An Evaluation of Epicurus and Lukretius' Perceptions of Death and Non-Existence

Year 2018, , 357 - 376, 21.07.2018

Mustafa Çakmak

https://doi.org/10.18491/beytulhikme.446511

Abstract

Death is an undeniable
fact of life. Whether it is a bad or feared thing is an important
discussion that can be brought back to the ancient Greek philosophers.
This article is primarily concerned with the discussion on what grounds
Epicurus's thesis "death, is nothing to us; since when we exist, death
is not yet present, and when death is present, then we do not exist,"
and to what extent satisfactory results are reached. Later, it tries to
investigate how Lucretius, who is regarded as the successor of
Epicurus, derives the result of meaningless of fear of death from the
symmetrical relationship between prenatal and post-mortem
non-existences. Finally, it refers to the modern asymmetric approaches
which argue that, contrary to Lucretius's claim, the relationship
between these two periods of non-existence is not symmetrical, because
there are serious differences between the later birth and the later
death of people, given their deprivations. This article argues that
death has a mystery that raises the anxiety that comes from the nature
of death; however, it defends the idea that it makes a significant
contribution to the meaning of life.

Keywords

Death, Epicurus, Lucretius, non-existence, symmetry argument

References

• Aristoteles (1998). Nikomakhos’a Etik. (Çev. S. Babür). Ankara: Ayraç Yayınevi.
• Aristotle (1995). Nicomachean Ethics. (Trans. D. Ross). The Complete Works of Aristotle. (Ed. J. Barnes). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
• Belshaw, C. (1993). Asymmetry and Non-Existence. Philosophical Studies: An International Journal for Philosophy in the Analytic Tradition, 70 (1), 103-116.
• Belshaw, C. (2000). Later Death/Earlier Birth. Midwest Studies In Philosophy, 24 (1), 69-83.
• Belshaw, C. (2005). 10 Good Questions about Life and Death. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.
• Bradley, B. (1998). Extrinsic Value. Philosophical Studies: An International Journal for Philosophy in the Analytic Tradition, 91 (2), 109-126.
• Brueckner, A. J. M. F. (1986). Why Is Death Bad? Philosophical Studies: An International Journal for Philosophy in the Analytic Tradition, 50 (2), 213-221.
• Brueckner, A. J. M. F. (1993). The Asymmetry of Early Death and Late Birth. Philosophical Studies: An International Journal for Philosophy in the Analytic Tradition, 71 (3), 327-331.
• Draper, K. (2004). Epicurean Equanimity Towards Death. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 69 (1), 92-114.
• Draper, K. (2013). Epicurus on the Value of Death. The Metaphysics and Ethics of Death. (Ed. J. S. Taylor). New York: Oxford University Press, 71-80.
• Epicurus (1994). Letter to Menoeceus. (Trans. B. Inwood). The Epicurus Reader: Selected Writings and Testimonia. (Ed. B. Inwood). Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company.
• Ewin, R. E. (2002). Reasons and the Fear of Death. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
• Feldman, F. (1991). Some Puzzles About the Evil of Death. The Philosophical Review, 100 (2), 205-227.
• Feldman, F. (1992). Confrontations with the Reaper: A Philosophical Study of the Nature and Value of Death. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Glannon, W. (1994). Temporal Asymmetry, Life, and Death. American Philosophical Quarterly, 31 (3), 235-244.
• Hetherington, S. (2005). Lucretian Death: Asymmetries and Agency. American Philosophical Quarterly, 42 (3), 211-219.
• Kagan, S. (2012). Death. New Haven: Yale University Press.
• Kaufman, F. (1996). Death and Deprivation; or, Why Lucretius' Symmetry Argument Fails. Australasian Journal of Philosophy, 74 (2), 305-312.
• Kaufman, F. (1999). Pre-Vital and Post-Mortem Non-Existence. American Philosophical Quarterly, 36 (1), 1-19.
• Kripke, S. (1980). Naming and Necessity. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
• Lucretius (2001). On the Nature of Things. (Trans. M. F. Smith). Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company.
• Luper, S. (2009). The Philosophy of Death. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• McMahan, J. (1988). Death and the Value of Life. Ethics, 99 (1), 32-61.
• McMahan, J. (2002). The Ethics of Killing. New York: Oxford University Press.
• Nagel, T. (1979). Mortal Questions. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Nagel, T. (1986). The View from Nowhere. New York: Oxford University Press.
• Parfit, D. (1984). Reasons and Persons. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
• Raz, J. (2001). Value, Respect, and Attachment. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Rosenbaum, S. E. (1986). How to Be Dead and Not Care: A Defense of Epicurus. American Philosophical Quarterly, 23 (2), 217-225.
• Rosenbaum, S. E. (1989). The Symmetry Argument: Lucretius Against the Fear of Death. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 50 (2), 353-373.
• Rosenbaum, S. E. (1993). How to Be Dead and not Care: A Defense of Epicurus. The Metaphysics of Death. (Ed. J. M.Fischer). Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 117-134.
• Rosenbaum, S. E. (2013). Concepts of Value and Ideas about Death. The Metaphysics and Ethics of Death. (Ed. J. S. Taylor). New York: Oxford University Press, 149-168.
• Scheffler, S. (2013). Death and the Afterlife. (Ed. N. Kolodny). New York: Oxford University Press.
• Simon, J. R. (2009). Playing the Odds: A New Response to Lucretius’s Symmetry Argument. European Journal of Philosophy, 18 (3), 414-424.
• Smith, M. F. (2001). Introduction. On the Nature of Things. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company.
• Sorensen, R. (2013). The Symmetry Problem. The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Death. (Eds. F. F. Ben Bradley & J. Johansson). New York: Oxford University Press, 234-254.
• Warren, J. (2004). Facing Death: Epicurus and his Critics. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
• Warren, J. (2014). The Symmetry Problem. Life and Death. (Ed. S. Luper). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 165-180.