In my previous post I touched on what different philosophers believed about whether an afterlife exists or not, and if it does, whether or not to worry about it. In this installment I will address what different philosophers believe about the actual experience of death.
Along with his belief that humans should not be afraid of an afterlife because gods live separate from humans Epicurus also believed that the act of dying shouldn’t be feared either. A great point made in A Little History of Philosophy to sum up Epicurus’s ideology is ‘Our thoughts are up to us’ (A Little 29). According to his beliefs you can control what you think no matter the circumstances, so why should you be afraid of death if you have control? Epicurus also argued that death shouldn’t be feared because you won’t experience it because once you die you are not conscious of what is happening and can’t live through it (A Little 25).
Ludwig Wittgenstein agreed with Epicurus and his belief that death should not be feared writing that ‘Death is not an event in life’ (A Little 25). Wittgenstein is quoted saying “I think now, now that I have been brought face to face with my death, that I can say that I am not afraid of my dying, and that this is because I have thought about it every day for the whole of my adult life.” This ideology roots from Socrates who was questioned after the verdict that would put him to death if he was preparing to die and he retorted “Do you not think that I have been preparing for it all my life?” Another ancient philosopher, Aristotle disagrees with Socrates and believed that death should be feared (Roangelo).
The art of dying... but really, the greater art is that of living. I suspect Wittgenstein's preoccupation with death bordered on morbidity.
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