Philosophy Today

Volume 58, Issue 2, Spring 2014

Does Death Make Us Equal?

This paper examines the question concerning the equality vs. inequality of death from a metaphysical and existential, rather than political or socio-economic, point of view. Hence, the paper is a contribution to the philosophy of death, dying, and mortality. It is argued that some philosophical accounts of death that are otherwise opposed to each other (e.g., Epicureanism and the “privation view” made famous by Thomas Nagel) are symmetrical regarding this fundamental issue. A recent attempt to resolve the threat death poses to the “importance of goodness” by Mark Johnston is critically explored. The horizon of guilt will thereby be opened toward the end of the paper.