The DOI matches its Crossref record; 23 of the 23 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Lucretius, Symmetry arguments, and fearing death
Abstract
This paper identifies two possible versions of the Epicurean 'Symmetry argument', both of which claim that post mortem non-existence is relevantly like prenatal non-existence and that therefore our attitude to the former should be the same as that towards the latter. One version addresses the fear of the state of being dead by making it equivalent to the state of not yet being born; the other addresses the prospective fear of dying by relating it to our present retrospective attitude to the time before birth. I argue that only the first of these is present in the relevant sections of Lucretius (DRN 3.832-42, 972-5). Therefore, this argument is not aimed at a prospective fear of death, or a fear of 'mortality'. That particular fear is instead addressed by the Epicureans through the additional premise (found in the Letter to Menoeceus 125) that it is irrational to fear in prospect an event which is known to be painless when present. This still leaves unaddressed the related fear of 'premature death', which is to be removed through the acceptance of Epicurean hedonism.
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“That is, death brings with it the inability to experience any pain, and therefore, death cannot be painful or distressing.”
From Stoicism and death acceptance: integrating Stoic philosophy in cognitive behaviour therapy for death anxiety (2022) · cites this paper as [29]
In the citing paper
“A central teaching of Epicurus, the school's founder, was that 'Death is nothing to us' , because 'what has been dissolved has no sensation, and what has no sensation is nothing to us' [29, Kyria Doxa 2].”
From Stoicism and death acceptance: integrating Stoic philosophy in cognitive behaviour therapy for death anxiety (2022) · cites this paper as [29]
In the citing paper
“This is known as the 'symmetry argument', first proposed by the philosophical school known as Epicureanism, and encouraged by the existential psychotherapist Yalom [2] to address individuals' dread of non-existence.”
From Stoicism and death acceptance: integrating Stoic philosophy in cognitive behaviour therapy for death anxiety (2022) · cites this paper as [29]
Citations
Cites
Parfit, D. (1986) · Princeton University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/019824908x.001.0001 · Cited by 5,803
Precis of The Therapy of Desire
Nussbaum, M. C. (1999) · Philosophy and Phenomenological Research · doi:10.2307/2653797 · Cited by 216
Time, Creation and the Continuum
Brunschwig, J., & Sorabji, R. R. K. (1986) · Phoenix · doi:10.2307/1088177 · Cited by 154
The Symmetry Argument: Lucretius Against the Fear of Death
Rosenbaum, S. E. (1989) · Philosophy and Phenomenological Research · doi:10.2307/2107964 · Cited by 138
T. Lucretii Cari, De Rerum Natura, Libri Sex
Carus, T. L., & Munro, H. A. J. (2008) · Medical Entomology and Zoology · Cited by 115
Confrontations with the Reaper: A Philosophical Study of the Nature and Value of Death.
Fischer, J. M., & Feldman, F. (1993) · The Philosophical Review · doi:10.2307/2185910 · Cited by 103
Fischer, J. M. (1993) · Cited by 86
Morality, mortality vol 1: death and whom to save from it
Kumar, R. (1995) · Journal of Medical Ethics · doi:10.1136/jme.21.4.248-a · Cited by 73
Lucretian Palingenesis Recycled
Warren, J. (2001) · The Classical Quarterly · doi:10.1093/cq/51.2.499 · Cited by 72
Self-citationChrysippus on psychophysical causality
Sedley, D. N. (2009) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9780511470325.013 · Cited by 71
Cited by
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Menzies, R. E., & Whittle, L. F. (2022) · Discover Psychology · doi:10.1007/s44202-022-00023-9 · Cited by 14
Metadata
- Authors
- Warren, J.
- Corresponding author
- Warren, James
- ORCID
- Warren, James
- Venue
- Phronesis
- Publisher
- Walter de Gruyter GmbH
- Published
- 2001
- Volume
- 46
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 466-491
- ISSN
- 0031-8868 (ISSN-L)
- 1568-5284
- OpenAlex
- W2020586713
- Cited by
- 35
- References
- 23
- Citations by year
- 2026: 11 · 2025: 1 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 1 · 2017: 1 · 2016: 3 · 2014: 1
- FWCI
- 2.84
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Phronesis (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Philosophy › Classical Philosophy and Thought
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Classics › Classical Antiquity Studies
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Philosophy › Epistemology, Ethics, and Metaphysics
- Keywords
- Lucretius, symmetry arguments, Epicureanism, fear of death, mortality, premature mortality, De rerum natura, Epicurean ethics
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- The paper
- Warren, J. (2001). Lucretius, Symmetry arguments, and fearing death. Phronesis. https://doi.org/10.1163/156852801753736508
