Irrationality Of Death Shelley Kagan Analysis

Regardless of any actions a person takes, one’s life will always result in death. Death deprives a person from experiencing any extra moments in the world. It is common to view this as a bad thing. It is questionable how one should react to the idea of death. Some may react by dwelling upon their morality and wasting a part of their life thinking about their death. It is easy to react to death with terror or fear. Shelly Kagan explains the irrationality of being afraid of death.
Shelly Kagan first uses pride as an example to describe one’s emotions. In one’s life, one can be prideful of many things just as long as specific requirements are met. When these requirements are not met, one can not take pride in what one does. This can be seen in everyday; one can breathe, walk, sleep, and eat …show more content…
According to Kagan, there are three requirements that must be met in order to experience appropriate fear. The first requirement is that the thing that one fears must be bad. It is irrational and not possible for one to fear something that benefits him or her. Secondly, the chances of the bad thing occurring has to be high enough to be considered significant and existent. It is irrational to be afraid of something that won’t happen. For example, such as being attacked by a wild animal while one lives in the city. Thirdly, there has to be uncertainty whether or not the event will occur for one to have rational fear. One should not be afraid of something that one does not know will even occur. Although there may be other negative emotions, there should be no fear. Lastly, proportional fear should only exist in something that is bad and can happen. If one greatly fears something that has a very tiny chance of occurring, then the proportion of the fear is skewed. Therefore, fearing something that most likely will not happen is irrational. These requirements for fear also pertain to