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Fear: be afraid or scared of; be frightened of;
"A true philosopher does not fear death."
- (Paraphrase from Socrates?)
Do you believe in the above statement? Why or why not?
I see it everyday, it could befall to me everyday I woke, and even when I dream dreams I want not to end, but actually I personally haven't met it yet. When we befriend, then I will know, perhaps, something more: if it is as dreadful as some declare or a freedom maker as some other claims. Then I will be able to tell you more.
This depends what you mean by death and fear. Personally I do not fear death in the abstract- I believe that I will live on after my death, and have good philosophical and personal reasons to believe so. However I do fear death in the sense that I fear an early death, or a painful death- I want to live a full life, and I don't want to suffer too greatly. When people get old they fear death less- because at that point it is evident that death is a natural part of life and that they are reaching that natural point. All of this is obvious and fairly ubiquitous. So my question is this- do you mean that philosophers should believe in an afterlife, or be content in some stoic way with their fate? Be more specific.
I think it is somewhat of a paraphrase from Socrates. If he is not the one who said/believed that, then feel free to correct me.
It isn't my statement - I've just read it somewhere and wanted more opinions other than my own. Though, in my opinion, (hardcore?) philosophers should not "fear" death as why would we fear something we are so curious about? I would not say that we should welcome it per se, but be prepared. I suppose with your latter, "be content [..] with their fate."
I mean.. would you be willing to jump into a black hole just out of the sake of curiosity of what could be on the other side? (Disregarding that many theories say that death awaits you.)
Since all Metaphysical traditions are primarily concerned with creation and death, it seems to me that if one has truely come to terms with a metaphycal ideology one has come to terms with death.
A true philosopher fears death, but overcomes that fear.
Philosophers are generally big-picture people. We understand life is not "a story about me." This takes away the fear of your ego's own nonexistence and makes you pretty damn curious instead.
Very good choice of words, Victor.
---------- Post added at 09:50 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:42 PM ----------
I agree with what Victor said. It's not that a philosopher shouldn't fear death, but a philosopher should have the courage or fortitude to overcome the fear of death. Some philosophers use wishful thinking or faith in an afterlife to overcome the fear of death, while other philosophers, such as myself, use rationality, wisdom, and plain fortitude to overcome such fear. There is no rational reason to be afraid of a non-existent circumstance such as death. There is, however, reason to fear the pain that may accompany the dying process, and there is reason to view non-existence as a misfortune.
It's funny, I have a unique perspective on this I suppose considering my past. Having died three times previously, I have prepared for this inevitability. I do not worry about those I leave behind because I do not plan on letting them know I am dead.
In a correspondence with a friend some time ago we talked about all this. I wrote the following words then. Perhaps they are relevant here too.
"... "Death" can be defined as that moment in time during which a living organism, e.g. a human being, passes from the condition of "being alive" to the condition of "being dead". So we have the following and consecutive series of loosely defined notions: (being) alive - dying - death - (being) dead. Now why is this important and where exactly is the problem? It seems to me that the problem is situated in notion number two: "dying", being a process characterised by time as well as by the inevitable approach of death. Death itself is just a short and passing moment, but it is very effective in determining and influencing the human mind during the process of dying. Indeed many people are less afraid for death than for dying, while they fear that period in life in which death is most intensively present in their lives and colours each passing moment. Now this reminds one of Churchill's motto: "There is nothing to fear but fear itself". Fear is indeed not an inevitable ingredient in the process of dying, and there may be many people who are dying or have died without knowing fear. But in many cases fear is present, being the product of a mind that is able to imagine and anticipate, filling in the unknown with suppositions and hypotheses, such as hell and damnation or black nothingness. Fear is always caused by anticipation; animals do not fear death and they even have no idea of it at all, because they live in the moment and do not have a human's time horizon. Now in a second approach we can distinguish several ways of dying, death being always the same as a relatively short moment of transition. First according to time: dying can take a (very) long or a (very) short time. Even life as a whole can be seen as one long period of dying, during which death -or at least its notion- regularly comes and goes in our minds and "hearts". But one can also state that dying means being still alive and living, and indeed people do many life-oriented things when dying, such as making their will or actively saying farewell to the world...."
I had an operation once, and I was pretty nervous the moments before I was sedated. Then all of a sudden I was "gone" and awoke hours later. Being "gone" was no problem at all, but I had some worries before. And the worries were the problem. I am less scared since then.
Long term illnes i dread, i am angry that i wont see tomorrow because i love tomorrow,I miss my children before Ive even gone,I hate getting old,i dont want to die i love life.Am i frightened of dying? no, slightly optimistic and i know i wont be disappointed.
I would agree. Not only because the term resurrection it in religious text but also it seems to me the the cosmos's nature might support those conditions needed for it. Galaxies have been found to be surprisingly magnetic and because of the existence of radio pulsar stars. Magnetism and a radio waves are generated by a machine used to help save peoples lives by taking images of a person's insides in order to give doctors knowledge of any would be problems. Before being born I suppose I was nonexistent which might be like being dead. In act of dying I believe the brain releases compounds that might suppress pain. In a car crash I once had in 02 I cut my forearm open and did not feel it not even after some time, it seemed very surreal. The pain it caused others was more distressing than the thought of dieing.
How many of you have witnessed death? Not anything you might have seen on the internet or on television. But you were actually present when another human being did in fact die. Not just after or just before or anything that might be known as a "near death" experience?
William
Jesus probably beat Socrates as far as (attributed) last words go. "It is finished!" I think Nietzsche would agree that these last words are more life affirming and indicative of a life well lived. "Mission complete" or "I have done what I was here to do". Socrates could have said something similar to this but according to the dialog he said the little quip about the rooster.
Guess I'm not a "true" philosopher.
Fear: be afraid or scared of; be frightened of;
"A true philosopher does not fear death."
- (Paraphrase from Socrates?)
Do you believe in the above statement? Why or why not?
Fear: be afraid or scared of; be frightened of;
"A true philosopher does not fear death."
- (Paraphrase from Socrates?)
Do you believe in the above statement? Why or why not?
Death can suck my balls.