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Death is an intrinsic part of human existence, as it is the endpoint of life. It is everywhere, and it is foolish to deny the fact that death can be avoided. There are people who try to live much longer than their allotted time. New scientific approaches and research are being developed to prolong life by a few more years. However, death comes to everyone, as there is no such thing as an immortal human being. It is feared, avoided and preferred not to be spoken of for fear of being called into ones home. On the other hand, many people do not consider how horrible it is and whether it makes sense to avoid its final destination, whether death is scary and whether one should be afraid of it. This paper aims to investigate this factor and answer the question that still swirls in the minds of many philosophers: is death a fearful phenomenon or the beginning of a new life?
It is necessary to state that everyone has their perception of death and may fear it and wait for it. For example, some people have incurable diseases and understand that they do not have long to live, even with modern medicine. There are many such cases, and in each of them, death is not an image of a creepy creature with a scythe but rather a saving hand (Brueckner and Fischer 1). It is difficult not to agree that the end is quite near for such people, and it is better to die than to continue living in anguish for who knows how long.
It is also worth bearing in mind religious beliefs, each presenting death differently and describing its outcome uniquely. If we turn to Christianity, the Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant churches state that judging by how one has lived, one is either punished for bad things or rewarded for good deeds after death. Eastern religions contain a part about a person being reborn and reincarnated, and depending on how he or she has lived into such a being he or she will be reborn. The religion of Muslims states that the present life is only a preparation for a great life in the future and that everyone will also get what they deserve. All these religions have in common that they allude to the moral and ethical considerations of man and say that there is an afterlife and that it is good for those who have been good people in the present time. This helps both live within moral standards and hope for a happy afterlife. Now death does not seem so terrible, for at the end of ones stay on this earth, one will be able to experience all the delights of the netherworld.
Unfortunately, scientifically these facts can not be proved as death is the phenomenon that marks the end of human life and it is impossible to know what is waiting in the other side. Scientifically speaking, when a person dies, he simply decays, and there is nothing pleasant about it. Science rejects the existence of the soul and that it can leave the body. Judged by this approach, death is a natural and unavoidable phenomenon that takes life and nothing else. If this phenomenon is inevitable, all people need to be prepared that their end will come and have a general idea of how the funeral will look from the outside. The most important thing is to imagine everything happening through the eyes of others, not on ones behalf. However, the idea of death is formed now, when people are still alive, and it is simply not possible to guess how the funeral will go and what lies ahead.
How people perceive their death, rather than someone elses, already plays an important role in attitudes towards this aspect. Rather, it is religious attitudes that play an important role. If a person was good while alive and followed all the moral rules, death is not something terrible for him. On the contrary, he treats it well and understands that it is only the beginning of a new life cycle. More and more people have become interested in religious views and pay attention to the way of life that dominates them. A person who refers more to the scientific approach will rather have a neutral attitude toward death because it is simply the end of lifes journey and there is nothing wrong with having a beginning and an end. Practicality often trumps religious views and the current generation ponders that death is a normal phenomenon and one should just know that it will come, no matter what. The only people who fear death are those who know that they behaved improperly when they were alive but who believe in religion. Such people will try to postpone it and do everything to prolong their way of life at least a little longer.
We must also consider how the person died and how they felt before they died. Death by natural causes is the most preferable but unlikely option. Unfortunately, too few people live to the end of life as physiology deems necessary. On the other hand, there are cases in history where the death penalty has been applied, and it is very likely that the person, knowing they were on the brink of death, was glad of it (Nagel 4). One can never be sure that death will come tomorrow or in a few years. It is impossible for those whom it has caught unexpectedly to determine their attitude. For them, it simply happened; such people were not prepared for the fact that their hour had come and death had overtaken them instantly.
For me, it is impossible to treat death positively or negatively. The point of view must change depending on life situations or age. One cannot be certain that death is an absolute evil or salvation, for every person has his or her own life and circumstances. Today it may help by releasing a person from his misery and tomorrow, it may come to someone unnoticed and bring grief to his family. Death is a subjective thing and should be treated in the same way.
In sum, one can say that ones point of view is shaped by ones life perceptions, history and moral code, the freedom to choose sides scientifically or religiously, and other equally important circumstances. Death is both a physical and spiritual phenomenon, for one cannot be certain that there is one right point of view to which one must adhere. It all depends on the individual and how it comes, under what circumstances and how prepared for it he is.
Works Cited
Brueckner, Anthony L., and John Martin Fischer. Why Is Death Bad? Philosophical Studies, vol. 50, no. 2, 1986, pp. 21321.
Nagel, Thomas. Death. Noûs, vol. 4, no. 1, Feb. 1970, pp. 7380.
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