IS THERE DEATH AFTER LIFE?
IS THERE DEATH AFTER LIFE?
Author(s): Rudi ViskerSubject(s): Philosophy
Published by: Studia Universitatis Babes-Bolyai
Keywords: death; Plato; Heidegger; Levinas; religion
Summary/Abstract: In order to understand the place of death in our contemporary western societies, we need to understand what we mean by death. A number of proposals from philosophy, ordinary life and religion will be examined, focussing especially on the link between death and anxiety (this includes a critique of Heidegger's approach). Concrete examples are developped (horror movies, death as an oxymoron, pain, a-mortality, brain death etc.) with a positive bias toward the customs and mores of ordinary people (the people the philosophers try to convert). Without taking the position of the religious believer, the religious approach to death is analysed and the question is raised as to how one can understand its crisis (secularisation).
Journal: Studia Universitatis Babes-Bolyai - Philosophia
- Issue Year: 51/2006
- Issue No: 1
- Page Range: 95-110
- Page Count: 16
- Language: English