Paper Topic:

Answer 3 questions in an essay

Abstract

The present will be based on answering the three questions related to the issue of death , based on the Plato 's work `Phaedo ' and the Phillipe Aries ' book about the changing western attitudes towards death

Explain Aries ' argument concerning the phenomena related to `one 's own death ' bring into being new concern for individuality

One 's own dying has been one of the major concerns following our ancestors throughout the history . At least from the Western perspective it is possible to state that the problem of one 's own death

was always an issue of anxiety and the problem for contemplation for the western philosophers . The will which has become a tradition and a norm in the western society is one of the external signs of the fact that people feared and fear their own death and think of the possibility for this death being painful or long

The outlooks at death were changing dramatically through the human history , starting with `tamed ' death , the death which was anticipated openly and for which people were preparing , the way it is described in the Phillipe Aries book , and up until it has turned into forbidden notion as it is seen in the modern society . In his book Aries writes that one 's own death in the traditional society was `fore warned (Aries 1974 ,

.3 , and this warning was coming `through an inner conviction rather than through a supernatural , magical premonition (Aries 1974 ,

. 7 ) This was a sign of a wise and psychologically stable individuality , as a person could not deny the fact that she (he ) would not die , and consciously preparing towards one 's own death was a sign of the individuality which was not rejecting infinite life , but was accepting the event of death as the transitive period into another world where earth life would be continued . Individuality in the traditional society , thus , was characterized by absolute absence of fear towards death , accepting it as a daily event towards which everyone had to be prepared

Starting with the eleventh century the attitudes towards one 's own death started to change towards less concern of a man about his own death , but was more interested in the death of other people , creating `the cult of tombs and cemeteries , and the romantic , rhetorical treatment of death (Aries 1974 ,

. 67 ) The interest towards someone else 's death rather towards one 's own is the sign of the concealed sign of fear towards death , as well as the wish of the person to see and try to imagine how it will happen with the one when he (she ) dies , seeing someone else on the cemetery

According to Socrates , how is philosophy to be understood as the practice of , or devotion to , dying

Plato in his Phaedo makes one important conclusion in relation to the issue of death and the connection of death and philosophy . He speaks about the possible analogy between philosophy and dying , or rather , to be correct , about...

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