What is the concept of death in existentialism?

Answer 1

The concept of death found in exisentialism varies. I can think of two writers that have had their own say on the concept - Camus and Heidegger.

It's worth mentioning that the existentialization of death came about as a response to the popular Epicurean attitude towards the phenomenom of death 'as something which does not concern us whilst we are alive.' (life and death are divorced)

Camus wants to say that mortality is (i think) one of the elements of what makes our existence absurd. As we go about our normal lives, suddenly we are struck by the absurdity of it all. Because we all have to die in the end, there cannot be much point to what we do in the mean time. His attitude towards our finitude is 'defiance'. Whilst we know that we going to die, at the same time we must live in spite of it. We must overcome our fate through sheer defiance.

Whilst Camus (i think) tries to integrate death into our lives (whilst we are still living) he does not go as far as Heidegger in suggesting that it is only through death that we can actually understand who we are and live authentically. Heidegger suggests that we think of death as something that is ever-present in our lives - at every moment. Therefore, each moment carries with it the possibility that we may be taken out of existence and the world.

Therefore, Existentialism tries to integrate death into our lives.

Answer 2

Death: transition to another dimension