Publication Details

Abstract

The author examines the noetic legitimity of human consciousness of the inevitability of death on the background of Descartian rationality, indicated as "cogito". He shows, that the consciousness of the inevitability of death can be reached neither on the basis of one's own experience of death, because nobody can survive it, nor on the basis of the others' experience of death because inductive judgements are always only probable. The innateness of this idea appears to be impossible because of its intrinsic contradictory character. The author comes to the conclusion that the consciousness of the unevitability of death is either an unjustified prejudice or the "cogito view" is too narrow for a meaningful discussion of this problem.