26 Lectures on Death with Shelly Kagan

"There is one thing I can be sure of: I am going to die. But what am I to make of that fact? This course will examine a number of issues that arise once we begin to reflect on our mortality. The possibility that death may not actually be the end is considered. Are we, in some sense, immortal? Would immortality be desirable? Also a clearer notion of what it is to die is examined. What does it mean to say that a person has died? What kind of fact is that? And, finally, different attitudes to death are evaluated. Is death an evil? How? Why? Is suicide morally permissible? Is it rational? How should the knowledge that I am going to die affect the way I live my life?"


This Yale University Course, consisting on 26 lectures on the philosophy of death, looks amazing. And it is all available for free on YouTube and the Academic Earth site.


Below is the introductory session and a list of course modules - for which there are even a full set of transcripts:

1.            Philosophy of Death

2.            The Nature of Persons: Dualism vs. Physicalism

3.            Arguments for the Existence of the Soul, Part I

4.            Introduction to Plato's Phaedo; Arguments for the Existence of the Soul, Part II

5.            Arguments for the Existence of the Soul, Part III

6.            Arguments for the Existence of the Soul, Part IV; Plato, Part I

7.            Plato, Part II: Arguments for the Immortality of the Soul

8.            Plato, Part III: Arguments for the Immortality of the Soul (cont.)

9.            Plato, Part IV: Arguments for the Immortality of the Soul (cont.)

10.        Personal Identity, Part I: Identity Across Space and Time and the Soul Theory

11.        Personal Identity, Part II: The Body Theory and the Personality Theory

12.        Personal Identity, Part III: Objections to the Personality Theory

13.        Personal identity, Part IV; What matters?

14.        What Matters (cont.); The Nature of Death, Part I

15.        The Nature of Death (cont.); Believing You Will Die

16.        Dying Alone; The Badness of Death, Part I

17.        The Badness of Death, Part II: The Deprivation Account

18.        The Badness of Death, Part III; Immortality, Part I

19.        Immortality Part II; The Value of Life, Part I

20.        The Value of Life, Part II; Other Bad Aspects of Death, Part I

21.        Other Bad Aspects of Death, Part II

22.        Fear of Death

23.        How to Live Given the Certainty of Death

24.        Suicide, Part I: The Rationality of Suicide

25.        Suicide, Part II: Deciding Under Uncertainty

26.        Suicide, Part III: The Morality of Suicide and Course Conclusion


Thank you Yale and Shelly Kagan!