ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at whether it is a bad thing to die – and if so, why. The fear of death is an age-old preoccupation for human beings. One way in which people have sought to overcome this natural fear of death is by speculating about life after death. If life continues indefinitely then, although there may be uncertainty about what will happen after death, it is not as though readers are looking at the prospect of utter annihilation. When looking at whether death is a bad thing for the person who dies readers need to look at what might have been had the death not occurred. If the person could have continued to enjoy the benefits of life, benefits denied them, and then losing these benefits is what is bad about death. Death is not something that readers can see as bad for a person just by looking at how they are in themselves, in isolation from all contexts.
