In class we discussed
Lucretius and Epictetus.
Lucretius’ philosophy
is to strive to maximize pleasure and minimize pain. These two ideas would then
help us measure what is good and what is bad (which makes a lot of sense).
Epictetus was a
representative of the stoicism school. Stoics were primarily concerned with
relationships of determinism and human freedom.
To be honest, I do not
understand these two philosophers as much as I would want to, but at least I
can say that I do agree with one thing that they said. I agree with their idea
that we should not fear death. I agree with this because we are humans, and if
there is one thing guaranteed in this life for us is our death. Yes, it is
normal to grieve for losing our loved ones, but we shouldn't lose control of
ourselves because of it. We
simply cannot stop the inevitable since we are destined to have the same ending. Dying is one of the rules of nature, and we must
accept and understand that.
What I do not agree
with is with their idea of our soul dying at the same time our body does. I
believe that there is, in fact, an afterlife. Of course this cannot be proven
so more than anything this is a matter of personal believes.
Overall, their
philosophies are a little confusing to me, but the thing that stood out in my
mind about them the most was their perception of death.
Jessica, you mentioned a good point about death, and for sure this subject is one of the most discussed in the world. We have no ideia what it is, and nowadays, it is one of the few things that people cannot explain. Those two philosophers were successful to talk about death but still something else to be explained. To do not suffer with death is a good point that they said, but the problem is: why does it happen? when? how? I guess we will never be ready to die, agree you or not, none of us want to die. We might not be scare to the word DEATH, but we are get scare because we have no idea what is going to happen with us. I don't know about you, but I am so scare of it. I am just waiting some other philosopher or scientist to bring an answer for this question.
ReplyDeleteYes, we are afraid of the unknown and it's okay. I am afraid of dying, but we can't do anything about it or worry too much because it is something that we all will go through. Why be afraid of our destiny.
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