Death

There is one thing I can be sure of: I am going to die. But what am I to make of that fact? This course examines philosophical issues that arise when we reflect on our mortality. It explores whether death is really the end, the possibility of immortality and whether it would be desirable, and what it means for a person to die and what kind of fact that is. The course evaluates different attitudes toward death, asking whether death is an evil and in what sense, whether suicide can be morally permissible or rational, and how the knowledge that we are going to die should affect the way we live our lives. Through classic and contemporary texts, students engage with questions about the soul, personal identity, the nature and badness of death, fear of death, the value of life, and the ethics and rationality of suicide.