The Denial of Death

The Denial of Death
	Cover of the first edition
Author	Ernest Becker
Country	United States
Language	English
Subject	Death
Publisher	Free Press
Publication date	December 31, 1973
Media type	Print (Hardcover and Paperback)
Pages	336
ISBN	9780684832401

The Denial of Death is a 1973 work of psychology and philosophy by the cultural anthropologist Ernest Becker, in which the author builds on the works of Søren Kierkegaard, Sigmund Freud, Norman O. Brown and Otto Rank.[1] It was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction in 1974, two months after the author's death.[2]

Background

The premise of The Denial of Death is that human civilization is ultimately an elaborate, symbolic defense mechanism against the knowledge of our mortality, which in turn acts as the emotional and intellectual response to our basic survival mechanism. Becker argues that a basic duality in human life exists between the physical world of objects and a symbolic world of human meaning. Thus, since humanity has a dualistic nature consisting of a physical self and a symbolic self, we are able to transcend the dilemma of mortality through heroism, by focusing our attention mainly on our symbolic selves. This symbolic self-focus takes the form of an individual's "immortality project" (or "causa sui project"), which is essentially a symbolic belief-system that ensures one's self is believed superior to physical reality. By successfully living under the terms of the immortality project, people feel they can become heroic and, henceforth, part of something eternal: something that will never die as compared to their physical body. This, in turn, gives people the feeling that their lives have meaning, a purpose, and are significant in the grand scheme of things.

Immortality projects are one way that people manage death anxiety. Some people, however, will keep themselves drunk or use drugs to escape their anxiety in the face of death.[3] Others will try to manage the terror of death by ignoring the problem and by “tranquilizing oneself with the trivial” (a term Becker borrowed from Kierkegaard). Becker describes the success of the Christian world picture as being able to take “slaves, cripples... the simple and the mighty” and turn them into heroes of their own story by looking beyond this world to the heavenly realm where they will be rewarded for their heroism by God and live with Him forever.[4]

Becker argues that the arbitrariness of human-invented immortality projects makes them naturally prone to conflict. When one immortality project conflicts with another, it is essentially an accusation of 'wrongness of life', and so sets the context for both aggressive and defensive behavior. Each party will want to prove its belief system is superior, a better way of life. Thus these immortality projects are considered a fundamental driver of human conflict, such as in wars, bigotry, genocide, and racism.[5]

Another theme running throughout the book is that humanity's traditional "hero-systems", such as religion, are no longer convincing in the age of reason. However, he argued the loss of religion leaves humanity with impoverished resources for necessary illusions. Science attempts to serve as an immortality project, something that Becker believes it can never do because it is unable to provide agreeable, absolute meanings to human life. The book states that we need new convincing "illusions" that enable us to feel heroic in ways that are agreeable.[6] Becker, however, does not provide any definitive answer, mainly because he believes that there is no perfect solution. Instead, he hopes that gradual realization of humanity's innate motivations, namely death, can help to bring about a better world.

Mental illness

Becker concludes the introductory section of a chapter where he offers "A General View of Mental Illness" with the summary observation that "mental illness represents styles of bogging-down in the denial of creatureliness" that is part and parcel of immortality projects.[7]

Depression

At one extreme, people experiencing depression have the sense that their immortality project is failing. They either begin to think the immortality project is false or feel unable to successfully be a hero in terms of that immortality project. As a result, they are consistently reminded of their mortality, biological body, and feelings of worthlessness.[8]

Schizophrenia

At the other extreme, Becker describes schizophrenia as a state in which a person becomes so obsessed with his or her personal immortality project as to altogether deny the nature of all other realities. Schizophrenics create their own internal, mental reality in which they define and control all purposes, truths, and meanings. This makes them pure heroes, living in a mental reality that is taken as superior to both physical and cultural realities.[9]

Creativity

Like the schizophrenic, creative and artistic individuals deny both physical reality and culturally-endorsed immortality projects, expressing a need to create their own reality. The primary difference is that creative individuals have talents that allow them to create and express a reality that others may appreciate, rather than simply constructing an internal, mental reality.[10]

Reception

The Denial of Death has been praised for its post-Freudian approach to psychoanalysis,[11] and has been criticized for its reductive depictions of mental health and humanity.[6]

The book helped to inspire a revival of interest in the work of the Austrian psychoanalyst Otto Rank.[12]

The book has also had a wide cultural impact beyond the fields of psychology and philosophy. The book made an appearance in Woody Allen's film Annie Hall, when the death-obsessed character Alvy Singer buys it for his girlfriend Annie. It was referred to by Spalding Gray in his work It's a Slippery Slope.[13] Former United States President Bill Clinton quoted The Denial of Death in his 2004 autobiography My Life; he also included it as one of 21 titles in his list of favorite books.[14] The playwright Ayad Akhtar mentions it in his Pulitzer Prize-winning play Disgraced.[15]

References

- Becker, Ernest (1973). The Denial of Death. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-684-83240-2.
"The 1974 Pulitzer Prize Winner in General Nonfiction". The Pulitzer Prizes. Retrieved January 22, 2020.
Becker, Ernest, “The Denial of Death” Chapter 1.
Becker, Ernest, “The Denial of Death” chapter 8.
Summary of Ernest Becker's, The Denial of Death|Reason and Meaning
Podgorski, Daniel (October 22, 2019). "The Denial of Life: A Critique of Pessimism, Pathologization, and Structuralism in Ernest Becker's The Denial of Death". The Gemsbok. Retrieved January 22, 2020.
- Becker, Ernest (1973). The Denial of Death. New York: Simon & Schuster. pp. 208–210. ISBN 0-684-83240-2.
- Becker, Ernest (1973). The Denial of Death. New York: Simon & Schuster. pp. 210–217. ISBN 0-684-83240-2.
- Becker, Ernest (1973). The Denial of Death. New York: Simon & Schuster. pp. 217–221. ISBN 0-684-83240-2.
- Becker, Ernest (1973). The Denial of Death. New York: Simon & Schuster. pp. 171–173. ISBN 0-684-83240-2.
Broyard, Anatole (June 6, 1982). "Reading and Writing; Life before Death". The New York Times. Retrieved January 22, 2020.
Lieberman, E. James; Kramer, Robert (2012). The Letters of Sigmund Freud & Otto Rank: Inside Psychoanalysis. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 285. ISBN 978-1-4214-0354-0.
Gray, Spalding (1997). It's a Slippery Slope (Revised ed.). USA, New York: Farrar Straus & Giroux Inc. ISBN 978-0-374-52523-1.
Clinton Presidential Library and Museum. "Biography — William J. Clinton". Archived from the original on 2010-12-04. Retrieved 2009-08-05.
Witzig, Peter (February 10, 2016). "'Disgraced' Seeks To Raise The Discourse, But Discourse At An All-Time Low". The Emory Wheel. Retrieved January 22, 2020.

External links

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[1] Becker, Ernest (1973). The Denial of Death. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-684-83240-2.

[2] Becker, Ernest (1973). The Denial of Death. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-684-83240-2.

[2] "The 1974 Pulitzer Prize Winner in General Nonfiction". The Pulitzer Prizes. Retrieved January 22, 2020.

[3] Becker, Ernest, “The Denial of Death” Chapter 1.

[4] Becker, Ernest, “The Denial of Death” chapter 8.

[5] Summary of Ernest Becker's, The Denial of Death|Reason and Meaning

[gemsbok-6] Podgorski, Daniel (October 22, 2019). "The Denial of Life: A Critique of Pessimism, Pathologization, and Structuralism in Ernest Becker's The Denial of Death". The Gemsbok. Retrieved January 22, 2020.

[7] Becker, Ernest (1973). The Denial of Death. New York: Simon & Schuster. pp. 208–210. ISBN 0-684-83240-2.

[9] Becker, Ernest (1973). The Denial of Death. New York: Simon & Schuster. pp. 208–210. ISBN 0-684-83240-2.

[8] Becker, Ernest (1973). The Denial of Death. New York: Simon & Schuster. pp. 210–217. ISBN 0-684-83240-2.

[11] Becker, Ernest (1973). The Denial of Death. New York: Simon & Schuster. pp. 210–217. ISBN 0-684-83240-2.

[9] Becker, Ernest (1973). The Denial of Death. New York: Simon & Schuster. pp. 217–221. ISBN 0-684-83240-2.

[13] Becker, Ernest (1973). The Denial of Death. New York: Simon & Schuster. pp. 217–221. ISBN 0-684-83240-2.

[10] Becker, Ernest (1973). The Denial of Death. New York: Simon & Schuster. pp. 171–173. ISBN 0-684-83240-2.

[15] Becker, Ernest (1973). The Denial of Death. New York: Simon & Schuster. pp. 171–173. ISBN 0-684-83240-2.

[11] Broyard, Anatole (June 6, 1982). "Reading and Writing; Life before Death". The New York Times. Retrieved January 22, 2020.

[12] Lieberman, E. James; Kramer, Robert (2012). The Letters of Sigmund Freud & Otto Rank: Inside Psychoanalysis. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 285. ISBN 978-1-4214-0354-0.

[13] Gray, Spalding (1997). It's a Slippery Slope (Revised ed.). USA, New York: Farrar Straus & Giroux Inc. ISBN 978-0-374-52523-1.

[14] Clinton Presidential Library and Museum. "Biography — William J. Clinton". Archived from the original on 2010-12-04. Retrieved 2009-08-05.

[15] Witzig, Peter (February 10, 2016). "'Disgraced' Seeks To Raise The Discourse, But Discourse At An All-Time Low". The Emory Wheel. Retrieved January 22, 2020.