Patreon/Tip Jar: ⁠https://patreon.com/c/HemlockPatreon⁠

Table of Contents Below >>>

Original Course Listing on YouTube:

⁠https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEA18FAF1AD9047B0⁠

Buy Prof. Kagan's Book on Death:

https://a.co/d/8FnPcW1

About the Course (Yale)

There is one thing I can be sure of: I am going to die. But what am I to make of that fact? This course will examine a number of issues that arise once we begin to reflect on our mortality. The possibility that death may not actually be the end is considered. Are we, in some sense, immortal? Would immortality be desirable? Also a clearer notion of what it is to die is examined. What does it mean to say that a person has died? What kind of fact is that? And, finally, different attitudes to death are evaluated. Is death an evil? How? Why? Is suicide morally permissible? Is it rational? How should the knowledge that I am going to die affect the way I live my life?

Link to Syllabus/Readings and Course Description:

https://oyc.yale.edu/death/phil-176

This course has 26 lectures - these (169a) are the first 13, in order. The forthcoming 169b will contain the back half. Shelly says 1-13 are about metaphysics of death, and 14-26 are about value theory of death.

Chapters

(00:00:00) Intro

(00:01:57) Course Introduction

(00:45:47) The Nature of Persons

(01:23:52) Arguments for the Existence of the Soul I

(02:05:09) Arguments for the Existence of the Soul II: Plato's Phaedo

(02:47:38) Arguments for the Existence of the Soul III: Free Will and Near-Death Experiences

(03:30:56) Arguments for the Existence of the Soul IV: Plato Part 1

(04:03:00) Plato Part II

(04:44:30) Plato Part III

(05:26:55) Plato Part IV

(06:09:08) Personal Identity Part I: Identity Across Space and Time and the Soul Theory

(06:49:07) Personal Identity Part II: Body and Personality Theory

(07:33:58) Personal Identity Part III: Objections to the Personality Theory

(08:17:42) Personal Identity Part IV: What Matters?

(08:58:21) Schubert Impromptu No. 3 in G-Flat Major performed by Max John, CC License, YouTube

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Support the Rebel Alliance: https://patreon.com/c/HemlockPatreon

People Mentioned:

Mahmoud Khalil

Maria Lugones

Byung-Chul Han

Lars von Trier (dir. Melancholia, 2011)

Hannah Arendt

Tyson Yunkaporta

Concepts:

Kenosis (self-emptying)

Books:

Putnam, Bowling Alone

News/References:

Zinc Mine in Georgia/https://thecurrentga.org/2025/06/20/okefenokee-mine-sale-conservation-fund/

Minister of Loneliness UK

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/minister-loneliness-appointed-united-kingdom-180967883/

Guy dies in ICE Facility

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/30/us-ice-detention-deaths

Finger Shot Off (graphic)

https://www.resetera.com/threads/los-angeles-police-blew-off-my-finger-for-protesting-ice-content-warning-amputation.1233627/

ChatGPT Datacenter Depletes Groundwater

https://energytheory.com/chatgpts-thirsty-data-centers-are-draining-water-resources/

Peter Thiel/Greta Thunberg Interview

https://archive.ph/HTIF6

Palestinian Youth Movement and Mask off Maersk

https://www.maskoffmaersk.com/

Andrew Callaghan Channel Five Uranium Mine

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcPsy8734Vg&pp=ygUlYW5kcmV3IGNhbGxhZ2hhbiBjaGFubmVsIGZpdmUgdXJhbml1bQ%3D%3D

Patreon: https://patreon.com/c/HemlockPatreon

Photo Credit:

Morning Tai Chi by Shuolong Ma

Music Credit:

Music Copyright Kevin MacLeod

https://youtu.be/qGAcClayOqk

Coconut Tree Meme Music

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7_5nHIbsjo

Books/Sources

Hans-Georg Moeller Daoism Explained

https://www.amazon.com/Daoism-Explained-Butterfly-Fishnet-Allegory/dp/0812695631

Oliver Sacks, the Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat

Iain McGilchrist, the Master and His Emissary

Jean Piaget, Concrete Operational/Formal Operational

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piaget%27s_theory_of_cognitive_development#Concrete_operational_stage