In the present master's thesis, the author deals with three existential thinkers and their view of death. In doing so, she finds out how the view of death and understanding of the phenomenon of death are linked to the religious orientation of man.
The first part presents the philosophical thought of Jean-Paul Sartre through his concepts of consciousness, objective world, nothingness, anxiety and freedom. In particular, the author focuses on the treatment of the concept of death in Sartre's work, Being and Nothingness, and in some of his literary works. According to Sartre, death is that interrupts human freedom; we can neither expect nor predict it, and as such it reveals itself as an absurd.
In the second part, the author concentrates on the thinking of Gabriel Marcel. She primarily focuses on the distinction between the first and the second reflection, between the concepts of being and having and between mystery and being. She also talks about the perception of the human body, the relation to another person and freedom. Above all, she devotes her attention to the understanding of death in connection with the concepts of hope and love. These virtues do not end with the death of man, but they continue to live.
In the third part, the author presents the idea of the French-Jewish philosopher Emmanuel Levinas. Initially she presents a phenomenological analysis of the face through which Levinas develops infinite responsibility for another person. At the same time, the phenomenological analysis of the face helps us understand the phenomenon of death. The philosopher connects death with suffering and time. What plays the key role is the death of another person, which is more important than my own death. My responsibility for another person does not end with his death, but continues as the guilt of me, the survivor.
In the final part of the master's thesis, the author analyses the connection between the presented views on death and the religious belief of their authors. She highlights three key aspects. Sartre as an atheist does not believe in God and thus into a life after death. To him, death represents the end of everything, and for this reason it is absurd. Catholic Marcel considers death in relation to three Christian virtues. The death of another person does not break our relationship with him, for our hope in a life after death remains. For Levinas as a practicing Jew, death is a pure question mark and an absolute and pure "ex-ception" among all other phenomena. Knowing nothing about death does not diminish my responsibility towards fellow men, but it actually strengthens it and reveals the infinity of our ethical vocation.
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