Death, Life and Meaning

Paper Summary:

The paper discusses Thomas Nagel's understanding of the significance of death as being bad in contrast to Epicurus who does not consider death as bad. The paper argues that Nagel's argument is the more sound of the two as he recognizes the fundamental asymmetry in our valuations of life and death. The paper attempts to show how Epicurus' argument is invalid in its basic premise given its limited conception of the meaning of death.

From the Paper:

"Nagel's argument that death is bad is rendered particularly strong by his willingness to address opposing views from the outset, and thus carefully establish the boundaries of his argument. For example, Nagel decides to leave aside the complex debate over whether we are "immortal" in some fashion - immortality implying continuation of consciousness in one form or another - and define death as being the absence of any "conscious survival" (Nagel 31). Similarly, he is equally careful to restrict the valuation of life to one's subjectivity instead of viewing it in an objective sense. This removes complications that may come from an "objective" viewing of the valuation of life from the perspective of others (Nagel 31). Having thus carefully framed the boundaries of his argument, Nagel presents his key contention with regard to the "asymmetry" in our understanding of the significance of death versus life."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Epicurus. "Letter to Menoeceus." Trans. Robert Drew Hicks.Course Reader: The Meaning of Life. Ed. Henry Jackman. Toronto: York University, 2006, 24-25.
• Epicurus. "Principal Doctrines." Trans. Robert Drew Hicks.Course Reader: The Meaning of Life. Ed. Henry Jackman. Toronto: York University, 2006, 26-28.
• Nagel, Thomas. "Death." Course Reader: The Meaning of Life.Ed. Henry Jackman. Toronto: York University, 2006, 31-35.

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