The Issue of Death - Essay Example

Death Death The issue of death has been debated for quite some time with philosophers putting their weight on the same issue. According to an old Greek proverb, death and sleep are brothers and as such, death is a form of sleep (Boritzer and Forrest, 2000). The reasons behind attribution of death as a form of sleep is attributed to the fact that manifesting of the psychological or personal part of a man stops while asleep. The absence of functioning of the physical brain at the time a person is sleeping leads to partial unconsciousness as one awakes after regaining consciousness.

Sleeping of the body occurs because the personal human being is absent (Boritzer and Forrest, 2000). Therefore, when human beings sleep, they do so in a state of complete unconsciousness as a result of failing to become self-conscious during the prior time to sleep. Death is equally the same as sleeping with the only variance resulting from one degree evidenced through the failure of regaining unconsciousness. A counter argument to the concept that death is the same as sleep or a form of deep sleep attributes death as annihilation to indicate a form of extinction, eradication or a form of extermination.

The concept of annihilation towards death is considered basing on the fact that unlike sleeping where the person awakes, it never happens with a dead person. Once death strikes, the person is no longer there and it is impossible to regain the earlier form of that person. If in any case death was a form of deep sleep it was possible to regain consciousness after a certain period of time but it never occurs as such. As such, when death occurs, an individual is not there and when an individual is, death is not (Belshaw, 2009).

The counter argument based on death as annihilation that refutes claims of death as a deep sleep follows its premise through examination of previous supporting evidence of the concept and then presents refuting claims. Through a convincing explanation of the concepts employed earlier on to defend the concept at hand, the counterargument presents differing explanations aimed at convincing a reader that the prior claims were wrong. The counterargument presents the reader with a different perspective while focusing on the argument at hand in a convincing approach.

The success of the counterargument is based on the ability to base its argument through first examining the previous concepts and eventually presenting a different version. The primary points of disagreement evidenced between the revised argument and the counterargument are based on two major aspects. First, there is the issue of consciousness of the individual as the one causing sleep and death. The main argument posits death as a result of deep unconsciousness whereas the counterargument argues that the relationship lacks in that when death strikes, the consciousness will never be recovered.

The next difference within the revised argument and the counterargument is based on the revised argument attribution of a dead body as still a person. Through the notion that death is a deep sleep, it is a perception that the dead is still a person. The counter argument refutes that notion through arguing that with death, the person is no longer there (Belshaw, 2009). The counterargument equally supports its views in that it argues that when a person is there, there is no death. Since during sleep there is a person, the counterargument portrays that death is annihilation as opposed to deep sleep.

References Belshaw, C. (2009, July). Annihilation: The Sense and Significance of Death // Reviews // Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews // University of Notre Dame. Retrieved from https://ndpr.nd.edu/news/24150-annihilation-the-sense-and-significance-of-death/ Boritzer, E., & Forrest, N. (2000). What is death? Santa Monica, CA: Veronica Lane Books.