Death: Philosophical Soundings - Hardcover

Fingarette, Herbert

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0812693299 ISBN 13: 9780812693294

Publisher: Open Court, 1999

Synopsis

No one who reads this book will ever again think of their own death in the same way.

Fingarette faces up to the reality of death and demolishes some popular errors in our thinking about death. He examines the metaphors which mislead us: death as parting, death as sleep, immortality as the denial of death, and selflessness as a kind of consolation.

He thinks through some of the more illuminating metaphors: death as the end of the world for me, death as the conclusion of a story, life as ceremony, and life as a tourist visit to earth. Fingarette goes on to discuss living a future without end and living a present without bounds. The author offers no facile consolation, but he identifies the true root of fear of death, and explains how the meaning of death can be reconceived.

"All of Herbert Fingarette's books are enormously personal voyages that explore with philosophical honesty real life dilemmas: self-deception, cultural alterity, the role of ritual, the achievement of personhood, justifications for alcoholism, and now death. One of Fingarette's most important career accomplishments". -- Roger T. Ames Philosophy East & West

About this title

Review

In a flowing, personal style, philosopher Herbert Fingarette places his finger on death, spins it around to view it from all perspectives and then cracks it wide open with the help of selections from 13 other commentators ranging from Tolstoy to Russell to Chuang-tzu. In the end, the nothingness that is death turns us toward ourselves in thought, and toward the world to live. An excellent treatment that invites the reader in to share a warm meal of healthy contemplation.

Edition details

• Publisher: Open Court
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0812693299
• ISBN 13: 9780812693294
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 175