Ernest Becker was a renowned cultural anthropologist and scientific thinker who explored interdisciplinary subjects. His work delved deeply into the psychological and philosophical aspects of human existence, particularly how individuals grapple with the awareness of their own mortality. Becker proposed that our character structures and even our civilizations are largely shaped by the death-denial mechanisms that enable us to function. However, this need to deny death, he argued, inevitably leads to evil by alienating us from genuine self-knowledge and fostering conflict. Drawing on thinkers like Kierkegaard, Freud, and Otto Rank, his ideas offered a revolutionary perspective on the human psyche and society.
From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Denial of Death, a penetrating and insightful perspective on the source of evil in our world."A profound, nourishing book…absolutely essential to the understanding of our troubled times." —Anais Nin"An urgent essay that bears all the marks of a final philosophical raging against the dying of the light." —Newsweek
Winner of the Pulitzer prize in 1974 and the culmination of a life's work, The Denial of Death is Ernest Becker's brilliant and impassioned answer to the 'why' of human existence. In bold contrast to the predominant Freudian school of thought, Becker tackles the problem of the vital lie - man's refusal to acknowledge his own mortality. The book argues that human civilisation is a defence against the knowledge that we are mortal beings. Becker states that humans live in both the physical world and a symbolic world of meaning, which is where our 'immortality project' resides. We create in order to become immortal - to become part of something we believe will last forever. In this way we hope to give our lives meaning.In The Denial of Death, Becker sheds new light on the nature of humanity and issues a call to life and its living that still resonates decades after it was written.
De-confusing and Re-constructing the Postmodern World
Includes essays and excerpts from the works of prominent modern thinkers such as Umberto Eco, Jacques Derrida, and Isaiah Berlin among others.
Der Autor stellt verschiedene humanwissenschaftliche (psychoanalytische) und theologische Theorien nebeneinander und beleuchtet die Erklärungen zur Todesfurcht. Im Mittelpunkt stehen Theorien von Kirkegaard und Rank.