How Philosophers Confront Death (ft. Caitlin Doughty)
Added 2024-08-09 08:01:09 +0000 UTCHello lovely Patrons!
The new episode drops tonight at 1700 British time!
It'll premiere on YouTube, and I'll be in the live chat from 1630 - I hope you can join me!
Comments
I'm so glad to join your Patreon. I'm seeing this after having gone through a recent, agonizing post-mortem process with my father. He was HELD ON ICE FOR A MONTH until all the paperwork for his cremation went through. Then, far too soon after, one of my dear friends died suddenly in a car crash. She leaves behind a podcast, a musical career, and several pets who will be cared for by her family.
Heather Fidler
2024-08-20 00:37:48 +0000 UTCthank you for talking about Palestine
Jake Smith
2024-08-13 16:14:05 +0000 UTCI had a really bad acid trip a few years ago where I heard/ felt myself getting gunned down by police for 6 hours on repeat. It fucked me up for a year, but when I started putting the pieces back together, I finally had some direction in my life. Experiences with death are incredibly valuable. All this to say, thanks for the video.
Jake Smith
2024-08-13 14:33:25 +0000 UTCBeautiful and poignant episode. I was fortunate to be with my father when he died of NHL. This was March 2021 during a Covid lockdown, and he was at my sister's house. He was surrounded by me, my mother, sister, brother-in-law, and my niece. The Hospice nurses were magnificent. We do not think about death and plan for it as we should. I have ever since then, been thinking of death. Mine, in particular. But also the deaths of so many people throughout the world from the violence of war to the violence inherent in our systems and our institutions. Thank you for this episode.
Stephanie Buday
2024-08-12 20:37:44 +0000 UTCYour poem reminds me very much (and very pleasingly) of Douglas Adams
Emily
2024-08-12 07:39:53 +0000 UTCWell… I should have guessed from the title this one would make me cry. :/ Powerful stuff here. Impressive how you’re still finding new places to go with these videos even after all this time.
Amyphist
2024-08-10 21:13:38 +0000 UTCAlso once the true video starts; thank you for this. Throughout the entire course of this war and ongoing genocide, I've been utterly baffled why anyone could try to justify -and STILL try to justify - the horror we've seen. Early on, I even had a comment removed from WaPo for going against community guidelines for stating the opinion that "this is unjust and the loss of life is unacceptable". And at that time I just felt hopeless that even in (somewhat) more progressive spaces, people were still fervently rejecting all critiques - and I have a lot of resentment that it took the deaths of doctors/western aid workers to begin to tip US news reporting towards "maybe it's ok to critique a little bit". At least now I have a better understanding of how that coldness came to be
ThatGayWolf
2024-08-10 19:33:26 +0000 UTCalso this is a timely topic; I've been doing a lot of reflection on the mementos and memories we collect over time from other people, and carry forward with us. A million little ways that the concept of a person outlives them. I had never really stopped to examine these artifacts (physical, digital, memory... memorial? x3 ) and the meanings that I apply to them, until recently. Especially to then zoom back out and consider how literally all of this will be gone one day! But how /interesting/ is it that we spend so much time grieving the past through heartachey-nostalgia or worrying about the future... but not often the ending. How much of that preoccupation in the present is because those feelings are comfier than to confront our own death?
ThatGayWolf
2024-08-10 16:27:08 +0000 UTCAlso coming to report I renewed my subscription because you told me to :3
ThatGayWolf
2024-08-10 15:48:25 +0000 UTCWhat you see is what you get! What an ending! Loved this video. I never felt more connected with your experiences than when you shared the feeling of knowing through social media, the genocide and yet having to continue on a daily basis as though nothing is wrong.
Gereiam Gereiam
2024-08-10 14:48:16 +0000 UTCThere! 18 minutes in and I immediately felt the urge to subscribe. The Patreon advice works! Yay!
Gereiam Gereiam
2024-08-10 13:47:45 +0000 UTCAs someone who has recently dealt with grief and contemplated giving up my own life, this has really resonated with me in ways I’m not prepared to confront at the moment. I hope that anyone who is considering how the end of their life will be handled is trying to gain some semblance of control over it, but also not prematurely.
Her Royal Highness the Empress Katerina de Corsica III
2024-08-10 05:32:22 +0000 UTCOhhh I *have* to go read Val Plumwood’s work now. I am deeply interested in the idea of reading a work where “the meat” survived being eaten. About two months ago, I spent most of an afternoon on a morbid binge reading about Timothy Treadwell’s death via the bears he loved, and how he utterly failed to comprehend that they saw him and his partner as nothing more special than meat. I read the accounts from park rangers and police, sure, but the one that stuck with me was the mortician reviewing what remained, and to keep it brief and PG, it was haunting and humbling. Thank you for the philosophy and poetry Abi; it was lovely.
Sarah Sarah
2024-08-10 00:34:36 +0000 UTCI have a bit more experience with death than most and without going into detail, I will say this about comforting people who are dealing with it when you are not, as in, you're the third party in what death is. One who leaves, one who stays. The best things you can do is accept that they're going through it. And that there is no true comforting them. Grief and death are... you can't really soothe them away. You can distract people sure, you can live through it, I've done that for years and possibly decades. But it's always there, and as Todd says in Bojack Horseman: The only way out is through. So if you're looking to comfort someone, comfort them in whatever way they want to be comforted. Do they want to scream? Then scream. Cry until their tears run out? Then be their shoulder. It'll find a way 'out' eventually. For me I finally cried when I brought in the wrong version of a test we were supposed to review, and I just broke down. And they comforted me, they made space for me and let it happen. That was helpful. But I think that's the key though. You can't take the loss away, you can't take the grief away nor would I want anyone to. That's my grief, that grief is precious to me, it's what binds me to this person and my experience with them. And if you really want to help someone, especially when someone is in the midst of everything, picking up chores if you can is a godsend. The two people who cooked for us when we were in the midst of it are still precious to me. The ones who did our laundry, did our shopping. Death fucking sucks, and it gets to really fucking suck. Denying that is denying why it sucks. We love the people around us, and it sucks that they're leaving, or that we're leaving them. But the precious times we're now losing, that's what makes death suck so much, and that's kind of beautiful. So yes, let me smash these plates about it thank you. I really enjoyed the video and the thought you put into it as always. Especially how personal it was. So thanks. As always.
Daniel van Harmelen
2024-08-09 23:52:28 +0000 UTCI love the idea of the remains of my body nurturing nature. If there is an afterlife, I hope I'm not part of it. By far the most powerful part of this video, for me, is the ending and the way you tied it into the promotion of Dracula's Ex-Girlfriend. Because of my UTC+10 timezone, I'll probably never make one of your livesreams.
Whitney Abigail Mallett
2024-08-09 22:37:48 +0000 UTCOh, this is fascinating already, and I only just got past the saltwater crocodile revelation, haha. I doubt my experience is anything unique, but I've been vegan for over a decade and very aware of animal welfare issues for longer than that. I'm sure I must have had ideas about 'human exceptionalism' when I was a child, but for as long as I can remember, I've seen humans as fundamentally no different from animals (other food, other meat). I also don't understand why many people are so precious about death—though that probably has something to do with me being an atheist as well 😂 But anyway, I just wanted to share my current thoughts because it was actually a little shocking to be reminded of how *different* many people think we are from any other living thing. Okay, now I'm going to get back to this undoubtedly amazing video! Thank you!!
cacodaemonia
2024-08-09 19:24:30 +0000 UTCWonderful episode. Is attribution to Mary Oliver missing from "When Death Comes"? If so, I missed it. That poem is now on my "for my memorial service" list... thanks! (FYI - as a retribution to anyone who shows up I'm also asking for a lone bagpipe to play Amazing Grace as they walk slowly away and out of hearing range from the attendees.)
Jeff Vandegrift
2024-08-09 17:34:14 +0000 UTCThere are things we can do that are closer than Gaza. As an example: Insects are Ungrievables. Basically, all invertebrates and microorganisms are treated as ungrievable. If anyone's saying "Eewwwww!!!", and "How dare you talk about BUGS in the context of GAZA?!", point proven. Yet we can't live without them, and we're not talking about honey bees. We're MADE of microorganisms if you count our gut flora, and don't stop there. That's literally the butterfly's wings fanning the atmosphere all the way to Gaza. That's climate change. That's the fight over resources. That's religion. That's our belief in our exceptionalism. That's us ignoring the beauty of the world around us. That's our respect, or disrespect, for Life. And, yeah, it's our beliefs about Death, 'cause what comes up when we think about our bodies disintegrating? Worms. People hate insects for being the cleanup crew that breaks our bodies down after we die. I want to be composted, which is something Lovely Caitlin can teach about, if anyone cares to check out her video about it. (The cherry on top of the sundae, Abi! What a great surprise to see Caitlin Doughty here!) Does the above mean you can't use bleach in your bathroom? No! Another example: No offense, Abi, but I'm puzzled that we're joking about the Boeing whistle blowers even as I laugh at the jokes. We should be pissed as hell. We should all decide not to fly. We did it for Covid; it wouldn't take nearly as long as that to make the point that we don't consent to this way of doing business and WE ARE THE BUSINESS. Anyway, epic topic no one can do justice to, but you seem so full of life these days, and from that position of strength you made something about death that I will definitely watch again. Thanks so much!
Sabrina Penna
2024-08-09 17:32:04 +0000 UTCliterally gasped when i saw this in my email inbox. CAITLIN!!!!
Griffin Irradiatedsnakes
2024-08-09 13:57:35 +0000 UTCI've been looking forward to this one! Two of my favorite ladies talking death! 💗 🤘🏾
Denise D
2024-08-09 12:46:36 +0000 UTCCan’t make 5pm, but look forward to catching up on replay afterwards!
Amyphist
2024-08-09 12:20:32 +0000 UTCYaaaaas!
Meg Scrabble
2024-08-09 11:09:19 +0000 UTC
