Epicurus; Letter to Menoeceus
In reconstructing Epicurus claim that, “death is neither good nor bad” it is apparent that the claim is open to debate. I conquer with Epicurus school of thought that indeed death is neither good nor bad because of the various reasons advanced. If an individual is not living then it means that that individual does not exist. Therefore, I concur with the argument postulated that death is neither good nor bad as individuals either exists or if not existing then the individual is dead.
A person that lives means that person has life and he/she exists and has feelings hence, experiences various things when only he or she is alive and not when dead. Therefore, assumption that death does not affect the living means that a dead person does not in any way hinder those alive from continuing with their daily lives. In this respect therefore, death is something that is not bad because, the living continues with their daily activities while the dead is gone. For the dead, death is not bad because they can no longer experience death; they have already died and therefore they are not existing. Therefore, from this discussion it is apparent that a person that has died does not exist and it does not affect in any way those that are living as they have feelings. Hence, when people have died, death can no longer affect them. In this argument it is therefore true that death does not concern people. And it is something that cannot be claimed to be good or bad because with it or not, it does not add value to any person live. If people are not in existence it is not something bad because, it is equal as being dead hence you cannot say that death is good or bad because, no one experiences it and is able to explain how it feels.
