Things By Lucretius Argument

In class we discussed whether or not it is a bad thing to die, if we are not immortal. This discussion was based on Lucretius’ On the Nature of Things, we Lucretius would debate that it is indeed not a bad thing to die. One half of the class argued that he is correct, and the other half argued that he was incorrect.In this discussion there were two rounds, the first one allowed both teams to state points for their argument, and then the second allowed each team to rebuttal against the opposing team’s first points. I personally believe that this argument is not as black and white as it was made to be, but in the end I believe that death, while inescapably natural, is a bad thing. The first point made as to why death is not a bad thing was that when you die, you don’t experience pain, so there is no point to fear it. As Lucretius says, “Death, then, is nothing to us and does not affect us in the least”(Book 3, 830). Their …show more content…
All of their reasons can be twisted into the interpretation that because death causes pleasurable things, it cannot be bad. That’s why I believe there is a much simpler explanation as to why death is a bad thing. In short, death is a bad thing because it is an escape for humans. One of Lucretius’ biggest arguments as to why death isn’t to be feared is that once you are dead, you experience nothing, including pain. He would say that why bother living a life of fear and pain, when you could ignore death’s grasp and live while you can. My point is that life exists to create, and that in turn births new life. Death ends that creation, and it also provides an escape for those who believe that life is too hard. Most people would say that they would rather die than live in pain. But for me that just means they aren’t willing to live long enough for a different ending. Pain is a part of life, to fight through it is it’s own