So it is silly for a person to say that he dreads death—not because it will be painful when it arrives but because it pains him now as a future certainty; for that which makes no trouble for us when it arrives is a meaningless pain when we await it. This, the most horrifying of evils, means nothing to us, then, because so long as we are existent death is not present and whenever it is present we are nonexistent. Thus it is of no concern either to the living or to those who have completed their lives. For the former it is nonexistent, and the latter are themselves nonexistent" (LD, p. 49-50) These remarks encapsulate Epicurus’s views on our attitudes towards death. What argument does he provide for why we should not fear death?
Overall, I am more convinced by Koch’s essay than Bruck’s essay just because it appeals to me on a more emotional level, and causes me to want to keep the death penalty. Although I admire that Bruck tried to appeal to the audience in a more intellectual tone, I still feel that his essay was lacking, and will not adequately convince the reader to vote against the death
Within Emily Dickinson’s life, many of her past friends and family past away around her on a regular basis, which could conclude to the reason why death is described as a usual and cherishable thing in ‘The last night that she lived.’ The second stanza reveals the intensity of the poet’s reaction to the death. The quote ‘We noticed the smallest things’ depicts the eeriness that is in the environment as death has caused everything to become still which makes the narrator notice the minor details. The quote also shows that after a death, people see the environment from a different perspective due to the emotions causing the smaller things to take emphasis. The third stanza discusses the poet's feelings about death. It portrays the poet's jealousy of the death Woman because she died peacefully while others has to live and face the ordeals of life.
It is a negative event in life and something to be dreaded, mainly because it is an unknown. Given that both of these poems were written about death one would assume that they were both very much alike; however, that is not the case. Death is the main theme but they both also talk about the possibility of some sort of afterlife, though they do not have any reference to God in them. Both poems are also very different in tone. The poem, “Because I could not stop for Death-“, alludes to a possible afterlife or existence in different manifestations, especially in the last two lines “I first surmised the Horses’ Heads Were toward Eternity_”.
Before assigning value to life it should be considered what that person did in their lifetime not just their job, or their major achievements, but how they affected other people in either a positive or negative way. This is why suicide is such a selfish act. In Hamlet’s famous speech he states, “No traveler returns, puzzles the will, And makes us rather bear those ills we have Than to fly to others that we know not of” (Shakespeare 33)? In other words Hamlet believes that it might be better to live through the trials of life than journey into the unknown. Suicide is a permanent solution to temporary problems and when successful leaves behind a mass of grieving people.
He states “So far as I can tell, nothing follows about whether we should fear death” (Feldman 141). Throughout his argument, he does not touch on whether we should “fear” anything. He instead targets A4 intending to disprove Epicurus’ notion of the word “bad”. He does this with the intention to prove that death while might not be an object of fear, is still something bad and evil. His own argument can be broken down: P1: Something is extrinsically bad for a person if and only if he or she would have been intrinsically better off if it had not taken place.
Nietzsche says, in his second essay, the primary objection to ascetic ideals is that ascetic priests must deny the value of this life; he portrays it as a link to the next life, rather than appreciating life as an end in itself. An objection to this claim, being unselfish, caring for the weak, loving one’s neighbor, submitting to “god,” might be better for the health of the community and may even have evolutionary benefits, even though in nature it does seem like the weak get “chosen”. As far as a moral life, they are at the same time a weak people because they have denied life for so long. In the long run the ascetic
C) Sunstein view’s the death penalty as indeed a deterrent arguing as followed, “Capital punishment is morally required” on the other hand Donohue views are neutral on the death penalty and almost views it as a non-deterrent because of the lack of evidence. Donohue article Death Penalty: No evidence Of Deterrence, goes on to say “The reason for this is simple: over the past half century the U.S has not experimented enough with capital punishment policy to permit strong conclusions.” He also goes on to say, “On balance, the evidence suggests that the death penalty may increase the murder rate although it remains possible that the death penalty may decrease it. If
It alludes perhaps to the music played at New Orleans funerals, it reflects the “blues” that the speaker himself is experiencing over this sudden and painful loss, and it references the poem itself, the expression of sadness through words, meter and rhyme. As a whole, the poem pays tribute to an individual who was the center of the speaker’s affection and conveys the emotional devastation of loss and the disillusionment with life that often accompanies it. To the ones associated with the dead person, time had come to a standstill. All communication had been cut off, and therefore the telephone, a metaphor of contact and communication has to be cut off. The dog barking with a juicy bone is silenced as instinct no longer reigns.
Therefore, this suggests society has lost confidence and belief in religion. When analysing the poem, it can be understood that Yeats infers that history will repeat itself through the image of a “widening gyre”. The Second Coming was written in 1919 in the aftermath of the First Word War. This war was also known as ‘The War to End all Wars’ because it was so terrible that it was hoped that it would be the last. However, the use of “widening gyre” and “tide” highlights a sense of foreboding, suggesting that history will make a reoccurrence and peace will never be restored because society will not learn from its mistakes.