[lit-ideas] Death Conscious
- From: Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 22 Aug 2004 17:51:00 EDT
In a message dated 8/20/2004 12:29:26 PM Eastern Standard Time, pas@xxxxxxxx
writes:
I'm reminded of a line from a song that says "we're only
immortal for a limited time." How wonderfully paradoxical! I think this
"limited" time has a span that largely depends on the person choosing to
acknowledge their dreadful mortality. For most of us, we eventually find
ourself walking down Rue De Wakening with a healthy dose of realite in the
form of a friend's death, a parent's death, a child's death, or some other
stark reminder that people DO die -- including us.
-----
I think it was M. Scheler (the German philosopher) who said, in _The Place
of Man in Kosmos_ that Man is the only animal who has consciousness of her own
death?
This strikes me as pretty a prioristic, since I can't think it is very
_easy_ to _test_ whether the conscious of their death is present in animals, as
I'm sure it is. (But why Scheler failed to acknowledge this beats me).
Cheers,
JL
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