6/4/2022
Death is immanent. It is guaranteed. It is inescapable. It is the possibility where possibilities as such become impossible.
Join Philosophy Bee and Mr. Platypus as they analyze the phenomena of Death.
Also featuring Dr. Strange.
Citations:
Heidegger, Martin. Being and Time, HarperPerennial/Modern Thought, New York, 2008. Buy here!
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Death is very STRANGE!
[Philosophy Bee enters]
Philosophy Bee: Hey everybody. Looks like you’ve made a wrong turn and found yourself in a strange place. I’m philosophy bee. Today, we’re going to talk about DEATH!!! [serious & metal music] Oh boy, I sure do love dying. Isn’t that right, Mr. Platypus.
Mr. Platypus: That’s right, Philosophy Bee. I can’t wait to get dying.
Philosophy Bee: Oh, but that’s the joy, Mr Platypus. You’re already dying right now. It’s the only guaranteed thing which will happen to you. It is the one possibility that’s always with you.
Mr. Platypus: Always with me? Is it there when I’m sleeping?
Philosophy Bee: It sure is.
Mr. Platypus: Is it there when I’m awake?
Philosophy Bee: You bet ya.
Mr. Platypus: Is it there when I’m masturbating furiously to gay hentai for the 8th time that day while choking myself with a belt in a desperate attempt to get some minuscule release from the suffering of life?
Philosophy Bee: [whispers] Death is there watching and waiting for every single moment.
Mr. Platypus: Oh boy, I bet death is gonna need a therapist after watching me this whole time.
Philosophy Bee: We all need a therapist to handle you, Mr. Platypus. Why don’t you show everyone at home how to die.
Mr. Platypus: Ok. Ok. Wait for it… Am I doing it?
Philosophy Bee: He’s doing it.
Mr. Platypus: I’m doing it?
Philosophy Bee: Look at him go.
Mr. Platypus: I’m dying! I’m dying!
Philosophy Bee: You got it down, Mr. Platypus. Keep it up, and you’ll be dead in no time. But, did you know death is actually the impossible possibility?
Mr. Platypus: What? Death is impossible? I’m not going to die? [screams]
Philosophy Bee: Calm down, Mr. Platypus. You’re definitely going to DIE!
Mr. Platypus: HOORAY!!!!!
Philosophy Bee: A long time ago, in a far off place called DEUTSCHLAND there was a philosopher named Martin Heidegger. He famously said of all the possibilities that exist for Dasein, his fancy word for humans, death is the impossible possibility. Heidegger says:
Death is something that stands before us—something impending…. Death is the possibility of the absolute impossibility of Dasein. (294) “Being towards this possibility, as a Being which exists, is brought face-to-face with the absolute impossibility of existence. (299)
Heidegger, Martin. Being and Time, HarperPerennial/Modern Thought, New York, 2008. (pg 306-307).
Mr. Platypus: Am I a Dasein?
Philosophy Bee: Well, of course you are Mr. Platypus. You and me.
Mr. Platypus: Philosophy Bee, I don’t understand what the Hweideger is saying.
Philosophy Bee: I’m sure you don’t, Mr. Platypus. You have to remember death is a possibility. But, what is a possibility? A possibility could be actualized, but is not yet. Possibilities lie in our future, literally standing before us. Possibility is a precondition to actualization. You could say possibilities are the infrastructure for potential actualization. Dasein has the ability to understand its possibilities. This understanding means Dasein is able to sketch out what is before it but also not yet present.
But Death is the one possibility where one cannot sketch out beyond it. It is the possibility where possibilities as such become impossible for Dasein. There is nothing left that stands before Dasein. A Dasein without possibilities is no Dasein, I can tell you that.
Mr. Platypus: I had no idea.
Philosophy Bee: Now, here’s an example from mass media.
Mr. Platypus: Oh, I love mass media.
Philosophy Bee: Dasein, as a being which sketches out possibilities, is deeply concerned with those possibilities. Dasein cares so much about its possibilities that it will do everything it can to have more possibilities. Remember when I said death is the only guaranteed possibility, and it is always with you?
Mr. Platypus: Ugh.
Philosophy Bee: This guaranteed and continuously immanent possibility is the ground upon which all other possibilities spring from. You could say that all of human existence is a continuous dodging of death, an evasion of the possibility without possibilities, where possibilities as such become IMPOSSIBLE!
Before we leave, here’s a quote by Heidegger to confuse you more:
“The closest closeness which one may have in Being towards death as a possibility, is as far as possible from anything actual. The more unveiledly this possibility gets understood, the more purely does the understanding penetrate into it as the possibility of the impossibility of any existence at all. Death, as possibility, gives Dasein nothing to be ‘actualized’, nothing which actual Dasein, as actual, could itself be. It is the possibility of impossibility of every way of existing. In the anticipation of this possibility it becomes ‘greater and greater’; that is to say, the possibility reveals itself to be such that it knows no measure at all, no more no less, but signifies the possibility of the measureless impossibility of existence. In accordance with its essence, this possibility offers no support for becoming intent on something, ‘picturing’ to oneself the actuality which is possible, and so forgetting its possibility. Being-towards-death, as anticipation of possibility, is what first makes this possibility possible, and sets it free as possibility.”
Heidegger, Martin. Being and Time, HarperPerennial/Modern Thought, New York, 2008. (pg 306-307).
Philosophy Bee: Well, that’s all for today’s video. Thanks everybody. Don’t forget to like, subscribe, and support the channel on Patreon. Come on Mr. Platypus; let’s get to dyin.
Mr. Platypus: Ooowee, I sure do love dying.
Isn’t it possible that there is something possible after death that is impossible to discern?
It’s certainly possible. But, if it’s impossible to discern, then I don’t think it would change anything the video proposes.