Thomas Nagel's Argument On Death

In Thomas Nagel's Death, Nagel concludes that death does not have to be a bad thing. Nagel defines death as permanently being the end of something or someone and plainly drawing a blank. This then presents the question of whether death is to be considered a bad thing or not. By introducing the subject by multiple viewpoints, Nagel attempts to attack the issues he presents in efforts to make his conclusion seem most reasonable. Nagel first surfaces the issue that being that death is supposedly the worst possible thing that can happen to us, once we begin to imagine what being dead would be like, a mere blank, it would then have no meaning to us. Once we realize what it is and what would happen, especially it being the apparent

Nagel properly, although confusingly, makes his argument as to why death should not be feared. In Nagel's argument, he seems to be refuting his conclusion and stating all the reasons to how death is bad and evil. Nagel then refutes all of these arguments very simply with his listings of examples. Nagel describes death as being that the person who is dead does not feel anything and is considered to be a pit of nothingness, that person has nothing to be afraid of. Nagel very carefully steers away from the discussion of immortality or life after death and just refers to death as simple nonexistence. This nonexistence means that the person who is dead cannot possibly feel upset or vengeful about being dead, but only those whom are alive can. This brings in the argument of death not being bad for the person who is dead, but death being bad for those who are still alive witnessing and living through the death of this

Some may have rituals like funerals and burying the deceased while others may honor the dead through parties and celebrations. But how can the loss of life be an appropriate object for pity if Nagel considers death not a bad thing? Well simply the friends and family of the deceased can pity the deceased and still not believe in death being bad or evil or even harmful. Friends and family may feel a great loss and deeply miss this person, but death may not be considered bad, no matter the fact of the person leaving peacefully or not. Missing and wishing the person to be back does not subject death as being bad. Death could have put the person out of their misery. It was time for that person to stop experiencing life and to just, well, die. Pity can still be accepted for the loss of the person and the fact that the subject can no longer be there experiencing life with their family and friends. But once its time, the sorrow and pity of ones death will soon pass and even though he or she will be missed forever, the death of that person was never a bad thing, he or she was just missed. People consider death an appropriate time for pity just for the fact that the deceased can no longer experience life with them. But acceptance of the fact that their time was up and that they've experienced what they were meant to, leaves room for the acknowledgement that death can be a good thing. Death just means that it is time for us to accept the