Abstract
The customary view of death sees life as good, so death is loss. We have reason to fear death and mourn the dead. Philosophers including Socrates, Stoics, and Epicureans counsel: death is nothing to fear. Their dismissiveness stems from phenomenological false moves. They misjudge the temporality of human existence, ignoring its forward-looking character. Isolating death from life is a false move. Those who scorn death first scorn life, another false move. Socrates says that I am presumptuous to fear death. But death cuts me off from this world. My mortal involvements and hopes cease. I become unavailable, though the world goes on. Martin Heidegger describes us as being-toward-death. My death ends my life without completing it. My possibilities have no expiration date. Being mortal enables me to reflect on my life. Anxiety (Angst) can disrupt my evasiveness about my mortality and prod me to make my existence my own.