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Greek contributions to modern philosophy
Greek contributions to modern philosophy
Greek contributions to modern philosophy
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Socrate explains the fear of death to be irrational, as it would be ignorant to think that death was the greatest of evils and not consider it to possibly be the greatest blessing to mankind. He believes that death is either lead to and process much like sleep in which the sleeper doesn 't dream, or another in which it is like a trip where all dead souls are traveling from one place to another in which they all meet. Ultimately Socrate believes the truth to be that a good man would have no fear of what is after death as nothing can or will hurt a good man. Socrate 's view that fear of death being irrational is fair, despite arguments can be made on whether their is a heaven or hell, or an afterlife. The true argument doesn 't revolve around …show more content…
The questions on the test and job application is unknown just as what lies after death is unknown. However, a student or applicant who find it rational to fear death most definitely would be the one that had not prepared for it. He/she did not study the contents or have the experience and research needed to past that test or job interview. It is just like in life in which a person is told what is morally right and what is morally wrong, if the person chooses to live a life of evil and all that is bad. In that scenario, why wouldn 't the person be feared of death ? He/she would find excuse to explain that the matters after death are unknown, that makes it rational for him/her to fear death. The importance of the fear does not lie there however, as it truly lies within the persons subconscious mind telling the person that they didn 't live a life that was morally right or good by the judgment of any person or religion; that is what causes the fear and eventual blame of all things other than themselves that it is rational for them to fear death. If the little boy or girl was good all year long, he/she wouldn 't have to worry if Santa Claus was coming to drop off presents on Christmas …show more content…
The afterlife of whatever is after death cannot harm a just and good man. It is only when a person has lived a life that is full of sins and evil does he/she find it rational to fear the unknown and death itself. A person must make a wager with the uncertainty of death. Either they are resolute with the idea that the uncertainty in life after death won 't affect the life they choose to life or they deal with a great deal of fear, knowing that the life they have choose brings in possible penalties in the events that proceed after
The Dangers of Fear Irish Playwright, George Bernard Shaw, once said, “The worst sin toward our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them; that's the essence of inhumanity.” Inhumanity is mankind’s worst attribute. Every so often, ordinary humans are driven to the point where they have no choice but to think of themselves. One of the most famous examples used today is the Holocaust. Elie Wiesel’s memoir Night demonstrates how fear is a debilitating force that causes people to lose sight of who they once were.
“At the University of California at Irvine, experiments in rats indicate that the brain’s hormonal reaction to fear can be inhibited, softening the formation of memories and the emotions they evoke” (Baard).
In the murder mystery “Scared to Death”, there are several suspects to who had scared Marcus Farley to his death. The suspects to the mystery are Claire, the faithful housekeeper; Tom Paisley, the Scottish medium; Sasha, Marcus’s Australian model wife; and Rachel, who is the younger sister to Jane Farley and had been in London for 27 years. Jane was Marcus’s daughter, who committed suicide and is claimed to have been a ghost. Marcus Farley read a threatening letter that was stabbed into the door with a knife, which caused him to have a heart attack and die. He could not find his nitroglycerin pills in the medicine drawer. Claire had the motive, opportunity, and the means to kill Marcus Farley.
A simple definition of the human psyche is the embodiment of the human spirit. However, when one takes a more in-depth look, it becomes much more complex than the tidy little package that the definition would infer. The psyche has a direct link to thoughts, emotions, reactions and consequences. Of these components, emotions have the most significant impact on the human essence. The way in which humans view and react to the world around them is directly linked to the conscious and subconscious feelings associated with a particular activating event. The human psyche is driven by a wide variety of emotions ranging from love, hate, anger, happiness, fear, and courage to name but only a few. Of these, fear has the power to disrupt the body and spirit in profound ways as it encompasses all emotions. Therefore, it is the strongest emotion associated with the human condition.
It is redundant to fear death because, according to Epicurus, it has no affect on us. Once something is dead it loses feelings, emotions, and any state of being that it had before. When a person dies, both the body and soul die s...
nsciousness after death, or maybe a combination of both, which creates this fear. The fear felt is undoubtedly universal. However, the ways in which it is dealt with are varied and diverse. The concept of human mortality and how it is dealt with is dependent upon one’s society or culture. It is the society, which has the greatest impact on an individual’s beliefs.
Many people seem to fear death, but philosophers such as Socrates and Epicurus would argue that one has no reason to fear it. Socrates sees death as a blessing to be wished for if death is either nothingness or a relocation of the soul, whereas Epicurus argues that one shouldn't worry themselves about death since, once we are gone, death is annihilation which is neither good nor bad. Epicurus believes that death itself is a total lack of perception, wherein there is no pleasure or pain. I agree with Epicurus because Socrates doesn't give a sound argument for death as a blessing, whereas Epicurus' argument is cogent. I would also argue personally that death is not something to be feared because, like Epicurus, I see no sufficient evidence showing we even exist after death.
When people ponder death they wonder about the unknown with trepidation. As a young man, William Cullen Bryant wrote the "Thanatopsis." His thoughts progress from the fear of death to the acceptance of the event. People should not fear death because everyone dies and becomes a part of nature.
Socrates believes one cannot fear what one does not know. He believes since no one has an absolute knowledge of what follows death in the natural world, man should not fear death. He has several arguments to back this up. In this paper I will look at two of his arguments and conclude that his arguments are unsound due to the fact that opinions are not truths.
The unknown is something human can’t wrap their heads around so like mystery humans try to figure it out, to discover it so that mankind may not be fearful of death. In doctor Macknees’ paper “Is there Life after Birth?” he examines the fears of death and how it’s related to humans fear of living. The three topics being fear of what happens after death, fears related to the process of dying, and fears of the loss of life. Each topic has 3 subtopics that go deeper into the thoughts that many may have as death approaches them or fears for the future. The three that connected the most to me would be under the topic of fears related to loss of life, subtopics fear of mastery, fear of incompleteness or failure, and fear of separation. In my last paragraph about death I will go deeper into my thoughts behind these and their relation to my fears of life as described by Charles Macknee. Death as described by the class of Psychology and spirituality is the end of all that is familiar and entering into something beyond our control but also beyond what our minds can comprehend. Death is something I think many of us don’t want to confront, whetherits our own or it’s a loved ones. I know that it is something I never like talking about or thinking
...e for many in the modern Western world. Without getting in to the various medical definitions of death that exist, death can simply be defined as the absence of life. This is where the true fear stems from for most people, the idea that their existence will be known to this world. The uncertainty about what happens after death also plays a large role for many people as there is obviously no way to prove what happens after someone passes. It is clear that those who have this fear of death will have a hard time overcoming it, same as Jack. The point is not to get hung up on how to best push the fear out of your mind, but to instead find an alternative. That alternative is not clearly defined just as nothing is clearly defined in the novel, however it does give one the opportunity to see what happens when you let death control your thoughts instead of focusing on life.
Death it is something we all must face at one point in our lives or another. It is either a death of a loved one, friend or co-worker. Sometimes it’s the devastation from a natural disaster. No matter what makes us face the idea of death it is how we handle this realization that truly matters. When Gilgamesh is faced with the horrendous loss of his dear friend and comrade Enkidu he begins to fear death. In Gilgamesh’s youth he is proud without fear of death, it is not until he watches his friend die that his own mortality becomes a fear.
According to Ernest Becker, “The main thesis of this book is that it explains: the idea of death, the fear of death that haunts humans like nothing else; the mainspring of human activity designed to avoid the fatality of death, to overcome it by denying in some way that it is the final destiny for man” (“Becker” ix). The author of this book describes and quotes many other psychological thinkers views on the different kinds of fear and what contributes to the fear of death in man. The author explores several topics like self-worth, heroism, fear, anxiety, depression and many other issues throughout this book.
Knowing the answer to the question where will we go when we die gives a sense of closure. A sense of peace. Likewise, to this question Miles responded, “People, I thought, wanted security.....I finally decided that people believed in an afterlife because they could bear not to” (Green 100). For most people, the thought of death is something scary. Because of religious beliefs though, if you believe in certain ones, death no longer appears as something scary. Many religions believe in some sort of afterlife and/or the soul’s existence, and this provides security. Although countless people believe in some sort of afterlife after death, not all do. Even though not believing in that, some still are able to find some sort of stability in the sense of thinking about death. For instance, Alaska professed, “Y’all smoke to enjoy it. I smoke to die” (Green 44). Some people don’t care. They seem to come to terms with the fact that death is just something inevitable and there shouldn’t be a reason to fear it. Knowing it’s coming, might as well be mentally
Russell discussed the finality of Death. He argues that there cannot be life after death and that after the destruction of our body’s that our memories and personality are destroyed as well. He discusses the importance of fear when dealing with death. He states that this is the strongest emotion and he also states that it is instinctive and biological and that it is useful. He thinks that if we truly believed in future life that we should have no fear of death. I have a few opinions about this subject. For one I think that fearing death can be to your advantage. For instance I know people who believe in the after life but they still fear death. Having this fear of death prevents them from doing any harm to themselves. Also not knowing what awaits them in the after life could cause this fear as well. This also has to do with religions there are some that believe strongly that there is life after death and that it is their destiny to be with God.