PHL 3002 Thanatos
What is death? Socrates ran towards it like it was his greatest friend. St. Francis blessed "our sister bodily death" in his Canticle. Heidegger claimed that living towards death is the only authentic form of living. Why then do we shun death? Why do we pretend that it is not there? These are some of the questions with which philosophers and human beings generally have been concerned for over two thousand years. They are the crucial questions that this course will raise. It will also address some of the answers philosophers have given to these questions. It will include readings from thinkers as diverse as Plato, Frankfurt, and Aquinas.