CHAPTER 8: Human Person are Oriented Towards their Impending Death

Lesson 1:

I. Meaning of One’s Life

A. Plato Contemplation Theory of Immortality

B. Aristotle’s Realizing Potential (Moral Virtue Theory)

Objectives

1. Recognize the meaning of his/her own life

2. Explain the meaning of life (where will all

these lead to)

3. Reflect on the meaning of his/her

Nothing lasts forever (walang forever). The

cycle of being born, growing up and growing old and
dying is a reality. We have limited time here on earth
and whether we like it or not, we are bound to die.
Death is real. It is a part of our being. Death is
commonly understood as the end of bodily functions. It also refers to the separation of body and spirit.
Everything that exists in this universe comes to an end and we humans are not exempted. The acceptance of
being a temporary individual in this world gives us a clearer vision on how to live life to the fullest and
understand the meaning of our existence. We have the freedom to choose a well-lived life; doing good and
doing what is right. What makes us happy? Happiness is a state of being (over all physical condition of a
person), not just only an emotion or a decision. We do not choose happiness because we feel it, we do not
choose happiness because we need it but happiness is the totality of who we are as human beings. Aside from
that, we must also consider the goods and sources of our happiness.

HOW DOES THE REALITY OF DEATH DEFINE OUR LIVES

 Death is the end of bodily functions which signals the end of a person's life. It also refers to the
separation of the body and the soul;

 The human person is an embodied spirit or the unity of a body and a spirit. The body grows and dies,
while the soul continues to exist even after the body has passed.

 This makes a person's life limited in time but no one really knows when life will end. This has given rise
to various expression such as YOLO.
  These attitudes are not necessarily bad but we must embrace the fact that death is an integral part of
our life and focus on the quantifiable aspects as well as its quality. The acceptance of our temporality
can bring about sense of freedom in us it can also give us a clearer purpose and focus on our activities.

TYPES of DEATH

Manner of Death

Natural death as a result of age or disease; this is the most common type of death The most common natural
causes of death are respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. Accidental falls followed by suicide are the most
common unnatural causes of death.

Unnatural when people die because of human decisions and actions and unnatural death results from
an external cause, typically including homicides, suicides, accidents, medical errors, alcohol
intoxications and drug overdoses.

Accidental: caused by unplanned events (i.e. car accident)

How should I live my life before it finally ends

 Self-determination is the capacity to choose and act for oneself.

 While there is no freedom in the inevitability of death, we have the freedom to live well or not.
Temporarily challenges us to make that will be good for us and the people around us. Although we are
oriented towards our death, death is not the goal of life. The challenge is to live ameaningful life.
TELOS- goals, purpose or fulfillment.
TERMINUS- mean the full stop or end of a line.

 HAPPINESS
- a state of being, not just an emotional experience or chosen mental attitude. We do not choose happiness;
we choose the means to achieve it. A good is a source of happiness and it has three kinds.
Kinds of Good
1. Noble good is one which is pursued for its own sake, example is love and
friendship.
2. Useful good is found only from what it can provide,
3. Pleasurable good is good so long as it provides pleasure. Whatever the source of our happiness right now,
let us see to it that it is real and example is money and as it can buy you something
SUFFERING
 takes place when we patiently endure unpleasantness, discomfort and pain. It can be experienced
physically or mentally.
TYPES OF SUFFERING
1. PHYSICAL SUFFERING
When we experience physical sensations such as discomfort, hunger, distress, pain These are often
caused by injury, disease, and lack of basic needs.
2. MENTAL SUFFERING
Involves emotional and mental states such as depression, anxiety, fear, loneliness, and grief. These may
be caused by unexpected situations in life such as sudden changes in lifestyle, loss of employment,
stressful situations, and grief caused by the death of a loved one.

HOW DO HAPPINESS, SUFFERING AND DEATH GIVE MEANING TO YOUR LIFE?

 As we approach our death, we experience both happiness and suffering. Although these are distinct
experiences, the two are not really meant to be complete opposites, for there may be instances when
they enrich one another. The pursuit of happiness requires that we go through the effort to achieve it.
Our efforts are often marked by difficulties and discouragement.
WHY DO WE SUFFER?

 Negative experiences are part of our lives. Without it. we are unable to grow and improve, and our
positive experiences lose meaning and significance. It's important to remember that difficulties are not
without reason. More often, our hardship brings about realizations and opportunities for us. Even if the
outcome of a difficulty is unfavorable, dealing with suffering can improve our attitude towards life and
other people
A. PLATO CONTEMPLATION THEORY OF IMMORTALITY
Plato

[Death], “Is this something that the separation of soul from the body? It died when the
body is separate from the soul remains alone, apart, with himself, and when the soul,
separated from the body, left alone, apart, with itself “…Fear of death is natural for
humans, but death should be seen as the fruit of life.

B. Aristotle’s Realizing Potential (Moral Virtue Theory)

Potential
The Unmoved Mover is the straw that stirs Aristotle’s philosophy. When we talk about “potentiality” and
“actuality” we are talking about fulfilling our nature in our quest to discover who we are and why we are here.
For Aristotle, everything has an inherent purpose and our job it to discover ours. The Unmoved Mover is the
force in all living things that makes this happen.It can accomplish this because the Unmoved Mover is pure
actuality. It is the completely actualized entity, and it exists in each living thing alluring it to actualize its potential.
It’s the little spark of divinity in each of us that needs to turn into a raging fire. It entices every living thing to live
out its potential. This is its similarity to quantum evocation.Aristotle thought that the more we actualize our
potential, the more we embody the Unmoved Mover (or God), becoming more “Godlike” in the process.The
downside of Aristotle’s philosophy is the happiness he is referring to is just an “earthly happiness.” Once we die,
we die and that’s it. We don’t get to take it with us.

Happiness.
It is a term we throw about without much thought these days… my guess is that, actually, you think
you know what is meant by saying someone is happy.

According to Aristotle, happiness consists in achieving, through the course of a whole lifetime, all the
goods — health, wealth, knowledge, friends, etc. — that lead to the perfection of human nature and to
the enrichment of human life. This requires us to make choices, some of which may be very difficult. .

VIRTUE ETHICS

VIRTUE ETHICS is an ethical view originating in ancient Greece which says that ethics is fundamentally about
learning to live well. According to Aristotle, the good life is when a man is living a virtuous life; a kind of life
which is oriented toward our proper end, our purpose.
CHAPTER 8: Human Person are Oriented Towards their Impending Death
Lesson 2:

A. Schopenhauer

B. Heidegger

C. Karl Jasper

Objectives

1. Enumerate the objectives he/she really wants to achieve and to define the
projects he/she really wants to do in his/her life

2. Explain the meaning of life (where will all these lead to)

3. Reflect on the meaning of his/her own life.

A. Schopenhauer on Death

Arthur Schopenhauer was a German philosopher. He is best known for his 1818 work The World as Will and
Representation, which characterizes the phenomenal world as the product of a blind noumenal will. Building on
the transcendental idealism of Immanuel Kant, Schopenhauer developed an atheistic metaphysical and ethical
system that rejected the contemporaneous ideas of German idealism. He was among the first thinkers in
Western philosophy to share and affirm significant tenets of Indian philosophy, such as asceticism, denial of
the self, and the notion of the world-as-appearance. His work has been described as an exemplary
manifestation of philosophical pessimism.

ON DEATH AND LIFE AS DYING

The concept of death is a fundamental adjunct of Schopenhauer's metaphysics of appearance and Will.
Schopenhauer interprets death as the aim and purpose of life. He maintains that to live is to suffer, that the
triumph of death is inevitable, and that existence is a constant dying. Yet Schopenhauer also insists that death
is the denial of the individual will or will-to-live; that birth and death as events in the phenomenal world are alike
unreal; that death is not complete annihilation; and that suicide, though not morally objectionable, is
philosophically pointless because it affirms the will-to-live.
The paradoxes in Schopenhauer's reflections on the
nature of death must be understood in order to appreciate
what he means by the empirical will in its relation to Will
as thing-in-itself in his unique brand of post-Kantian
idealism.

C. Heidegger
Martin Heidegger was a German philosopher who is best known for contributions to phenomenology,
hermeneutics, and existentialism. He is among the most important and influential philosophers of the 20th
century. He has been widely criticized for supporting the Nazi Party after his election as rector at the University
of Freiburg in 1933, and there has been controversy about the relationship between his philosophy and
Nazism.

Being-towards-death

In Heidegger's view, it is the encounter with death that most profoundly highlights the question of Being. “Only
humanity ‘has’ the distinction of standing and facing death, because the human being is earnest about Being
(Seyn): death is the supreme testimony to Being (Seyn)” (GA 65: 230). “Death opens up the question of Being”
(GA 65: 284). Thus Heidegger's detailed examination of human mortality was motivated by the question: what
can death tell us about the fundamental meaning of Being?

 Death was a central theme of Heidegger's thought throughout his entire philosophical career.
 He considered the knowledge of the existence of death and believed that the existence of knowledge
leads to the knowledge of the universe.
 The immense popularity of Being and Time owed much to his emphasis that “preparedness for death”
is a fundamental key to authentic existence – that the disclosure of authentic Being only occurs when
Dasein confronts its own finitude by resolutely accepting that it is always, and inescapably, on a journey
towards its own death.
 Death is the possibility of the impossibility of all other possibilities
 D. Karl Jasper

Karl Jaspers, (born Feb. 23, 1883, Oldenburg, Ger.—died Feb. 26, 1969, Basel, Switz.), German-
Swiss philosopher and psychiatrist. As a research psychiatrist, he helped establish psychopathology on
a rigorous, scientifically descriptive basis, especially in his General Psychopathology (1913). He taught
philosophy at the University of Heidelberg from 1921 until 1937, when the Nazi regime forbade him to
work. From 1948 he lived in Switzerland, teaching at the University of Basel. In his magnum
opus, Philosophy (3 vol., 1969), he argued that the aim of philosophy is practical; its purpose is the
fulfillment of human existence (Existenz). For Jaspers, philosophical illumination is achieved in the
experience of limit situations, such as conflict, guilt, and suffering, that define the human condition. In
its confrontation with these extremes mankind achieves its existential humanity. He is one of the most
important figures of existentialism.
Karl Jasper on Death

Karl Jaspers' existential concept of death lies at the heart of this book. For Jaspers, a human being is
not merely a physical entity, but a being with a transcendent aspect, which is in some sense ‘deathless’. It is
the connection between these two aspects of the human being that governs the structure of his work. This
book is primarily concerned to clarify and reassess Jaspers' concept of death and his claim that one's
transcendent self ‘knows no death’. In this respect, it is an attempt to determine what it means for a human
being to be ‘deathless’ within the Jaspersian framework.

The book explores Jaspers' notion of death, seeking to provide a better understanding of human
existence in this world. In a sense it is a reflection on what it means to be human, highlighting the significance
of the relationship between man and death, and his preoccupation with human finitude. We know that we must
eventually die, and sooner or later we have to confront our own mortality. There is, however, no certainty as to
when and where we might die.

Traditionally, the idea of finitude and death are closely associated, for it is death that marks our finitude.
Human finitude is a biological fact and is intrinsic to human nature. But people perceive death not only as the
empirical limit to existence but also as a metaphysical issue. The distinction between biological death and
death as a philosophical issue is important because an empirical inquiry into death is fundamentally different
from a metaphysical inquiry.
What I have learned

 Human is temporary. Nothing is forever.

 We have to exercise our freedom in a positive way. Since we all will face
judgement on the comings days and our happiness will be determined by how
we exercise our freedom.

 We should always remember to do good rather than bad.

 Real happiness can be found in a more lasting and important things.

 Suffering takes place when we feel pain. It can be experienced physically or

mentally. It is generally viewed as an undesirable condition, and that we
naturally seek pleasure and avoid pain. Humans as we are, we normally
experience pain and we often view it as necessary to help as grow and
become a strong person and find the deepest meaning of our lives.

 As we approach our death, we experience both happiness and suffering. The

two are not really meant to be extreme opposites, for they can also enrich one
another.

 As intersubjective beings who have a tendency to form bonds with others, it is

only natural that the meaning of life be found when we open ourselves to
others. This means that although we will eventually die, we have an
opportunity to enrich our lives as well as the lives of others