Epicurus's View Of Death

Epicurus holds the view that death is not bad for the one who dies in Letter to Menoeceus and The Principal Doctrines. Epicurus believes in Atomistic Materialism which states that there is nothing beyond the physical world and that everyone is only made up of atoms. (cite) Alongside this, Epicurus is considered to be a Hedonist. Individuals who put themselves under this label of Hedonism believe in the indulgence in pleasures of life and they are focused on minimizing any pain that comes up in one’s lifetime. He believes that it is human nature to seek pleasure and avoid pain and so this is the basis of his guideline for living. (cite,website.) Due to it being human nature, humans are genetically motivated to pursue pleasures. These concepts
Other than this one similarity they are contrasting views. Both Epicurus and Nagel bring forth some interesting points as to whether death is bad or not. My view on this topic is one that sides with Nagel’s, that death is bad. In order for Epicurus’s view to be true, Hedonism has to be true and in some cases that might not be the case. The question “Why isn’t time before we were born just as problematic as the time after?” arises when one brings up the problem of asymmetry. An answer to this would be that death deprives a person of experiences whether they be good or bad. Pre-natal non-existence does not do that since no person exists yet. Individuals are more concerned with what is going to happen in the future then what has happened in the past. Not existing after death is different than not existing before existing due to the fact that, “death entails the loss of some life that its victim would have led had he not died at that or any earlier point” (cite) Death deprives individuals of goods that may have come while pre-natal goods aren’t seen as important. There does not seem to be a sense of loss of life when dealing with pre-natal goods since we were not even in existence, so it is considered to be
(insert quote 184) Even if it is inevitable it is still an evil. Death can be good in the sense that it relieves certain individuals of suffering, but it is the relief of suffering that is good, not the death aspect. If an individual had the choice to relieve their suffering in any other way, they would most often than not gladly do so rather than taking the route of death since living is good and death is bad. If an individual had the burden of dealing with cancer placed on their shoulders and they were told that they have two options, the options being dying from the condition or getting treated with a cure, most individuals would choose the latter. Their suffering would be released without death being involved plus they would be granted more years to live which would entail more time to have good experiences in life. The option of the cure would be the best for young individuals since there are so many momentous life events they still have to experience. If they do die at an early age, they are being deprived of potential future achievements, therefore it is considered to be a tragedy. Death is an evil not because one is going to experience something bad but because the individual is not going to live anymore which is taking away from the good in