On Tuesday, 7/12/2021, the Department of Philosophy at the College of Arts / University of Basrah organized a panel discussion entitled “The Reasons for the Fear of Death according to Ibn Miskawayh’s Philosophical Study”.
The panel discussion, in which Asst. Prof. Dr. Ali Hadi Taher lectured, aims to shed light on Ibn Miskawayh’s position on the issue of fear of death that many suffer from, and which eventually turns into a mental illness that brings its owner nothing but worries, grief, sadness, and loss of psychological comfort, which will affect the health of the body and then the human lives a miserable life, and this fear will not prevent death, which is an inevitable consequence of all creatures.
The panel discussion dealt with presenting Miskawayh’s ideas about fear in general and fear of death in particular, and the distinction between normal fear and pathological fear. It also touched on the presentation of some of the justifications that some provided as reasons for fear of death, and referred to Miskawayh’s responses to those reasons, and that they are not, in any case, considered as justifications for surrendering to fear, but rather the person has to accept his/her inevitable end.
Miskawayh concluded that there are cases in which it is better to go forward to death than to stay away from it, especially in the matter of defending religion, land, honor and for the sake of noble goals, and that people of faith are the most willing to die.
