16000-05

There are three critical aspects to the conception about death. The first and most apparent revolves around those values or beliefs that involve a denigration or even rejection of life – either this life (as opposed to the ‘afterlife’) or aspects associated with the living body (sex, passion, pleasure, etc.). A key passage in this regard would be Zarathustra on the ‘preachers of death’. The rejection of life on the ascetic priest is only clear; such asceticism is a means to carry on living despite suffering and degeneration. A related idea is a danger that the philosopher will meet in his or her attempt to overcome values. The death of the tight-rope walker, who made danger his ‘vocation’, is an example. Finally, metaphysics will often involve a conceptual rejection of becoming or positing facts and values as eternal. This is often described with metaphors of death: for example, the ‘mummified concepts.