Is it Rational To Fear Death?
Sharon Ryan
In his Letter to Menoeceus, Epicurus presents a simple argument against the standard view that death is both very bad and something to be feared.
According to Epicurus,
?So death, the most terrifying of ills, is nothing to us, since so long as we exist, death is not with us; but when death comes, then we do not exist. It does not then concern either the living or the dead, since for the former it is not, and the latter are no more.?
I will formulate Epicurus?s argument as follows:
Fear of Death is Irrational
(1) Death is not bad for the one who is dead.(2) If (1), then it is irrational to fear one?s own death.
(3) It is irrational to fear one?s own death.
The rationale for premise (1) hinges on ?The Existence Condition for Harm? which holds that nothing bad can happen to a person at a time unless s/he exists at that time. We don?t exist when we are dead, thus death cannot be harmful to us.
The rationale for premise (2) hinges on the simple idea that it is irrational to fear things that are not harmful. Under normal conditions, for example, it would be irrational for a person to fear a harmless, beautiful flower.
Premise (1) is extremely interesting. I think it is false, but I will focus on premise (2) in this brief essay. Dr. Mark Wicclair?s essay on THE QUESTION this month includes an interesting discussion of premise (1) of this argument. (Please take a look at Dr. Wicclair?s essay.)
For the sake of this argument, suppose Epicurus is correct and death is not a bad thing. That is, suppose premise (1) is true. Would that be sufficient to show that it is not rational to fear death? No, so premise (2) is false. Consider the following example. Suppose Sally is justified in believing that a serial killer is in the neighborhood and he is interested in killing her. Suppose she also knows that he usually hides in the basement of his victim?s house. As Sally comes into her house at the end of a long and hard day, she hears some unusual sounds coming from the basement and she gets scared. Her fear would not be irrational even if there is actually nothing bad in the basement. (Imagine that it is her friends getting ready to jump out and shout ?surprise? for a surprise birthday party.) Thus, Epicurus?s simple idea that it is irrational to fear things that are not harmful or bad is too simple.
The problem is that what it is rational to fear has something to do with what it is rational for us to believe. An Epicurean might respond by claiming that anyone who thinks clearly about the issue would be justified in believing that death is not a bad thing. I disagree with that, but even if that is correct, we still should not accept the conclusion that fear of death is irrational. Just to clarify, suppose Epicurus?s Argument were restated as follows:(1) S is justified in believing that death is not bad for S.
(2) If (1), then it is irrational for S to fear S?s own death.
(3) It is irrational for S to fear S?s own death.
To see why the second premise of this argument fails, put yourself in the shoes of an excellent brain surgeon. Suppose she is about to do a surgery that she is justified in believing will turn out well. Suppose she has read all the pertinent literature, done the surgery 30 times before, etc. Suppose that there is some small chance that things will go wrong, and if they do go wrong, it will be in an extremely bad way. If you were her, what would you believe about the surgery? Would you be a little scared? I?d believe it would turn out well. However, I would not be 100% confident, and I would be fearful about the outcome. I would do the surgery, I?d be justified in believing everything would be fine, but I?d also be afraid. I don?t think my fear would be irrational.
People fear death, in part, because they are not 100% certain about a basic assumption of Epicurus?s argument. They are not 100% certain that death is, as Thomas Nagel puts it, an ?experiential blank.? Perhaps there is some kind of consciousness left after we die. Is this obviously impossible? While I, myself, believe that one could not have any consciousness without my living brain, I confess that I?m not 100% confident that I am right. The mind/body problem and the problem of personal identity are tough problems, and I think my current views might be wrong. I have been wrong plenty of times. Maybe I will somehow survive the death of my body and I will be tortured or tormented. Maybe I will be aware of the fact that I am separated from those I love. That is pretty terrible. Even if I am justified in believing this is not what will happen, I cannot rule out the possibility that I am wrong. Since that possibility is so terrible, I do not think fearing it is irrational.
Moreover, many people are not 100% certain that death is not bad even if death is an ?experiential blank.? Many people think there might be something to the deprivation theory even if they are justified in believing Epicurus is right. The idea that one day it will all be over and you will not be able to experience anything seems bad. The possibility that this idea is correct is enough to make fear of death rational.
Furthermore, although I think this is obvious, Epicurus?s argument, at best, only addresses one fear that falls into the general fear of death. Certainly, the idea that the dying process can be terrible and terrifying is untouched by Epicurus?s argument. And, many people fear, more than their own death, the death of others. Most of us fear the death of our parents, our siblings, and our friends. Even if death is not bad for the one who dies, it is surely bad for the ones who are left behind, desperately longing to have one more walk, one more cup of tea, one more embrace with the one they loved.
Thus, in the end, I am not comforted one bit by Epicurus?s argument. Death can be bad for the one who dies. Moreover, even if death is not, in fact, bad for the one who dies, death can still be terrifying.
Please let me know if you think I?ve made any mistakes. Although I usually like to be right about things, in this situation, I would love to be wrong!
