The video above records the last reflections on life and death by the philosopher Herbert Fingarette (1921-2018) who had a long career at the UC-Santa Barbara. As a reader put it:
… there is an immediacy here that cuts to the bone … the impact can be overwhelming: we internalize it as a transcendent phenomenon–as if it were happening to us …
The story of Ivan Ilyich indicates an inseparable connection between death and meaning. The precise connection is unclear, but surely it depends in large part on whether death is the end of our consciousness. Continue reading Death is an Ultimate Evil
Oswald Hanfling (1927 – 2005) was a German philosopher who worked until his death at the Open University in the United Kingdom. Continue reading Oswald Hanfling on Death and Meaning
Vincent Barry is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Bakersfield College, having taught there for thirty-four years. Continue reading Summary of Vincent Barry’s, Philosophical Thinking about Death and Dying
Leo Tolstoy’s short novel, The Death of Ivan Ilyich, provides a great introduction to connection between death and the meaning of life. It tells the story of a forty-five year old lawyer who is self-interested, opportunistic, and busy with mundane affairs. He has never considered his own death until disease strikes. Continue reading Summary of Tolstoy’s, The Death of Ivan Ilyich