Death: Volume 15

What is death? How should the knowledge of our finitude affect the living of our lives and what are the virtues suitable to mortal beings? Does death destroy the meaningfulness of life or would life that never ended be eternally and absurdly tedious? Can death really be an evil if, after death, we no longer exist as subjects of goods or evils? How should we respond to the deaths of others and do we have any duties towards the dead? Geoffrey Scarre addresses these important questions and many others in his introduction to the philosophy of death. Drawing from a wide variety of philosophical and literary sources, Death offers a highly readable study of some of the major ethical and metaphysical riddles concerning death and dying. Scarre shows that, far from being a morbid subject, reflecting on death and its significance is an illuminating way of reflecting on life.