A noble death is something that many of us strive to achieve, but putting into words what this would involve is difficult. For some, a noble death would involve death experienced in the midst of some heroic act; for others, a noble death might be one that comes at the end of a long life, surrounded by loved ones, content in all they had accomplished. The notion that there may objectively be some concept of a noble death, however, requires consideration of what exactly constitutes nobility, as well as the very meaning of life and death. In this short essay, I reflect on the idea of a noble death. It is argued that rather than a noble death being one in which the individual is simply resigned to their fate, a noble death is one where the individual does the right thing, potentially sacrificing themselves for others, and empowering others to be less afraid.
The notion that a voluntary death can be a noble one is important to consider. Plato argued that under certain circumstances, suicide was acceptable . If an individual had been ordered to die by the polis, if the individual was …show more content…
A virtuous person will use reason to determine the moral course of action in a particular context or faced with a given set of circumstances . In some cases, the moral course of action would be to choose death over life. For example, if an individual knew that by giving up his or her own life, they could save a large group of children, their choosing death would certainly be noble, and reflect morality. This helps to illustrate my conception of a noble death. A noble death may take many forms; what is most important, however, is that in the act of dying, others are made to benefit in some way. So, noble death is not about accepting a particular role or fate; rather, noble death is about helping others and serving as an example to others in