PHIL 200 Death

In this course, we will draw on philosophy, literature, psychology, and film in order to consider the significance of death for the way we live our lives. We will address three main sets of questions: (1) Is death bad for the person who dies? Does the fact that we will die undermine the meaning of our lives or render our lives absurd? (2) Does the character or duration of our grief over the deaths of people who are close to us, for example, our children or our spouses, help determine the significance of our relationships with those people? If so, how? (3) How, if at all, are our values shaped by the assumption that others will live on after we die?