Death

The Existential Meaning of The Ultimate Phenomenon, Towards an Aesthetics of Consolation

Abstract

This paper considers the phenomenon of death as it is existentially relevant to us as existents. It raises the question: how should we live given that one day we will die? I explore how death uniquely shapes our conception of who we are and what we can become as naturally constrained human beings. I argue that we should seek to incorporate death as a meaningful consideration and factor in our daily living if we are to self-actualise. Furthermore, I argue that given the above we find ourselves in need of consolation. I proffer a proto-ontological aesthetics that seeks to show from the first principle of the I-You ontological structure of human existence how we can find consolation in a world besieged by death. I argue that there is a reciprocal relation between being-with-others, death, and self-actualisation. We appreciate being-with-others all the more because of the limitation imposed by death, whilst being-with-others allows us to find consolation in the other in the form of being-with-others-to-the-end. The second part of the essay considers the relationship between being-with-others, death and self-actualisation as applied to aesthetics. A number of aesthetic examples are employed that exemplify the reciprocal nature between death, love, and art. Art helps us to discover and integrate ourselves as a being-with-others: it helps us to form meaningful relationships. Thus, art as a mode of being-with-others provides a way for us to reconcile with death, while the finitude imposed by death moves
us to find consolation in art.