You've heard about the interesting and funny deaths of philosophers before. Today, you get to listen to Simon Critchley's entire lecture on the topic, starting with De Quincey's hilarious philosophical account, if fictional, of the aesthetic value of murder :)The idea that philosophy is a kind of training and preparation for death can be traced back at least to Socrates in Plato's famous dialogue Phaedo, and there is a tradition of well-respected philosophers who have embraced such a view. Professor Critchley helps to recontextualize this motto in such a way that this preparation is not understood as a morbid means of welcoming death (and besmirching this life in the process) but as a way of confronting this inescapable reality that we all have to face eventually.
What should be our attitude toward death? How can we confront it honorably and honestly? Here is some food for thought...
If you are so kind as to wish to consign me to philosophical fame and posterity by murdering me, please do so no earlier than 2100 :)
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