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Some variations of the certainty of one’s own death

2015; Volume: 14; Linguagem: Inglês

2471-0881

José María Ariso Salgado, José María,

Ethics and bioethics in healthcare

ABSTRACT.In principle, every mentally healthy adult m Western civilization should be completely convmced that he will and that his death might happen at any time. In this paper, however, brmg up the work of two Spanish authors, the poet Antonio Machado and the philosopher Jose Ortega y Gasset, to shed light on alternatives to the above-mentioned convictions like the impossibility of believing in one's own the feeling of the child who conceives himself as eternal, the belief of imminently going to die, the state of doubt between two beliefs about and the certainty that one will so late that his possibility of dying seems to dissipate almost entirely in the short to medium term. To analyze in detail the characteristics of this last certainty, will base myself on the late work of the Austrian philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstem, whose conception of world-picture will criticize because of its static nature.Keywords: death; belief; certamty; knowledge; Antonio Machado; Jose Ortega y Gasset; Ludwig Wittgenstem1. IntroductionThere are many certainties or basic convictions which are shared by all mentally healthy people, example; I am I have a People to whom am now speaking do etc. But none of these convictions are expressed through sayings or proverbs. Admittedly, it may be objected that it is completely normal that there are no sayings about these issues, the oddity would have been that some saying confirmed our security of being alive, having a body, or speaking right now to people who exist. After all, these convictions are so glaringly obvious that it would be redundant and absurd to mention them. These things are so evident that folk wisdom does not even address them. But paradoxically, there are certainties which are expressed through a number of sayings even though they are as unquestionable as the three convictions mentioned above. am referring to certainties like I will die and I may at any which have been reflected generation after generation in sayings like Nothing so certain as death, There is a remedy everything except death, Every door may be shut but death's door, Death keeps no calendar, etc. Although it would be very difficult to precise why these sayings have been widely used over many centuries, might venture that some generations have found in these sayings a way of not only expressing their anguish, but also of facilitating their resignation in the face of such an inevitable destiny. In short, it is normal that the acceptance that one has to sooner or later generates suffering and resistances. Michelangelo, and above all Masaccio, tragically reflected Adam and Eve's suffering when the Lord God announced them for dust you are and to dust you will return {Gen. 3. 19) just before banishing them from the Garden of Eden. If we were certain that we will and that we can at any moment, and hence showed the same lack of resistance to these certainties that we show to the certainties of being alive, having a body or speaking right now to people who exist, there would be no need to express the first two certainties through multiple sayings. If people were really certain that they will and that they can at any instant, it should not be so unexpected to them to be diagnosed with an imminent such a possibility would already be implicit and taken granted in the assumption that one can at any moment. This leads me to wonder whether there are many or at least some people who do not really share the certainty that they may at any instant, so that they would have different certainties about this issue.In order to contrast diverse beliefs or certainties about our fmitude, will shed light on the remarks that Antonio Machado made on the belief in one's own death by taking as reference Jose Ortega y Gasset's distinctions between living faith and dead faith, and above all, between ideas and beliefs. …