The Meaning Of Death

Thanatology is derived from the Greek word Thanatos, which means death; Death of the physical self and death of the internal self. As Sigmund Freud institutes in his work Beyond the Pleasure Principle there are two drives in the brain that both coincide and conflict within the individual and one of these drives is death itself. Eros is the drive of life, love, creativity, sexuality, self-satisfaction, and species preservation. Thanatos consists of aggression, sadism, destruction, violence and the unknown thoughts of death (Freud, 1953). These self-destructive characteristics are present in all human beings, but they are in the unconscious part of the mind that can be accessed but can also be repressed in order to survive (Freud, 1953). The

Herman published The Meaning of Death in 1959 a piece of writing that would galvanize the interest for psychologists to study death. Prior to publication, Feifel joined the Air Force in 1942 as a psychologist for pilots during WWII and became very intrigued that the best pilots didn’t think about death (Herman, 1990). In addition, during the screening of pilots they were never asked about how they felt about death, what would happen to their family if they die, and what they would consider a dignified death (Herman, 1990). During the Holocaust Feifel witnessed the manslaughter of the Jewish population, he was surrounded by death. Throughout Feifels experiences and the death of his mother in 1952, he wanted to investigate the thought process of death at the conscious level and the unconscious level (Herman, 1990). Until Feifel began investing the psychology of death and how people felt about death itself, there was very little research on death. His research and commitment revealed the importance of studying death attitudes, and those actually facing life-threatening