Death Calculator

If you had the option to know when you are going to die and how you are going to die, would you choose to know or choose not to know? And if you choose to know, how would it change your life? What are the pros and cons of knowing?

Current Events (December)

*new* 4Dec12  Frontline on Suicide
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/suicide-plan/

3Dec12  Coffin Tours (?!)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-20571517#

NYTimes: Aiding the Doctor Who Feels Cancer's Toll
Doctors who care for the terminally ill may find themselves sharing their patients' pain and facing burnout from the stresses of their jobs.  http://nyti.ms/TflH9F

Philosophy in the world

What experiences in your life are hard to reconcile with our course material?  (Be specific in identifying the material).  Why is it hard?  What else could you do to square your thinking/philosophizing and your lived experience?

More Philosophy?  Would you take an additional philosophy course if money/time weren’t factors?  Explain.

Your Obituary

Review the Preface and pp. 6-13 of Barry and The Death of Ivan Illyich.  What is the meaning of life?  What are you not realizing about life?  How might an examination of life inform your living?  Answer this question, in part, by thinking about your own obituary.  What do you need to do now in order to have that obituary?  Feel free to reference Barry, Stevenson & Tolstoy in your response.

Does Death Give Life Meaning?

What do you think after our course?

Death of Ivan Ilych - extra credit

If you want extra credit, you must answer all of these questions and send your response to me via email.  Otherwise, just answer a few questions, whatever strikes your interest, for regular blog credit.

1. A brief 1 or 2 paragraph summary.

2. Write a 1 or 2 paragraph overall reaction to the story.

3. Comment on the following passages:

* p. 38 death as a third person, the screens

* p. 42 propriety, how people behave (then, now, etc.)

* p. 43 wanting to be cuddled, touched, treated as human

* p. 45-7 lies, not talking directly about the dying except to the servant, Gerasim (more on p. 50)

* p. 50-2 pain, abandonment, life review, the failure of propriety

How Ought We to Live? Can We Hope?

This is specifically referencing the Conclusions to your Stevenson and Barry texts, but you aren't limited to that text in building your answer.