Unmoored: Mortal Harm and Mortal Fear

Behrendt, Kathy

doi:10.1080/05568641.2018.1462668

Cited by 8 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…Kathy Behrendt (2018: 21) locates existential terror , which she calls “mortal fear”, in how the contemplation of our non‐existence makes us feel “unmoored.” As we realize that death pulls out from underneath us “the very grounds for emotional or evaluative response to anything,” that is, that the ordinary supposition operating in the background of our beliefs and other attitudes — that we exist as conscious subjects — does not apply when we no longer exist, we feel diminished or threatened. The loss that death represents to us — the loss of our subjectivity or our very existence — thus does not elicit the sadness or disappointment that other losses elicit.…”

Section: Non‐existence and Existential Terrormentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Behrendt herself hints that the phenomenon of existential terror show that some emotions are not best analyzed in terms of whether they are rational, but in terms of whether they are “intelligible.” All the same, she notes that “the idea that we could have an egocentric fear of something that we do not consider bad for us is an uncomfortable result.” (2018:12)…”

Section: Non‐existence and Existential Terrormentioning

confidence: 99%

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Rationally Facing Death: Fear and Other Alternatives

Cholbi

2023

Philosophy Compass

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Explaining what emotions or attitudes it is rational for humans to have toward our own deaths and toward their mortality has been a central task within most philosophical traditions. This article critically examines the rationality of five emotions or attitudes that might be taken toward death: fear, insofar as death can harm us by reducing our overall level of well-being; the related attitude of existential terror, a feeling of dismay or uncanniness directed at the prospect of our eventual non-existence; regret, directed at our being constituted as mortals; anger or resentment; and gratitude. Our conclusion is that there is in all likelihood no specific emotion or attitude that we are rationally required to take toward death or mortality. Neither anger nor gratitude are rational attitudes toward death, and while fear, existential terror, and regret are stronger candidates for being rational attitudes toward death, it proves difficult to show that death rationally requires any particular emotions or attitudes on our part.

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Section: Non‐existence and Existential Terrormentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Non‐existence and Existential Terrormentioning

confidence: 99%

Rationally Facing Death: Fear and Other Alternatives

Cholbi

2023

Philosophy Compass

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“…Scheffler, despite clear and explicit initial suggestions to the contrary, is in the end still prepared to consider it as a peculiar form of deprivation-related fear (see 196-201); Baillie enfolds fear of death into a more widespread angst about the contingency of our subjectivity; and I have speculated that it belongs to a larger class of fears that can arise with the disruption of expected meaning-relations(Behrendt 2019). 13 Baillie is here enlisting an argument from Mark.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%