The Philosophy of Death

This is a blog authored by students in a course on the philosophy of death at Otterbein University in Westerville, OH. Students will be posting about the issues and readings they are thinking about during their semester. Among the questions they will be addressing are these: Do we have reason to think we survive our deaths? Is immortality something to be wished for or feared? What is the proper attitude to have toward the deaths of others? Is grief a healthy emotion, or something best avoided? How should we think of our own deaths? Should we be afraid? Content? What are the appropriate ways to treat the bodies of people who have died? Other questions may arise along the way, so if you have found your way here from the internet somewhere, stay a while and offer a comment on the posts. Here are some of the things we will be reading: Todd May, Death John Perry, A Dialogue on Personal Identity and Immortality George Saunders, Lincoln in the Bardo Caitlin Doughty, From Here to Etern...

The class discussion that we had about the badness of death and immortality, at first, made me think that immortality would be a bad thing since there is the assumption that life would then lose some of its meaning, and the premise is that what makes life special is its ephemeral nature. However, I now disagree with the assumption that immortality is bad on all basis, and the reason why is because immortality is the opposite of death. Further, I am an atheist, so I assume that death is the end. And because I think death is the complete end of us, I reason that immortality, though it might lose some of its meaning when compared to mortality, immortality is still life and must be better than death.  In objection to this, if immortality were a living hell, then death must be better than immortality because it would end suffering.  But really, there is no scientific proof for immortality yet, and there are other ways to explain phenomena besides science. But science dem...

     Caitlin Doughty's video  Confronting Your Death talks about a specific way that can reduce your fear of death. She mentions that knowing what you want to do with your body after your death will help with fearing it. This was a key reason in why talking about our dead bodies will be important to our fear of death. This helps by getting us to actually talk about our death with the loved ones that'll most likely be around to have to handle it. This is one important way to confront your death; by knowing what you want to do with it.       My objection is that not many will even want to think about this or even want this done to their bodies. Once you die, the consent of your body is taken away from you. It isn't like your no longer alive to make sure your wishes to your body are done. Not many people think of what they want done to their bodies until they're close to death. Knowing what you want done isn't something that comes to someone's ...

"Death is the end of us" "Death isn't a goal, it's just the end" "Death is inevitable and uncertain" "1-3 together makes us worry that life is meaningless." Premises one through three are what May claims makes his argument in four valid and hold. We will unpack his premises and find other arguments against them. May does not address people who have set their mind on death as their peaceful end in his argument. Premise two is one I can't agree with. Some hospitalized patients, see their deaths as their goal. They want to die and have made it their sole goal to end some type of suffering. My question therefore is, to these hospitalized individuals suffering, who have made death their sole goal, does May's argument about the miserability of life still hold? I think not. It therefore stands to reason death can be one's actual goal. I know May might or those who subscribe to his argument might argue that there hospitalized p...

Doughty says that cutting up your fear of death into slices can help tackle the fear altogether. She says that if you do not address the specific fears you have about death, the entire thing will be too overwhelming to handle. She lists different fears one might have about death, and then lists ways one can go about feeling better about the specific fears. Personally, I am most afraid of the grief my friends and family would feel after my death, and the pain that could come along with the process of dying. I do like the Idea of writing letters to loved ones so that I know that the last experience they have with me could be positive, and hopefully help ease any of their regrets they might have had related to me. Her suggestion for the fear of pain was to have conversations with your family and doctors about how while you are in the process of dying, you do not want a ton of medical intervention. This helps moderately because it does guarantee less pain in death, but I do not know how mu...

Caitlin Doughty makes clear that talking about death with your parents is not easy but is the right thing to do. She says that you need to have this conversation in order to know what they want after they die so you aren’t left in the dark and unsure of what to do when the time comes. She also says that having good conversations about death lessens the pain and depression that comes later in life. I agree with most of what Doughty is saying in her video. What I don’t agree with, however, is the amount of pressure it seems she is putting on families to have this tough conversation. I feel that this conversation should happen naturally and shouldn’t be forced upon somebody who doesn’t want to have it. The conversation will not be productive in any way if only one person is interested in having it. It is a great conversation to have, however I feel like it is one of those things in life that will either happen or it won’t. Take the idea of love for example. Some people have it, and some ...

Our death is the most important fact about us because of... The fact that we will die The fact that we are aware that we are going to die Our awareness that our death could happen at any moment Reasons for this? The fact that we are completely aware that we die is kind of unique to the human experience Death negates us, it is the end of every other fact about us! Reference pages 4, 5 Religion is used to explain what we don’t understand We are not just academically curious about death, we are genuinely concerned about death -- that is what draws people to religious traditions I object to this because I think you can leave a legacy, what people remember about you continues to live on past your death and t he lives you touch in your lifetime are more important than the fact that yours ends. It reminds me of Lucretius's argument that if we don't die, new life cannot arise. I also think that our ...

Death anxiety is something we all experience, and has been experienced for generations. It has plagued human beings for years and years, even Roman emperors like Marcus Aurelius, who talked about living in the present not for the present. There are many reasons for fear, perhaps it is a fear of no more experiences, not finishing all the projects we wanted to finish, not finding a purpose or leaving a legacy, and ultimately we have no actual concept of what happens after we die, if we go anywhere. Many people believe that coping with death is subjective, and that there is no good way to overcome the fear of death or fear of dying. I think Marcus Aurelius kind of has a point, that there is a good and wise way to cope with your death anxiety, and on the opposite end of the spectrum, an improper and foolish way which does not lead to coping. I think that living in the present, not for the present with a healthy outlook on the future is a good way to cope with death anxiety.

Todd May claims in his book, Death that Our death is the most important fact about us. He explains this with three premises. He said the above is right because of, The fact that we die, The fact of our awareness of this death, and  Awareness that our death could happen at any moment. May argues his point based on these premises. I, on the other hand, do not concur that death is the most important fact about us. We can look through history on our quest to find answers debunking the claim that death is the most important fact about us. We look at the lives of the great men and women who lived long before us, and we see that their achievements in life are their most important fact. We take Dr. King and the Civil Rights Movement, Lincoln and the Unification of the U.S/ the abolishing of slavery.  Even though their lives ended with both of them being assassinated, it does not stand as their most important fact. They are remembered for the great things they did while alive, a...

       Many people seem to have some type of opinion toward immortality. The controversial topic of whether immortality is a pro or is a con. Although we are not close to being able to be immortal there still the conversation of it.         With the supporting side of immortality stating an example as to why it could be a benefit to life is that you could experience everything your heart desires. That not having enough time in your life is not a constant struggle. With that not every decision you make will affect the path that your life is on because you have the time to change. The endless fear of when you will die or how you will die is lifted off your shoulders. That although the question of when you will die is not always an everyday thought it will still be exempted from the back of your head. Equally important, is that you would be able to see the world change and the society of the people shift. Be that as it may, the pros to immrtal...

Legacy is a way of being remembered based upon what you strive to achieve, contributed your efforts to, and committed yourself to.  Your legacy has significance in your life because you want to be remembered by something, but it is not heavily significant to your life because when time passes your commitments and projects will all be forgotten.  Your legacy is not heavily important to your life because over the course of your life you will focus more heavily on other things than your legacy; if your legacy were your primary focus on life, then you would be considered living selfishly.  Having a legacy is not heavily important to your life because for most phases of your life, it is often considered an afterthought and you do not know when you are going to die.  The likelihood of someone obtaining a legacy is very small because over the course of a lifetime, commitments may change and you also may take hiatuses from certain projects and want to strive for different th...

Legacy is an important topic mentioned when discussing death. Death is inevitably the end for everything we do on planet earth. Throughout the course of our life we carry this burden on our shoulders regarding what we want to be recognized and looked as when we die, this leads us to make death a huge topic and portion of our life. I’m not saying it is not, but we make it bigger than it must be without the need for it to be such a big portion of our life. This idealism of a legacy is important because it is more than just what we want to be remembered as because eventually a legacy will be forgotten. Your legacy most likely won’t be remembered by everyone except a handful of close people or family but this is important for what I am about to say. A legacy is not just about people remembering you for who you are, the most valuable part of a legacy is the values and goals behind someone’s legacy. If you get forgotten but the values behind your legacy lives on, then you have accomplished...

In this post, I will argue that abnormal psychology, because of our schemas--because of our intersubjective majority agreement on philosophical conceptions of humanity--can create issues for philosophical inquiry, both for how philosophical inquirers with psychological disorders are viewed by others, as well as for the fundamental deviations from a norm of methods of inquiry. Due to its commonality and my relatively extensive knowledge on it, I will discuss abnormal psychology primarily through the lens of depression, and because this post is the second part to another which presented the possibility that inherent in Michael Cholbi’s essay was the implication that Mersault is psychopathic or depressed or has comorbidity of the two, and that he is therefore somehow inhuman. https://philofdeath.blogspot.com/2019/04/cholbi-on-mersault-humanity-of-mersault.html This apparent implication in Cholbi’s essay is a testament to how people (how philosophical inquirers) with p...

In this post I shall criticize Cholbi in much the same way as Weirob attacked a claim on grounds of the conclusions leading to absurdity, but I would mostly like to use this as an avenue for discussing how mental illness affects one’s ability to engage in philosophical discourse, or their ideas in that discourse. I will continue this line of reasoning with the argument in this post as premises in another post, where I will argue that abnormal psychology, because of our schemas--because of our intersubjective majority agreement on philosophical conceptions of humanity--can create issues for philosophical inquiry, both for how people with psychological disorders are viewed by others, as well as for the fundamental deviations from a norm of methods of inquiry. I have a concern with Cholbi’s conclusions about grief in relation to Mersault. The way Cholbi describes Mersault is very similar to how one would describe someone with anti-social personality disorder--psychopathy/sociopathy...

Todd May is extrinsic with her death ideology; He essentially mentions how we go through life ignoring the fact we are mortal therefore leaving us to act carelessly or reckless at points. I will use texting and driving as an example to explain what he means; when you witness a car crash you think to yourself “that won’t happen to me, not like that” while having a phone in your hand. This is proof that we believe consciously that we can’t and won’t die. That is not entirely true because we have a subconscious thought that keeps us safe for the very reason to extend our life span. It may sometimes appear as an obvious thought when we find something dangerous or scary because we realize our life could be in danger for example; riding roller coasters, bungee-jumping or sky diving, even swimming can lead us to realize we could be in danger and bring fear to us. But in small instances in which you subconsciously act in a way that will get you out of harms way such as stepping over a pothol...

Immortality is ability to live forever. People who are immoral will never have to experience death because they have an eternal life. Thinking this, some people might think that is something they want because we will have an unlimited amount of time. We won't have to worry about death because it will never come. However, being immortal isn't as good as we make it out to be.  When making decisions, there are consequences in the decisions we make because we are picking one path and letting go of the other. You won’t get to experience the other path because you chose not to follow it and it messes with the one you did. With immortality, Immortals won’t have to make difficult decisions in their life because they are aware that they have an unlimited amount of time. People who are immortal can pick to do one thing and have the time to also achieve the other because they will live forever. The problem with this is that there is no significance people who are immortal have the abil...

     Todd May talks about a few ways to respond to our death. Since death is inevitable and uncertain, what should one do when it comes to death? Should we fear it, talk about it, or simply ignore it? It all comes down to personal preference. Not everyone wants the same thing regarding the process of death. Death can be scary for some people, while it may be "normal" or even no big deal for others. Since we're all made to be our own person, deciding on how to deal with death can be a process.      Ways of Responding to Death          1. Don't think about it          2. Think about it all the time          3. Believe in an afterlife          4. You could die at just the "right time" (maybe when all projects are completed)          5. Leave a legacy      The point that makes the most sense, is to leave a legacy. It...

     Caitlin Doughty's video, Confronting your Death, talks about the three best ways to tell someone what you would like done to your body. Some reasons she offers, is to have an above ground burial, which ours bodies would get embalmed. Then there's a cremation, which is burning your body to ash. Lastly, there is a natural underground burial where you just decompose with the Earth. By figuring out what we want done with our bodies, we then tell someone. It is then up to that person(s) we tell to go through with our plan. This will then not leave the person responsible for the funeral to question what you wanted done with your body. By them knowing what you want and telling someone, you're confronting your death.      An objection I have to confronting your death, is what if I don't want any of those three options. Although they may be the most popular, I may want you to pick for me, or I could want something crazy. No one ever wants the same thing done. ...

In Todd May “Death”, the philosopher discusses how imminent  death affect our life decisions and the project we embarked on. He also argues that immortality is a worse fate than death due  to boredom and rendering our virtue useless. One of the main point in the book is that death is not a goal but just a finisher of cf our projects like graduation, relationships. Death comes without looking at our schedules unlike in  sitcoms when someone death moves the plot or has a meaning. So if death is inevitable and unpredictable how do we human grapple with our mortality and furthermore our useful are these methods. Todd May notice that all religions tackles the issue of death and what is going happen to us after we die irrespective of border. If religion is used to explain the unknown and bring comfort to the masses it not surprising that death is addressed. Another method is not think about death which means avoid funerals, hospitals and anything revolving the subject; which ...

In the second video Doughty talks about how we can talk to our parents about death.  She starts off talking about how we have to believe that talking to our parents is the right thing to do and then she said once we believe we have to act and not wait.  If you wait until your parents are old or have gotten a terminal illness then it makes it a lot harder to talk about it and you will not accomplish much.  Next she says we cannot be afraid to talk to them about death and not to be afraid to be rejected.  If they do not want to talk then let them be and maybe try again a week or two later.  She gives a few other points like knowing what questions to ask them and having facts ready to present when you go to talk to them.  To me I think it all depends on the parents you have.  I'm sure there are some people that are afraid to talk about death but I also think that it might be a bit more complicated than Doughty makes it seem if they really are afraid of de...

It is not strange topic to think that our soul is intertwined with our mental state. Also that our body is a helper for our mind. It can be strange, though, to think that we can change our physical and mental states. Can this correlate to changing our soul? Our physical state is our shape, height, weight, and much more. I can point out, as well, that both our mental and physical state hold properties we can not change, and vise versa. For our physical state, we can not control our height, eye color, smile, and physical appearance. We can change, though, our weight, hair color, and how we present ourselves to the world. With our mental state, we can not change what we find humorous, our personalities, and our genuine true self. We can change though the way we deal with emotions, handle situations, and our maturity. My question is, can these changes change our soul? My personal answer is no. Our soul is engraved in our body and is true to our own selves. Our soul is who we are as a ...

Doughty created a video about common fears of death and how to find comfort in them. The way to get over death is to pinpoint the fear. One of the common fears of death relates to the fear of regretting experiences or not experiencing certain events. This fear is why I’m scared to die at a young age. Being able to look back on life and remembering experiences I have gone through and thinking about how full my life was is the goal. As silly as it sounds, I want to be able to tell stories of silly times I spent with friends or the moments of impulsivity that creates a story. Knowing that I have roughly 60 years of life to go and that I’ve lived ¼ of my life already, adds to the fear of dying young. In those years to come I know I will experience some great and horrible things but I still want to experience them. Dying young would end the cycle of being able to experience new moments and having stories to tell. It sounds selfish but I look at every moment has if it could be a story t...

Doughty’s main conclusion about confronting your death is to “think about what you want done with your dead body”. Some reasoning behind the conclusion includes that thinking about the different ways that your dead body can be handled can be oddly comforting to some people. Either that is being buried in a coffin, cremated, an above ground crypt, or with a natural burial. These ideas have been used in many cultures for thousands of years to comfort the mind about death. Figuring out what will happen to your body is one less thing for us to worry about. Some arguments for this conclusion are that in some cultures, they only bury a body a certain way. If the culture has all bodies cremated then that can send a certain wave of comfort to a person, knowing what will be done with their body, but at the same time may discomfort them. The person might not be comfortable having their body cremated but their culture says they should. That can bring discomfort about death. Another example ...

When discussing death with a parent or family member, but more importantly with a parent. It is essential to have everything planned out with the questions you wish to ask and what you want to find out, it should be a informative session and not something to just "Get over with." although I do agree it is to be done, the time in which we tackle this conversation can be debated. Undoubtedly it will be hard but it is worth going through a tough discussion so we can assure our parents get what they wish and deserve, it could even bring closure within your family and strengthen your bond by keeping open and honest conversations and in the end entrusting each other with your final wishes. This may also remind you of what truly is important and allow you not to take things for granted because everything can change in a instant. I assume that when someone finds out they are going to die it is a terrifying experience and can lead them to fix every thing in their life and try to figur...

On Friday, March 29th, we talked about how three facts about death from Todd May make us ponder the meaning of life and if life is meaningless. These facts were the following: Death is the end of us Death is not a goal, just the end Death is inevitable and uncertain I think that out of all three of these positions, the one that I believe would make one ponder the meaning of life most is that death is simply the end of us. I think that when we hold the view that there is no afterlife and that as soon as we die we are just that, dead, that that fact can make us ponder if what we are doing is worth it, if we are invested in the things that bring us satisfaction, whether that satisfaction is joy or we feel like we have done good things in the world, etc. The fact that death is inevitable and uncertain only fuels that wondering even more intense. If we all died 5 minutes from now, is what we have done with our lives worth it? Did we make an impact? Did we make people feel loved or a...

Todd May believes that our death is the single most important fact about us.  He bases this claim on the fact the all of us will die, the fact that we're all aware that we're going to die, and the fact that our death could happen at any given moment.  While all these facts about us and our inevitable deaths are true, I don't believe that they necessarily defend the claim that death is the most important thing about us.  Rather than being the most important thing about us, maybe it would be better to say that death is what defines the way in which we live our lives. Each individual person's life is defined by the opportunity costs they choose to pay when deciding how they are going to lead their life.  Whether they want to devote their life to cancer research or have a steady job that allows them to raise a family, our life choices are what define us as people, not our death.  Our death wraps up our life and its experiences sure, but it's not the fact that we'r...

In  Doughty’s  video Talking About Death, she talks about how a lot of people, specifically parents are in denial about death and a lot of people have a hard time talking to their parents about it. In the video Doughty gives a step by step guide on how to influence your parents to not believe death is so bad. One step she brings up is to make your parents believe that talking about death is the right thing to do. If you don’t face your death and create conversation about it with the people you care about, then the conversation will never happen. The second step is to start early with the conversation about death. Doughty states that waiting last minute is too late and she shows this by bringing up an example comparing it to athletes in the Olympics. Athletes do not wait until a few weeks before the Olympics. They train months or even years before, so that is what we need to do when speaking about death. Another step she talks about is to be organized and have specific facts on...

In  Caitlin  Doughty’s  video Ask a Mortician- Confronting Your Death , she argues  that as humans, we think death is scary because we don’t know what is going to happen after we die. When we die ,  our time on Earth ends. Because of this, there is no evidence of what happens after we die so we have no image on what will happen to us. This is one of the main reasons why we are so fearful of death, having that fear of the unknown. Doughty claims that by accepting we are going to die it will result in our death not  being seen as  an awful thing. She brings up Mark Twain  to support this by quoting   him saying that we  didn’t care about our nonexistence before we were born therefore, we shouldn’t care about it after.  I do not agree with Twain’s claim or think that it is correct because we didn’t experience life before we were born. Therefore, how can we miss something that we have never experienced? Also, when we are ...

Life is a series of commitments and goals that goes on for a finite amount of time.  A commitment is something that you put your focus and your efforts into; a goal is something that you aim to achieve before your time in this world comes to an end.  Death is the end of your commitments and projects all together; death is not something that you strive for at all.  Having a finite amount as an inhabitant on this earth does not make life meaningless because we have successors that will become inhabitants of this earth and accomplish the projects we could not accomplish during the short span of our existence and maybe accomplish even more than we have before our death. If life never ended, then it would be meaningless because your commitments and goals would keep going for an infinite amount of time and the things you commit to and strive to achieve become no longer enjoyable after a certain period of time. Having a finite time on this earth can be a valuable thing because t...

Caitlin Doughty's video was talking to your parents about death. She claims that there is a seven step process/guide to talking to your parents about death.             1. Go into "battle" so we confront the situation head on and right away             2. Start early!!             3. Be prepared for denial             4. Have sympathy             5. Show the facts relating as to why it is important to bring up this issue             6. Know what questions to bring up in the conversation             7. Treat yourself!!           Some positives I see to her seven step process, is that it is good to start early and be prepared to do whatever your parents want with their body. This is good to honor their wishes and know they are happy with their dead ...

In Caitlin Doughty's video Ask a Mortician- Confronting Your Death expresses that since most humans are afraid of death, we must confront it. Instead of not talking about death, we should talk about what we want happening to our bodies after death. She mentions being buried typically within a casket, burning the body to ashes, or being buried within the ground naturally without having your body trapped in a box. In simpler words, conventional burial, cremation, and natural burial. Doughty believes we shouldn't be shy to talk about this. Although I agree with her, I do believe it will take time to actually talk about what happens to your own body. Some, of course, will feel the extreme uncomforted feeling of this thought because it still relates to you dying. But, I do believe that it may cause a little more unease to yourself. In my view, I can think about what I want happening to my body, but the only discomfort I'd feel while thinking about this is how I won't be sure...

Doughty says that the best way to lessen your fear of dying is to think of what you want done with your body after you die. She says that something shifts when you think about your own demise in this way. I agree with this. The best way to get over a fear is to face whatever you are afraid of. Of course, you won’t actually face your death until the day legitimately comes, but thinking about what you want done with your dead body creates more exposure to the idea of your own death without imagining yourself in the process of actually dying, which is what drives most people’s fear of death. Imagining what happens to our dead body should be easier than imagining how and when we will die. Imagining how and when we will die will likely just create more anxiety than we already have around our deaths, but imagining what we want done with our bodies is a less scary way of confronting your own death. Thinking about your body after your death should be easy because you are skipping the part tha...

Caitlin Doughty's video on Youtube called "Ask a Mortician" is about how we should prepare for our inevitable death and decay. Her reasoning as to why is that she starts off with a Mark Twain quote.  Twain makes the following statement: "I do not fear death. I had been dead for billions of years before I was born and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience from it". I agree with Twain's statement because why should we care about something that does not harm us.We did not really care about being born before we were born and we are not likely to care about not being alive after we die. The reason why it is hard to talk about our death is because as humans we are into this "being-conscious". Doughty says the best way to not fear death is think about what you want done with your dead body. The three most common ways on what to do with a dead body are conventional burial, cremation, and natural burial. A conventional burial is an embalmed body in s...

Caitlin Doughty concludes that we fear death.  Her reasons to support this conclusion are that our death would cause grief to our family and friends, our ambitions, plans, and projects would come to an end, I'm worried that the process of death would be painful, I would no longer have experiences, I would no longer be able to care for my dependents, I'm afraid to die because of what might happen if there is an afterlife, I'm afraid of what might happen to my body after I die.  My objections to the reasons that Caitlin Doughty offers are that death and dying are different in the way that death is not a painful process because you're already dead, but dying is painful because you have not yet DIED.  Another objection that I have is that certain family members may not grieve your loss.  Last, but not least, after you die, you have no physical or emotional control over your body.

Epicurus argues that we should not fear our death because once we die we will feel nothing and not exist so therefore, there is nothing to worry about.  Since we do not exist after our death then we cannot experience our death.  Without experiencing our death it is not good or bad for us and so we have nothing to fear.  To follow this argument you must agree that we do not survive our death which while I do think we survive our death I will not argue that point. I disagree with the fact that we should not fear death because we will not exist.  A lot of peoples biggest fear is to be forgotten and not to be remembered by people, so thinking we will not exist at all will really scare people because it is the unknown.  Everyone knows we will die so I do not think it is the fact of dying that will scare us but the fact of not existing at all.  I think it is almost better for people to be told they are going to exist so they believe they will get to live on....

According to Epicurus in his Letter to Menoceus, he argues that death causes no harm for the one who dies. Although many fear death, Epicurus says we shouldn't fear it and that one's death isn't a bad thing to oneself. Epicurus notes that some people think that death is bad not because it's painful when it occurs, but it causes pain to the living, affecting them the most. He then argues that fearing the pain of death is absurd because the living shouldn't be worried about death and when it occurs because it hasn't happened yet; it hasn't yet arrived. I disagree on his statement of saying the living should not fear death just because it hasn't yet arrived. As humans, we're always curious about things, especially things we don't know or understand. we don't like knowing not what's going to happen, especially when it involves death. No one knows exactly what happens after death. We don't have solid facts and evidence if we live onto t...

Death is natural and so is grief. Grief comes into play when a loved one has passed on or is no longer in said life. The emotions that come along with grief are strong and powerful, which could be overpowering for some. These emotions include shock, confusion, guilt, anger, bitterness, hostility, and many others. This feelings can be evoked not just when a loved one passes, but also when a loved one is no longer a main role in life. Such as going missing, disowning the family, going to prison, etc…The lack of the loved one’s presence creates this overwhelming emotion which is known as grief. A main question, though, can grief be good? Overall examining the process of grief can lead to an understanding that everything happens for a reason. Loss is natural and is bound to happen in life; which in turn means that grief is inevitable. Grief is painful and not typically sought after. Pain resonates a signal that something is wrong and not normal. Pain, in the long run, can create the sen...

        Seneca says that we should not grieve excessively. While you may wonder why we grieve, it is because death is a natural thing we should all be aware of. When death does happen, grieve as little as possible to cope with losing a loved one. In doing so, our lives will be remarkably better than they are while grieving.          According to Seneca, anything we say or do that involves grief, is not good. He goes on later to say that the death of a child is not worse than the death of an old person. How could someone contradict the societal norm by saying something like that, when we all freak out over the death of a younger child? He also claims that people are foolish and ungrateful for the time we did get to spend with our lost loved one.          I believe Seneca to be wrong in all his claims. This is because we can not put a timer on how long we grieve. Everyone is different in the way and time in which th...

I think this really depends on how melancholy a person is naturally. I think that being aware of our mortality can make the majority of people double check their actions and their words, but it’s not even that often that people even think about the fact that they are mortal in their day to day life. I don’t really think a lot of people my age are even thinking about death, and if they are then it’s in the existential crisis “what do I do with my life” kind of thinking about death, not how to invest relationships. I think sometimes, too, awareness of our mortality can create this sense in people that they need to go out and do the most dangerous things or risk it for the biscuit 24/7 and then they end up in a lot of trouble. Some people think death is terrifying and want to distract themselves and this is where a lot of things like drugs or alcohol can come in as a way to distract generally depressed people from the reality of their deaths. It really depends on the person, and if they...

I think that there are some good points brought up by Emilia for why immortality would be a bad thing. Boredom, melancholy, emptiness, everything would become pointless, existence would become foggy… and the thought would come up, “It’s not right to live so long. I wasn’t meant to live this long”. I think that it would become kind of sad, to see so many people come and go, to see the world change and want to tell your friends who maybe were mortal. It just seems like a pretty despaired life. I wonder what it means, when she says that we weren’t meant to be immortal. Do we even have a purpose? If we’re just going to die, what would that purpose be? It’s really mind boggling to think about, when you get to the nitty gritty stuff that she’s saying. I personally don’t think I would want to be immortal, maybe others would and that’s fair, but I personally believe it would be a little miserable.

I think that Seneca raises some interesting points, however I don’t totally agree with them. I think that the one that makes sense is grief becomes unreasonable when the point of crying is self serving, wanting people to pay attention to you because you’re sad. I have definitely experienced people in my own family do that and I was mad because they weren’t honoring the person lost, they were just shifting the spotlight to be on them. I saw it as kind of manipulative and sad. I think, however, Seneca is entirely wrong when he says that the way to fix the issue of overwhelming grief is to just avoid deeper friendships. Humans are relational beings, I feel like that lifestyle would cause me a lot of anxiety and hardship, I would want to feel close to my friends. To only have superficial relationships that you view through a lens of “you’ll die one day” sounds horrible, at least to me. I would like to clarify, though, that that doesn’t mean your relationships should be codependent, which ...

When thinking about pain, it has a negative connotation with it. Pain is bad, pain is this horrible feeling that we never want to feel which creates this fear of it coming into our life. In relation to grief, pain is what comes with grieving. Therefore, that comes wit h  fear and negative thought s . However, when reading Michael  Cholbi  “Finding the Good in Grief”, he challenges that belief by arguing that pain is a “much more complicated context than we recognized”.    Pain is valued as an essential to humans ,  we must feel pain. A lot of people have a bad feeling about  pain  therefore when it comes, they don’t have a good experience . This is because i f you believe that the pain you will feel during grief or just feeling pain in general will be horrible, then th at  pain will be. According to  Cholbi , pain must be associated with a positive attitude. Once it is, pain won’t be that  awful  feeling that we all dread...