Heidegger and Nagel on Death and Dying

I was recently invited to write a short article for the University of York Philosophy Society’s philosophy magazine, Dialectic, on the subject of life and death. This has since come out in print and online, and can be found here.

Having read Heidegger’s treatment of death in Being and Time (upon which I have blogged on a previous occasion), as well as given a seminar presentation of Thomas Nagel’s treatment of the subject in the final chapter of The View From Nowhere, I thought it might be nice to try and combine the two. Due to length restrictions (1,000 words!), I couldn’t go into any great detail, but I hope the resulting piece gives at least a flavour of the two thinkers in question as well as some of the issues—both personal and philosophical—that arise when reflecting upon the nature and inevitability of our own deaths.

From a personal point of view, it’s particularly satisfying to see York Philosophy Society and Dialectic doing so well, as I was responsible for starting both during my time as an undergraduate at the University of York. The original aim was to combine academic and non-academic aspects of philosophy in a way that would reach out to and engage students with different interests and backgrounds, as well as enriching the whole experience of studying philosophy at York. These aims are certainly reflected in both the content and presentation of the magazine, which has gone from strength to strength thanks to some excellent leadership from its editorial teams, and I’m very happy to have been able to continue to contribute to that in some small way.

In any case, I’d be interested to know what people think of the piece and whether my interpretation of Heidegger (and Nagel) manages to capture anything of interest in this vast and fascinating area of philosophical debate.