/lit/ - Literature

Is it about Terror Management Theory?

>>15287651
yup, TMT originated from it

>Terror management theory (TMT) (...) proposes that a basic psychological conflict results from having a self-preservation instinct while realizing that death is inevitable and to some extent unpredictable.

When did you realize that we're too conscious for our own good?

What do you think about the idea that all psychiatrists and particularly psychoanalysts are subverters and need to get the rope? I read The Denial of Death years ago and it certainly changes my life but I am not sure it was for the better

>>15287636
>The premise of The Denial of Death is that human civilization is ultimately an elaborate, symbolic defense mechanism against the knowledge of our mortality,
Already lost me. When you start assigning semiotic meaning to emergent social structures like civilization, then I lose interest. Civilization emerged because of practical considerations, not out of the fear of death.

>>15287865
The fear of death is literally the only practical consideration that matters you absolute retard. Civilisation would never have happened if the first humans lived lives free of suffering

>>15287865
>Civilization emerged because of practical considerations
Which emerged out of the fear of death.

>>15287879
>Civilisation would never have happened if the first humans lived lives free of suffering
Which is also why it never happened in areas such as North Sentinel Island, for example.

CASE
IN
FUCKIN
POINT

>>15287849
What do you mean by that? Source? Their job is, among other things, to help one fit in with normie society so they can enjoy some benefits of modern life. They're not spiritual gurus

>>15287886
No, it never happened there because the inhabitants are glorified chimps, not human beings

>>15287879
This assumes that human impulses are all in some kind of system set up with a central command saying 'don't die'. Idk if this sounds plausible to a Freudian but it absolutely isn't. Most of our impulses we share with other mammals, some even make tools. Our language too undoubtedbly evolved for many reasons, most of which had nothign to do with thinking about mortality, which is a side effect that most people barely even think about that much, not because they're repressing the thought, but because they are constantly preoccupied with all their other impulses, like any other animal.

>>15287916

>>15287880
No, shelter and food emerged out of a fear of death. Civilization emerged out of the fact that specialization of labor meant you could get other people to do things and have more time for yourself.
>>15287879
>The fear of death is literally the only practical consideration that matters you absolute retard.
Yeah because without blacksmiths, carpenters, coopers... no one would survive.
Think before you post.
People lived before civilization - civilization is comfort, not survival.

>>15287879
Furthermore, if it's a practical consideration than it takes a big fat steaming dump on the semiotic underpinning of the whole book. It's not about symbolism, it's not civilization represents an edifice against the fear of death - it's that civilization emerged from it's utility in fighting death. Which it didn't, for the reasons I said here >>15288201.
But even if I'm wrong about that, the book is still claptrap for supposing that a 'symbolic defense' is behind civilization, because as you yourself said - it'd be practical.

>>15288201
>Civilization emerged out of the fact that specialization of labor meant you could get other people to do things and have more time for yourself.
Thats literally not why civilization emerged. Youre trying to get into philosophy yet you dont even know basic prehistory. Cuck. Go to books!

Civilization started after the agricultural revolution, which started due to climate change which introduced steppes, fields and changed the mechanics of seasonality of most edible plants, causing us to devote more time to study the cycles of growth of those plants, eventually learning to care for them and grow them for ourselves, so we began to delve into a more sedentary lifestyle, and with this came the need of protection from external forces. People began bundling up, because the more the merrier = less danger from the outside because predators would be less eager to attack you and steal your resources if youre bundled up together

Being bundled up together resulted in people seeking a ruler. For example because this one family managed to produce the most food, which caused people to turn to it in times of need. Eventually this family managed to hire people to protect its own crops, which led other people to ask these people to lend them some of their protection.

As the human race developed and there were more and more people, so the settlements grew, so the danger grew, the snowball effect kicked in, people flocked to the neolithic proto-cities to seek shelter and protection in exchange for work etc. etc.

This led to civilization and later manorialism

All because of a fear of danger. Fear of death.

>>15287952
Nice strawman, you sure showed him.

>>15288414
>All because of a fear of danger. Fear of death.
But you're trying to phrase it like a very reach fear of death, a pragmatic one - not some symbolic one which is what the book is all about?

>>15287865
>because of practical considerations
and all of them stem from preserving ourselves and our children

>>15288446
no, the book treats about both kinds of fears of death. as our civilization advanced, the fear went from the explicit to the implicit

>>15288651
Still not a symbolic defense. Not worth my reading.
>>15288607
So it's not a symbolic defense

So, civilized humans can't not fear death, therefore death can't not be the motivator to become civil? Hmm, that reasoning goes in a perfect circle.

Why all the autistic rambling about 'muh hero' though

>>15288911
>Why all the autistic rambling about 'muh hero' though
Because people want to foolishly heroically overcome the inevitable.

This thread can't die
Bump

>>15287636
>secular meta-religion

>>15287636
I believe death is literally the kindest thing nature has done for us, and I basically can't think of a more peaceful thing than not existing. What does this book say about people like me?
Mind you, I'm not anything new. There's ancient Greeks talking about this kind of shit too.

>Man has stupid universal theory about what makes people happy v.1456475827

>>15289436
The book is intended for the small minority of sane people who have accepted the reality of death. It explains why other people (the majority) are so fucking irrational about everything.

>>15289474
You won't sing like this when he's on your doorstep

>>15289498
It's not necessarily a pleasant prospect, but it is an inevitable one.

Estimated IQ required to fully comprehend OP's book? Asking for a friend who might be interested.

>>15289540
you don't need high iq, you just need courage

>>15287636
How did you change your life after reading this book?

>>15287636
This book makes me ponder of some of things that make no sense to me. Like why do I care about people being racist on 4chan? Is it my own arrogance of existence that cares about it? Why do I care that I don't talk to my father? There is no way what I'm doing is significant at all, even If I was a celebrity. Even adding that qualifier is a cope, I wish I was somewhat important to people but even when I had friends I was still alone. I never felt connected. I wish I wasn't fucked up all the time but I've tried being silent and having no identity but it doesn't work. Is existence just claiming that our opinion matters?

what do i need to read before this? i tried the first chapter and got filtered.

>>15290090
You just need to know that Sigmund Freud is a dude that exists and he has some interesting ideas like the oedipus complex.

>>15290082
I think for mental health purposes almost everyone needs an "immortality project". The key is to engage in one that isn't retarded (like nationalistic or religious nutjobbery).

>>15287917
Language>better communication>more effective pack hunting>eating>not dying

>>15289961
Not him but for me it made me take my own death seriously. Realizing you're mortal and that the clock is tickling can lead to a new attitude in life where you value your time more, and live with more courage. I personally try to seize every opportunity and do your best to never get bored anymore. A good follow up to this book is the worm at the core and existential psychotherapy by Yalom

>>15290242
I recommend this as a follow up as well. If you, like I did, find yourself in kind of a funk after Denial of Death this will help you break out of it.

>>15290242
It can also give you strength to realize your ambitions and potential rather than wasting your days over things that you realize are useless or bring nothing to your life. And not because you see a meaning to things, but because you exercise your own will in the world

>>15290242
I know some people think like this, but I just don't see it that way, of course I will be labelled "mentally ill" by academfags.

>>15290276
>I know some people think like this, but I just don't see it that way
I personally already had death anxiety since I was 5, and reading the book made me feel less crazy/alone.. But in the book it also says another thing: some people don't only fear death, but mostly fear life. Recognising your inevitable death can give a sort of desperate surge of motivation where you realize you only have this existence and being afraid is a waste of your potential. Yalom talks about some of his patients who get a terminal illness and start living more according to their desires. Existential therapy makes you realize that sickness is already waiting for you even when you're healthy, and awakens this sort of urgency and self respect to follow your desires.

>>15288433
STOP USING THE WORD STRAWMAN IF YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND IT
FUCK

>>15291015
strawman

>>15287952

Nice projections.

>>15291036
OKAY NOW YOU'RE JUST FUCKING WITH ME

>>15287865

>>15290159