In this essay I will show why I think it is irrational albeit understandable to fear death to do this I will look at why people fear death and what major contributors to ethical philosophy such as Epicurus have to think about the issue.
Death is one of the great mystery's yet to be unraveled, it is the unknown that many people really fear, the uncertainty of what comes next if anything. Different cultures face death in a different way some accept it some believe in reincarnation many more believe in an afterlife. But are these people misguided? I think that the unflinching belief in an afterlife is quite a gamble but people are free to believe what they want to believe.
Epicureans are people who follow the teachings of Epicurus who focused on maximizing pleasure by calculating actions and weighing up short and long term consequences to heighten pleasure. The example given by Jostein Gaarder in Sophie's World is rather apt:
Buy two hundred crowns worth of chocolate bars...About half an hour later when all that delicious chocolate is eaten, you will understand what Epicurus meant by side effects (Sophie's World, pg 112)
So epicureans consider pleasure to be good, and pain to be bad as such one of Epicurus' main goals was to curb the fear of death amongst folk as it causes anxiety and therefore unhappiness. Epicurus came to the conclusion that the fear of death is based on the false assumption that death is bad. At first glance this looks like this could work the other way round, arguably Epicurus is basing his theory on the false assumption that death isn't bad, for all we actually know it could be awful. Epicurus bolsters his argument by introducing the symmetry theory which essentially states that before we are born we did not exist so the concerns of the world are of no concern to us and likewise when we die we cease to exist, thus we feel no pain therefore it is irrational to fear death. I both agree and disagree with this idea, I think yes before we are born we know nothing of the world for we have never been alive and thus is of no consequence, but going from a single cell to a conscious being is a lot different than going from a conscious being having known what it is like to be alive to nothing. I think that Epicurus is being a bit callous when he says:
Death is nothing to us (Epicurus to Menoeceus)
Many people worry about death and many turn to religion to ease the fear of death, that is essentially what Epicurus is trying to achieve, rid people of their fear and their dependence on priests and religions. To meet this end Epicurus created as Jostein Gaarder tells us the four medicinal herbs:
The Gods are not be feared. Death is nothing to worry about.
Good is easy to attain. The fearful is easy to endure (Sophie's World pg 112)
I think this is quite a good optimistic maxim, I certainly agree that Death is nothing to worry about although perhaps not for the same reasons, I think Death is a necessity because if no one died then the worlds natural resources would soon deplete, I think that both war and disease are methods of population control which traditionally occur when too many people are in too small an area as there are too many different opinions and not enough resources to go round. I also agree that Good is easy to attain if you like Epicurus take good to be pleasurable. The meaning of an Epicurean has changed a lot since the time of Epicurus, in modern times the word Epicurean has been used as a derogatory word used to imply that someone is selfish and concerned only with themselves and their own pleasure.
While its true as Gaarder explains that the epicureans showed little interest in politics and the community . "Live in seclusion!" was the advice of Epicurus. It is a misconception that Epicureans are obsessed with only there own satisfaction they value friendships as pleasurable it is about measured and controlled pleasure rather than just feeding urges.
Epicurus had certain signs or symptoms that could be seen to see if someone feared death such as seeing if their preoccupation with death distracts them from life. I think this is a very well reasoned point as it seems a futile endeavor to spend your whole life worrying about death when you could spend your life living and being happy. Essentially Epicurus is telling people to get on with the business of living and not to worry. Certainly a remarkably relaxed attitude to oblivion. He is not the only philosopher to take such an attitude if Plato's account in The last days of Socrates is accurate then Socrates had the choice between life and death as he had been offered an escape route by some of his close friends. Socrates chose to take the hemlock and be poisoned arguing that If death was as the state religion said and there is an afterlife where he could meet and talk to the souls of those gone before and talk about philosophy for eternity, or it is true that we simply cease to exist. Socrates compared this too eternal rest or sleeping and argues it would be peaceful.
