PHLB09H3 : )
Document Summary
Lucretius says that we feel fear because we feel that in reality and the stories (the rock of tantalus, the birds of tityos, the furies) discussed are exaggerated reality. He says even if the story doesn"t exist in real life, their fear of negative feelings/experiences are overextended and projected in these stories. His example is when carthaginians attacked the greeks; the greeks were unaware of it so the greeks didn"t care. No harm has been done until you experience it and someone to hurt you, you need to know about it, and therefore person must exist in order for someone to hurt them. When someone is dead they don"t exist, so they can"t experience sadness, yearning or have desires. He believes that it is irrational to fear death since you can"t be wrong in any way when you are dead. Overall, he says don"t be afraid of death since you don"t exist which means it"s not wrong to be dead.
