Epicurus: Should We Fear Death?
Why We Should Not Fear Death
May 21, 2007 by Quincy
Death is a common topic of speculation and frequently anxiety. In the time that Epicurus was laying out his way of life and sharing it with others this was the case. Epicurus, though, claimed that we should not fear death because, “Death, the most frightening of bad things, is nothing to us; since when we exist death is not yet present, and when death is present, then we do not exist” (Letter to Menoeceus, 125). Death is frightening to people for many reasons: they do not know what to expect from death, they fear the punishment of gods, they dread not accomplishing certain things in life, etc. Epicurus argues that when we die we no longer exist. If we no longer exist then this state is not …show more content…
This may also be the most contentious argument he makes. As an empiricist, Epicurus relied on his senses to provide him with the information he used to make judgments and evaluations about the world around him. Epicurus believed in the soul and believed that the soul provided locomotion to the body as well as created facial expressions and the like. For the soul to do this, however, the soul must be material. Here is a simplified argument for materialism that would have been in line with Epicurus thinking about the …show more content…
If the soul dies when the body dies there is no reason whatsoever to fear death, because we simply will not exist to experience it. Once again Epicurus looks to his senses to provide him with knowledge of the world and draws conclusions from it about the soul. When people die they no longer have locomotion, they decay and the warmth leaves their bodies. The material soul must scatter with death and leave the body cold and no longer hold it together. As an atomist, Epicurus would claim that all the elements, atoms, of the body are simply dispersed back into the world – including the soul. This eliminates the possibility of sense-perception, since the soul only has access to sense perceptions while it is within the body and through the body has access to the sense organs. Emotional response is impossible for the disembodied soul for the same reasons, so death is not a pain in either capacity. Any fears about eternal afterlives of punishment and discontent are dissipated with the atoms of the soul. Without the notion of an eternal soul people can get down to the business of living well and experience life. It does no good for a person to dwell on death because it will have no effect on them once it is upon them. If a person acknowledges this and attempts to live according to Epicurean philosophy then they will have a chance at eudaimonia. Some might acknowledge this and still
May 21, 2007 by Quincy
Death is a common topic of speculation and frequently anxiety. In the time that Epicurus was laying out his way of life and sharing it with others this was the case. Epicurus, though, claimed that we should not fear death because, “Death, the most frightening of bad things, is nothing to us; since when we exist death is not yet present, and when death is present, then we do not exist” (Letter to Menoeceus, 125). Death is frightening to people for many reasons: they do not know what to expect from death, they fear the punishment of gods, they dread not accomplishing certain things in life, etc. Epicurus argues that when we die we no longer exist. If we no longer exist then this state is not …show more content…
This may also be the most contentious argument he makes. As an empiricist, Epicurus relied on his senses to provide him with the information he used to make judgments and evaluations about the world around him. Epicurus believed in the soul and believed that the soul provided locomotion to the body as well as created facial expressions and the like. For the soul to do this, however, the soul must be material. Here is a simplified argument for materialism that would have been in line with Epicurus thinking about the …show more content…
If the soul dies when the body dies there is no reason whatsoever to fear death, because we simply will not exist to experience it. Once again Epicurus looks to his senses to provide him with knowledge of the world and draws conclusions from it about the soul. When people die they no longer have locomotion, they decay and the warmth leaves their bodies. The material soul must scatter with death and leave the body cold and no longer hold it together. As an atomist, Epicurus would claim that all the elements, atoms, of the body are simply dispersed back into the world – including the soul. This eliminates the possibility of sense-perception, since the soul only has access to sense perceptions while it is within the body and through the body has access to the sense organs. Emotional response is impossible for the disembodied soul for the same reasons, so death is not a pain in either capacity. Any fears about eternal afterlives of punishment and discontent are dissipated with the atoms of the soul. Without the notion of an eternal soul people can get down to the business of living well and experience life. It does no good for a person to dwell on death because it will have no effect on them once it is upon them. If a person acknowledges this and attempts to live according to Epicurean philosophy then they will have a chance at eudaimonia. Some might acknowledge this and still