What is the meaning of death?

Answer 1

the absence of life or the termination point or the end of the line kicking the bucket , taking the long dirt nap , pushing up daisies, going towards the light ,, cessation of bodily function ,, flatlined

Answer 2

There are two philosophical stances toward death that I can describe which may help.

The first is following the ideas of philosopher Jacques Derrida. He was able to show that meaning is not only contextual, but that it always comes after the fact. In this case, the actual experience of your own death, to you, is meaningless. It is only how others will experince their reaction to your death that will give it meaning. That, and any imaginations you might have about the circumstances of your own death. Dispite all that, there will be, for you, no true understanding of the meaning of your own death.

Another philosphical stance is the one promoted by Sartre. Because death is a reality for all of us, it is essential that we are authentically that which we are. This is a call to authenticity, and to run from conformity. There will never be in the whole history of the universe another you, so you might as well really be you.

I hope that helps.

Answer 3

Death, may be the end of journey in this world. And not sure when and where the journey ends. But still believing on the fact that everyone starts dying from the time of birth, I would like to phrase death as the freedom form this world. The time when the energy source (the soul), leave this physical body. And be part of something else, which we r not sure. The realization point of nothing, and where all feeling become same.

Answer 4

Until I know what death is, I can not identify the question. If I think of it this way, this unknown concept that is death, the end of a lifes duration, has as its essence determination in the individual: belief, and, 'Meaning' is a word for which there are many substitutive descriptions for its definition. ('Meaning' as the verb form or present tense form for the word 'mean', a middle or half measure of a quantity, could be used to estimate a value. As a metaphor my meaning is an appraisal or estimation for a value for something, in this question, it is this word 'death' and its possible belief that an individual may ascert as true.) Its value may be of a contingent condition rather than on a principle that may define 'death' in its universal understanding or notion. So, a question using this notion for 'death' may have a different value for a different individual, i.e. what is meaning of THIS death?. Some of the time this question is as much a question about this life as it is the question for the meaning of this death. If everything in and for value stands as its own determinant value, then every death has its own meaning, and every meaning individual could mean their own value. What SHOULD death mean?

Answer 5

Is not life a hundred times too short for us to bore ourselves?
—§227

To die proudly when it is no longer possible to live proudly. Death freely chosen, death at the right time, brightly and cheerfully accomplished amid children and witnesses: then a real farewell is still possible, as the one who is taking leave is still there...
—Skirmishes of An Untimely Man, 36

Such a spirit who has become free stands amid the cosmos with a joyous and trusting fatalism, in the faith that only the particular is loathsome, and that all is redeemed and affirmed in the whole—he does not negate anymore. Such a faith, however, is the highest of all possible faiths: I have baptized it with the name of Dionysus.
—Skirmishes of an Untimely Man, 49

Answer 6

Death's meaning is entirely dependent upon the meaning of one's life.

Answer 7

Does death need to have a meaning? We as human beings are obligated by our natural drives to assign names, meanings, categories, and classifications to everything. Some things we name are substances that exist. Other things are stages. Death moreover suit as 'stage' of life just as 'morning' is a time of day--or a diurnal 'stage'.
Thus, 'death' is a stage of life: the termination, 'telos' or end.
As a word it of course is subject to more liberal and figurative applications.

Answer 8

I'll put my view of life and death in a metaphor.

Life is a stairway. Death is simply reaching the top of that stairway. What comes at the top of the stairs is dependant upon religion, belief, or whatever personal beliefs.

Answer 9

The meaning of death is limitation. We are limited beings; death is the ultimate boundary of our being. This may seem simple, on the surface, but it is actually a deeper concept. To make my point, let me offer two odd statements.

1) Death is not an event; it is an intrinsic aspect of Being.

2) Even if we are able to achieve immortality by some technological or spiritual means, our existence would still be bounded by the possibility of death.

Heidegger makes a distinction between death and demise. When a biological being stops functioning, this is what Heidegger calls the demise of the organism. Death, on the other hand, is the ever-present potentiality of Being. Even if you manage somehow to put off your biological demise indefinitely, the potential for your demise at any moment is still with you; death is still an intricate potentiality of your existence. Existence cannot be separated from non-existence. Existence stands out from Nothingness like the figure stands out from its background. You cannot have figure without ground; you can't have plus without minus, etc. You cannot have existence without death because death (non-existence) is the ground of existence.

To bring this into clearer focus, imagine for a moment that some version of the traditional notion of heaven is true. On this view, we are created by God, and God grants us immortality, which is to say, that he forever puts off the demise of our souls in heaven. (I'm just taking the notion of biological demise and applying it to the traditional concept of soul.) But even in this situation, we were thrown into existence. We did not have a choice to exist or not, we just found ourselves existing. Thus we never escape the brute fact of reality that the ground of our Being is still Non-Being. Even though we are immortal souls hanging out happily with God in heaven, the very fact that we exist implies that we did not chose to exist and could still cease to exist. As I said, this is because the very nature of existence implies the possibility of non-existence. In the case of the traditional God/heaven scenario, God is all powerful and could zap us out of existence even if, as a matter of fact, He never actually chooses to do so. Once again, the point is that death – as the potentiality for non-being – is always an intrinsic aspect of the nature of existence itself.

Personally, I don't buy the traditional notion of God. I think that "God" is just Existence, and thus God is limited in the same sense that Existence is limited, which is to say, that God did not choose to exist in the first place; God simply exists. And since God is Existence, an intrinsic aspect of God's nature is the possibility of Non-Existence. This is simply the brute logic of Being. So Death is a potentiality even for God. Even if, as a matter of fact God never actually dies, Death is still an aspect of God because the fact that God exists logically implies the possibility that God might never have existed, or might cease to exist, so even God must face the ultimate question of "Why do I exist?"

Existence is intrinsically limited by the fact that it is grounded in the possibility of non-existence. Truly understanding what this means will typically induce some degree of existential anxiety. This is good. This anxiety is a sign that you finally understand the true meaning of death.

Answer 10

Death is to put an end of your time in hell.