The Importance Of Death In Shelly Kagan's Death

Shelly Kagan’s book “Death,” unravels one of the constant pursuance of humanity: planning our lives according to our needs and desires without thinking that death could be an interruption. Some people commence planning their lives at a young age by attending grade school because they are preparing themselves for high school, which then prepares them for college, for the one hope to achieve their ideal career goals and aspirations. Since there is no way we can stop death from interfering with our lives, would it not be nice to know when we will actually die so that we could then plan accordingly? Many would disagree that it is a pleasant idea, because they may believe that by knowing their time of death, they will fall into a nightmare of constant …show more content…
Although the idea of knowing when I will die sounds appealing, I would deny the right to know the exact date and time of my death. It is not only because I would not like to know when in order to plan accordingly but because I like surprises and to me death is something good and should not be seen as something unpleasant. By not knowing when the exact date and time of my death I would be able to keep enjoying life the way I do. For instance, right now I know that I may die at whatever time and that makes me take time to appreciate more the time that I am alive. If not I would be rushing myself into doing things I would “want” to do before I die just because I would know I have limited time to accomplish …show more content…
For example, to some people having a family is their one goal in life. But how do they get there in the first place? They start with a multiple category checklist that will lead them to the ultimate prize — a family. This demonstrates how human individuals may get so caught up planning out their lives that they tend to forget that at any given moment they may have to face death and sadly there is no escape. No one has been able to decide when they want to die. One exception is suicide but that is not the way humans should encounter death because death should be and is spontaneous. Thus, Many would argue, including Kagan, that if death was predictable then we will have one less burden in our lives. They would argue that we would then have the freedom to sculpt our lives exactly how we want it because we would know ahead of time how much time we have in our hands. It all sounds like a perfect dream where we can actually decide what to do in it and knowing ahead of time when to end it. However, the unpredictability in reality is not bad. In fact, it is just an illusion handcrafted by people who are not aware of what we are actually living with everyday. We are living not knowing when we will die. Thus, I find knowing the date of my death not as valuable as many people