Political Theory on Death and Dying: Key Thinkers

Cover
Endorsement
Half Title
Title Page
Copyright Page
Table of Contents
Contributors
Acknowledgments
Introduction
	Changing Lifespans, Changing Societies
	Philosophy and the Politics of Death
	Notes
	References
1 Memory and Mortality in Homer’s Odyssey
	Odysseus’ Curious Forgetfulness
	Remembering Death
	Examinations in Ithaca
	Jealous Gods
	Notes
	References
2 Confucian Authority and the Politics of Caring
	A Primer of Confucianism
	Xiao and Relational Personhood
	Ren and Care-Based Political Authority
	Li and Social Cohesion
	Datong and the Great Community
	Conclusion
	Notes
	References
3 “Every Form of Death”: Thucydides On Death’s Political Presence
	Pericles’ Funeral Oration
	The Plague at Athens
	Corcyrean Civil War
	Atrocities
	Conclusion
	Notes
	References
4 Mortality, Recollection, and Human Dignity in Plato
	Recollection in the Meno and Phaedo
	The Phaedrus and the Ascent to Beauty
	Dignity and Dialectic
	Notes
	References
5 Good Old Age: Aristotle and the “Virtues” of Aging
	What Is Old Age?
	Happy Old Age and Grumpy Old Men
	The Dispositions of Old Men
	Conclusion
	Notes
	References
6 The Buddha, Death, and Taxes
	Introduction
	Summary of the Buddha’s Key Teachings
	Death, Finitude, and Tragedy
	Death as Opportunity
	Conclusion
	Notes
	References
7 Flourishing Toward Dissolution: Epicurus On the Resilience of Tranquility
	Epicurean Metaphysics and Ethics
	Epicurus On Death
	Objections and Responses
	Epicurus On Dying
	Epicurus On Friendship
	Notes
	References
8 The Political Philosophy of Death in Laozi
	Dao, Ziran, Wuwei
	Death in Laozi
	Death as Social Critique
	Conclusion
	Notes
	References
9 The Bhagavad Gita and Paradox of Death
	(Im)mortality and the Ontology of the Self
	Dharmic Disinterestedness
	Conclusion: Equanimity, Conscience, and Earthly Preservation
	Notes
	References
10 Life and Death as a Political Act: Cicero and the Stoics
	Virtue and the Good for Mortal Beings
	The Moral and Political Implications of Mortality
	Suicide as the Manifestation of Self-Sufficiency
	Human Imperfection and Human Wisdom
	Notes
	References
11 Prenatal and Posthumous Nonexistence: Lucretius On the Harmlessness of Death
	The Epicurean View of Death
	Lucretius On Prenatal and Posthumous Nonexistence: The Symmetry Argument
	Responses to the Symmetry Argument
	Is It Good That We Are Not Immortal?
	Implications for Public Policy
	Notes
	References
12 The Road to Freedom: Seneca On Fear, Reason, and Death
	Seneca’s Life and the Proximity of Death
	Seneca’s Stoic Philosophy
	Fear of Death
	Grieving Well
	Dying Well
	Progressing to Freedom
	Notes
	References
13 Continuity Without Corruption: The Political Theology of Death in St. Augustine
	Death in Confessions
	Death in The City of God
	Conclusion
	Notes
	References
14 Jihad for the City: How Alfarabi Discourages, and Encourages, Death in Battle
	War in the City and the World
	Worlds Without Rank
	Pleasure, Virtue, and the Afterlife
	Warrior Virtue and the Opinions About the Afterlife
	Notes
	References
15 Techniques for the Social Self: Abu .amid Al-Ghazali and the Remembrance of Death
	Grappling With Al-Ghazali’s Works and Legacy
	Remembrance of Death as Disciplining the Self
	The Death of the Prophet and the “Shadows of the Graves”
	Material Continuity and the Presence of the Dead
	Death and the Prince
	The Role and Limits of Intercession
	Conclusions
	Notes
	References
16 Death and Dying, Mortality and Immortality in Moses Maimonides
	The Commentary On the Mishnah and the Mishneh Torah
	The Treatise On Resurrection and Maimonides’s Teaching Overall
	Notes
17 The Young, the Old, and the Immortal: Machiavelli On Political Health and Aging
	Machiavelli and Fortune Favor the Young
	The Young Can Learn, the Old Can’t Change
	The Young Are Dangerous
	The New and the Past
	Renewal, Return, and Immortality
	Notes
	References
18 Death in Montaigne’s Essays
	“That to Philosophize Is to Learn to Die,” and Death in the 1580 Edition of the Essays
	Montaigne’s Evolving Approach: Death in the Final Essays
	Montaigne and the Politics of Death
	Notes
	References
19 When “Every Third Thought Shall Be My Grave”: Shakespeare’s King Lear and The Tempest
	King Lear and the Sad Weight of Time
	The Tempest and the Beneficent Weight of Time
	Death and Life
	Notes
	References
20 Francis Bacon On “The Dolours of Death”
	The Utility of a Longer, Healthier Life
	Fears of Death
	Interlude: Natural Philosophy and the Decay of All Bodies
	Human Philosophy and the Importance of Reputation
	Conclusion: Reputational Immortality and Enduring Legacy
	Notes
	References
21 Descartes On How We Should Relate to Death
	Background
	A Short Introduction to Descartes’s Ethics
	Descartes On Why We Should Not Fear Death
	Descartes On Why We Should Not Long For Death
	Conclusion: Descartes On How We Should Relate to Death
	Notes
	References
22 “The Wages of Sin”: Morality and Mortality in John Milton’s Paradise Lost
	The Nature of Death
	First Degree: Guiltiness as Bad Conscience
	Second Degree: Loss of Divine Grace
	Third Degree: Death of the Body
	Fourth Degree: Permanent Death
	Conclusion
	Notes
	References
23 A Liberation From Fear: Benedict De Spinoza On Religion, Philosophy, and Mortality
	Philosophy and the Problem of Superstition
	Love, Death, and Politics
	Some Unanswered Questions
	Notes
	References
24 Thomas Hobbes On the Uses and Disadvantages of Death for Political Life
	Fear of Death as a Political Danger
		Death and Human Ignorance
		Death and Superstition
		Death, Immortality, and the Seeds of Rebellion
	Fear of Death as Political Good
		The Violent Death of the Body Vs. the Eternal Death of the Soul in Hobbes’s Science
		Fear of Death and the Social Contract
		Sovereignty and Death
	Conclusion
	Notes
	References
25 The Role of Death and Eternity in Locke’s Political Philosophy
	On the Possibility of Learning From Mortality
	Locke’s Century and His Major Works
	Politics, Religion, and Epistemology in A Letter Concerning Toleration
	Locke’s Teaching On Mortality: The Essay and The Reasonableness of Christianity
	Notes
	References
26 Montesquieu On Death, Liberty, and Law
	Introduction: Montesquieu’s Life
	Man, Beasts, and Death
	Timidity, Mutual Fear, and Sociality
	Tranquility, Security, and Liberty
	Conclusion: Montesquieu’s Death
	Notes
	References
27 Can Philosophy Console Us?: Hume’s Understanding of Mortality
	Philosophy and Religion
	Popular Religion
	Immortality in the Light of Reason and Nature
	Consolation and a Philosophical Disposition
	But Does Hume’s Philosophy Fully Explain His Peaceful Death?
	Notes
	References
28 Jean-Jacques Rousseau On the Fear of Death and the Happiness of Life
	Natural Man in the Discourse On Inequality
	Preserving the Man of Nature in Society
	The Reveries of the Solitary Walker and a New Model of the Man of Nature
	Notes
	References
29 Adam Smith and Dying Peacefully
	Two Similar Deaths
	Two Different Deaths
	Two Different Lives
	Two Different Societies
	Conclusion
	Notes
	References
30 Nature, Second Nature, and Supernature: Death and Consolation in the Thought of Edmund Burke
	Burke and Death
		Death and Nature
		Human Nature and Sympathy
		Second Nature and Memory
		Supernature, God, and Hope
	Unnatural Death and Revolution
	Death in Burke’s Life
	Conclusion
	Notes
	References
31 Kant On Death and the Purpose of Human Life
	Death and Moral Freedom
	Death, Politics, and Morality
	Death and Happiness
	Conclusion
	Notes
	References
32 Overcoming the Mortal Diseases and Short Lives of Republican Governments: Publius and Political Immortality
	What Counts as Political Death?
	Understanding Bad Deaths
	What Kills? The Sources of Political Death
	The Constitution and Political Immortality
	The Future of the Federalist Project
	Notes
	References
33 Hegel On Death and the Spirit
	Death and Determinate Negation
	The Struggle for Recognition
	The Ethical Community: Antigone
	The Ethical Community: The French Revolution
	Death and Revealed Religion
	The Philosophy of Right
	Notes
	References
34 Through the Valley of the Shadow of Death: Søren Kierkegaard’s Philosophy of Love
	Context and Background
	Kierkegaard’s Ethic of Love
	The Death of Others and the Purity of Love
	Our Own Death and the Earnestness of Life
	Despairing Unto Death
	Learning to Live With Loss
	Conclusion: Finding Freedom Through Love and Death
	Notes
	References
35 Immortality and Angst in Tocqueville’s America
	The Paradox of American Spirituality
	American Civil Religion and the Afterlife
	Revivalist Theology
	Conclusion
	Notes
	References
36 “What Is Odious in Death Is Not Death Itself, But the Act of Dying”: John Stuart Mill On the Political Philosophy of Death and Dying
	Utilitarianism, Death, and Dying
	The Death Penalty
	Mill On Sympathy, Death, and Duty
	Conclusion
	Notes
	References
37 Death and Dynamism in Nietzsche’s Political Philosophy
	Nietzsche’s Tragic Pessimism
	Pessimism and Politics
	Cultural Interventions
	Philosophy and Nietzsche’s Life and Legacy
	Notes
	References
38 Facing Death Fearlessly, So Others Can Live Without Fear: Gandhi’s Philosophy as Art of Dying
	Gandhi’s Satyagraha: Save Other Lives Without Fearing One’s Own Death
	Gandhi’s Guide to Transcending Fear of Death
	“Death, a Friend”: Gandhi’s Exemplars
	Art of Dying: Save Lives, Not Spiritual Counseling
	Dealing With Disease, Grief, and Death
	Designing Death: “Living By Dying”
	Notes
	References
39 “An Earthly Immortality”: Arendt On Mortality, Politics, and Political Death
	Overcoming “The Law of Mortality”—Natality as a Response to Human Finitude
	The Fragility of the World and Political Death
	From Care of the World to Healthcare—The Challenge of Arendtian Politics
	From Personal to Political Mortality
	Notes
	References
40 Death in Martin Heidegger’s Being and Time
	The Person as Being-In-The-World
	From Inauthentic Everydayness to Authentic Being-Toward-Death
	Moods and Death
	Misunderstandings of Death: Inauthentic Mode
	Anticipations of Death: Authentic Mode
	Authentic Death and the Political
	Notes
	References
41 Make Live and Let Die: Michel Foucault, Biopower, and the Art of Dying Well
	Sovereign Power, Racism, and Death in the Biopolitical State
	Biopower, Sexuality, and Life in the Biopolitical State
	Ancient Ascetics, Modern Activists: From Death Preparation Rituals to Die-Ins
	Notes
	References
42 Beauvoir’s Philosophy of Death and Aging
	Beauvoir’s Life and Death
	Beauvoir On Death
		Do We Survive Death?
		Is Death Bad?
		Should We Fear Death?
		Does Death Make Life Meaningless?
		Is Dying Bad?
	Beauvoir On Aging
		Change in Identity
		Bad Faith
		Being-for-Others
		Meaning in Life
		Modern Society
	Epilogue
	Notes
	References
43 Metamorphoses: Gilles Deleuze On Living and Death
	Living: Emerging From Immanence
	Living as the Eternal Return of Difference
	Every Death Is Double
	Collapsing the Two Faces of Living and Death in the Event
	Notes
	References
44 Jacques Derrida On Death, the Death Penalty, and Mourning
	Différance and Deconstruction
	Death, Life, and Responsibility
	State-sanctioned Death
	The Necessity of Friendship and the Work of Mourning
	Conclusion
	Notes
	References
45 Alasdair MacIntyre and the Twilight of the Virtues
	MacIntyre’s Radical Virtue Ethics
	Virtue and Narrative in the Twilight of Life
	Glimpsing Eternity: Politics and Good Lives
	Notes
	References
Index