Obecność śmierci w życiu (The Presence of Death In Life)

Abstract

Theunissen places his philosophy of death between two traditions, the modern German philosophy represented by Feuerbach, Heidegger, Kierkegaard, Scheler and Simmel and the metaphysics of death, championed especially by Plato. At first sight these two points of view seems completely different. The modern philosophy construes death as something present in life (death dissolves in life) and Plato describes death as a separation of body and soul. In his analysis of the notion of ‘presence’ the author defends the thesis that the philosophy of death is the philosophy of life, provided life is construed as a movement which transcends itself. This transcendence is described as a continuous distance toward world and ourselves. In the end he comes to conclusion that the metaphysical interpretation of death is consistent with the postmetaphysical one, the former is like a theory and the latter is like a practice.

Keywords

• metaphysics of death
• modern philosophy
• postmetaphysical philosophy
• presence
• transcendence