear what we have no point of

In Letter to Menoeceus, Epicurus claims that “death is nothing to us” (Letter to Menoeceus 1). It comes from the premise that we either exist or not exist, and when we exist, death is nothing to us because it has yet to come, and that when death finally comes, we no longer exist in the world, so death is nothing to us because our consciousness ceases to exist so we cannot be aware of its presence and action (Letter to Menoeceus 1). Moreover, for Epicurus, the goal of life is to achieve Ataraxia, a state of tranquility reached by pursuing pleasure and avoiding pain (Letter to Menoeceus 2). But because death has not come when we exist, and we cannot perceive its presence when we don’t exist, death brings neither pain nor pleasure, so there are no reasons to fear it (Letter to Menoeceus

There are many reasons why individuals are afraid of death: inability to take care of dependents, pain and sadness that loved ones will feel, or fear of the afterlife. But one of the most common reasons is the fear of nothingness and loss of self (Yalom, 1980). Death anxiety can manifest itself in many different ways (Yalom, 1980). One’s feeling of missing exciting events or the desire to control the surrounding world, demonstrate this manifestation. These unhealthy thoughts help individuals ease fear of death by dealing not with the real and terrifying source of anxiety, but indirectly, through more socially acceptable actions. Many people protect themselves from death anxiety by denying it. Yalom (1980) discussed two ways that accomplish this goal: the ultimate rescuer and personal specialness. Both ideas lead people to feel that they will not be affected by misfortune like others might be. The ultimate rescuer is a type of defense mechanism leading people to believe that someone will come into their life and save them from their problems. An example of this would be a person with severe financial problems needing money to take care of health problems believing that someone or something will bring the needed money and the situation will work itself out. Personal specialness involves the belief that one is in a way different from others and therefore immune from the hardships of life. Personal specialness

Many individuals fear the thought of death given that they feel the uneasiness of not knowing what happens when one is dead. For example, some fear things like a continuation of their sense perception post-death allowing the possibility of being punished for all the bad actions in their lifetime. Epicurus, an ancient Greek philosopher of the Hellenistic period of 323-31 BCE, believed that death is the end of our existence and thus argued that the act of fearing death is irrational (Letter to Menoeceus, 10.124-125). The Epicurean argument I will discuss in this paper is in support of him claiming the fear of death is irrational is better-titled as the privation of experience argument. In his own words Epicurus claimed that “death is nothing to us” in his Letter to Menoeceus (10.124). It is important to clarify that in the privation of experience argument Epicurus speaks on the state of being dead and not the process of death. So, for the purpose of this essay, like Epicurus, I will accept the notion that death is the end of our existence. In this essay I will present the privation of experience argument in my own words based on my interpretation of his argument. I will also explain how this Epicurean argument is valid given that one can live a happy-comfortable life simply by having the right attitude about the state of being dead.

From an early age, I’ve witnessed the deaths of my relatives. When I was five years old, my great grandmother passed away in her sleep while she was living with my family. I remember being woken up by my mother to tell me that she had passed and that people were coming over very soon to take the body. At that time, I did not understand the concept of death. I thought that after death we are (literally) reborn. I was not particularly burdened by the great grandmother death, but I know it was something that was difficult to handle because I saw how my mother and grandmother reacted. When I was sixteen, my father had passed away, and a year later my step-grandfather passed away, and the year after that, my great-uncle passed away. In those three year I never had a chance to recuperate before another family member died. As a teenager I was very angry that I was not able escape from the death of my family members. I viewed death as this evil thing that was tormenting my family. It was unsettling and my anxiety and fear of death grew. At first, I attempted to ignore death, and pretended I was not affected by it. Most