Heidegger tried to describe death from the point of view of a living man. He sought real and existing experiences to aid him in phenomenology. So again, what is death for Heidegger? Death is man’s transition between his existence and non-existence. Such transition, according to Heidegger, cannot be experienced.
Plato saw the body as a nuisance and a bind. It is not the real person. We may say I have a body but not I am a body. Plato believed that the real person is separate and distinct from the body it inhabits. The soul has existed prior to being in the present body and, on death, will leave the body.
The belief is that when we die our soul leaves us, leaving the body to rot and decay, whereas others believe that one cannot live without the other; if one dies so does the other. This is split into two different theories, monism and dualism. I will be applying these arguments to the above question, analysing the strengths and weaknesses. Hick began by explaining his replica theory by suggesting there was a problem with continuity. The idea is that when someone dies their form is replicated on an alternate universe, or the resurrection world.
Plato being rationalist theories reason has precedence over other ways of acquiring knowledge. Therefore he relied on the ability to reason in his attempt to explain the world. He produced his ideal world based on reason since such a world lies beyond the realm of the five senses. Plato ignored his senses because he believed his senses only revealed the imperfect forms of the ordinary world. He also believes people possess immortal souls that existing before birth and continuing after death.
For example, there are certain ways in which Faustus may appear to seem inhuman, for example, his hubris; his ambition it what ultimately leads to his downfall and his desire to defeat death is what eventually kills him. This links to the gothic idea of immortality, which is almost always presented as a false goal in gothic literature however the desire for immortality is immensely powerful and constitutes the ultimate bribe, which in this case, is the trade of Faustus’ soul. There are several ways in which this may be interpreted, one of the most poignant being that Faustus’ determination to live forever can only come from someone already inhuman, and one cannot lead to the other. However, I feel that Faustus’ fear of death rather than the ambition to live forever is all too human, continuing until his final downfall in which his fear is only second bested by his pride, once again, a characteristic that is all too human. ‘I’ll leap up to my God!’// ‘Yet will I call on him.
‘Piggy was dead and the conch smashed to powder’ enforces that Piggy represented the need for science and intellectual endeavour in society so the break of both of these symbols at the same time shows a sudden corruption of civilisation. Loss of hope: The rules that hold together a civilised society can easily break down due lack of hope. Golding’s novel of lord of the Flies explores the complexity of hope in keeping citizens committed to the chosen path. When hope is lost, savagery ensues. Golding portrays this through symbolism.
Poseidon vs. Zeus “The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.” When someone studies and knows about greek gods, they relate to this quote. Two examples of gods that fit this quote and influence living is Poseidon and Zeus. Although the two gods rule different elements of the world, they are actually more alike then they are different. Poseidon and Zeus are very similar in many ways.
The epic of Gilgamesh is the oldest recorded myth. It chronicles the life of the King of Uruk and his best friend Enkidu. When Enkidu dies Gilgamesh is so grief stricken that he sets out looking for the key to immortality. His quest ultimately leads him to the ghost of his friend and the truth; the gods have granted humanity death and in doing so retained their immortality. As the first piece of mythology ever recorded the tales of Gilgamesh and the focus on immortality reveal a need deeply embedded within the human psyche.
Sometimes the question arises of whether one should follow divine law over human law and vice versa. This becomes one of the main conflicts in Sophocles' Antigone. The second choral ode in Antigone suggests that man's greatness lies in striving to overcome death, but it is also his downfall if he disregards justice and divine law and the fear of death present within the rest of the population. Thebes has been able to recover from the battle between Polyneices and Eteocles, leading to the coronation of Creon and become a functioning society. We see that the society attempts to perfect itself as much as possible in the mortal life because we only have one life before we enter the afterlife.
Sean Daly Death and the Meaning of Life Dr. Hopper 10 December 2010 Nietzsche’s Übermensch: His Meaning and Outlook of Life Nietzsche’s idea of the Übermensch arose from his famous idea that “God is dead”. Through his “God is dead” theory he came up with the theory of Nihilism. Nihilism is the approach to life where one doesn’t question their existence; they rely on ideology to fill the void. He said that once people realized that God is dead, they tried to fill his void with other things. He says that the way people are filling the void now is with the idea of progress.