I sympathize with what you are saying here. I too would not want to die before I feel that my life is reasonably "complete". It is a tragedy when young people die because of untapped potential. It doesn't feel like such a tragedy when old people die, though that could in part be because their bodies are deteriorating. But if they could have their aging stopped? It becomes less clear.
Yeah, it doesn't seem so bad when old people die. I understand that my Grandad died, but I'm not sure I even fully comprehend, in my heart, that a girl from my old school died at 17.
I think I'm in favour of stopping ageing. If it were ended, I don't think we would be okay with 80 year olds dying... especially if we were kept at a young age physically.
But then many old people seem to wind down their lives. They don't work, and their bodies allow them to do less, so it does seem like their life actually is in it's last 'act'.
If humans had no natural age to die, people would carry on as if they had time to do much more.
Of course not. However, I don't think that was ever Epicurus's view.
I'm just going off this thread. I'm not sure it's fair to say that having friends, who you feel a deep connection with, is easy.
Sure. I'm not certain what his view was on significant others. I might have to do some reading to find out. It could be a "modern" perspective.
I suppose the idea of getting married for love is fairly new, but I don't know what the classical Greeks culture was on this issue.
That's a fair question, but I don't think that it is entirely fair to Epicurus. I think that he had included more values than that.
Maybe it isn't fair, I'm just going by the information in their thread. The only other easy things to gain (in the video) was friends.
No? I have to disagree, even though I am an introvert. Friendship provides important psychological values. But I can't speak for you, of course.
I'm a somewhat shy introvert, and I love friends. But they aren't necessary for life... unless you consider suicide because of boredom. But you probably could live without friends if you wanted to.
The Greeks and Romans seem to have been more comfortable with the idea of suicide than moderns. In their perspective, suicide would be a legitimate way out of pain. I agree that it is not precisely "enduring" pain.
I have no problem with suicide in itself. I'm totally in favour of legalised assisted suicide, including for children in extreme situations. I consider ban to be absolute evil... the slavery of our time. (That isn't to say that those who oppose legalisation are necessarily evil... but they do unknowingly support evil).
My point is that suicide isn't endurance. It's literally not enduring the pain. I have no problem with that... we just shouldn't call it something it's not.
Thanks for your reply! You've made several good points.
Tanks.
