Name: Death, Dying, and the Afterlife: Lessons From World Cultures
Released: 2016-02-05T00:00:00.000Z
Cast: Mark Berkson

Available on Prime Video

A compendium of how human beings struggle to come to terms with death; bringing together theology, philosophy, biology, anthropology, literature, psychology and sociology; encountering topics such as ancient burial practices.

Educational · 2016 · 32 min

Starring Mark Berkson

EPISODE 1

Death's Place in Our Lives

Starting the exploration of this topic with an overview of how human beings think about death; the place it occupies in people's lives; how attitudes about it have changed over time; the symbols and euphemisms used to talk about it.

31 min · 1 June 2020
EPISODE 2

Defining Death

Defining the subject of death; how the definition of death exists on multiple levels, which include the religious, biological, philosophical, cultural, legal and political; how each of these levels determines when a living being becomes a dead one.

29 min · 1 June 2020
EPISODE 3

Death, Illusion, and Meaning

How it is possible to find meaning in life, even when confronting its finality; drawing on the work of Ernest Becker; how forms of death denial serve to allay fears about one's insignificance; how to cultivate meaning in the face of mortality.

29 min · 1 June 2020
EPISODE 4

Is It Rational to Fear Death?

Whether death should be considered "bad"; whether people should even bother fearing it; reflecting on philosophical arguments by ancient philosopher Epicurus and modern thinker Thomas Nagel; considering the possibility that both sides are right.

28 min · 1 June 2020
EPISODE 5

Understanding and Coping With Grief

Unpacking the feelings and behaviors of the grieving process; the evolutionary benefits of grief; the five stages of grief laid out by Elizabeth Kubler-Ross; the three categories of grieving identified by psychologist George Bonanno.

30 min · 1 June 2020
EPISODE 6

Death Rituals and the Corpse

Since the dawn of humanity, corpses hold lasting significance for humans; probing the various ways human civilizations "dispose" of corpses, from burial and mummification to cremation and natural exposure.

30 min · 1 June 2020