Abstract
From its very inception philosophy has been preoccupied with death, so much so that many philosophers have received the reputation of being somber, melancholic, and morbid in nature. By continuously reflecting on the meaning and nature of death, philosophers have seemingly been shrouded in darkness to such an extent that their contemporaries considered them to be dead long before they met their own demise. While this image of the moribund philosopher can certainly be questioned, the fact remains that many philosophers, and then especially the ancient ones, have insisted that there is an essential relation between philosophical thought and death. A life dedicated to philosophy would, it seems, at the same time imply a life lived in the shadow of death.
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Notes
- 1.
At the end of the Apology, however, Socrates makes some claims about life after death (40c–41c).
- 2.
For a discussion about the various senses of the terms “soul” and “body” in Plato’s texts, and hence the various ways the distinction is employed, see Strandberg 2015, 10–12.
- 3.
For more bibliographical information about Patočka’s essay, see Erika Abrams’ comments in relation to the French translation of the text (Patočka 1995, 296–297). See also Jan Frei’s contribution in this volume.
- 4.
The numbers within slashes refer to the page numbers of the printed Czech text, included within slashes in the below English translation.
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Strandberg, G., Strandberg, H. (2024). Introduction. In: Strandberg, G., Strandberg, H. (eds) Jan Patočka and the Phenomenology of Life After Death. Contributions to Phenomenology, vol 128. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-49548-9_1
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