All Courses

This course explores key philosophical questions about life and death, the meaning and value of human life, and death’s role in our experience. In addition to questions about how to define life and death, we will examine whether death is something we should fear, what makes life valuable, and whether immortality is desirable. This leads to questions about how identity persists throughout our lives, and whether identity could - in principle - be preserved after death. We will also explore moral issues such as whether we have obligations to the dead; whether killing is different from letting die; suicide, euthanasia, and abortion. In addressing these issues we will discuss a variety of philosophical texts and traditions, and explore a number of different areas of philosophical inquiry.