Psychology Are all fears connected to the fear of death?

I got to say, Neph pretty much concluded the whole argument in a few sentances. Not all fear is realated to death. And he pretty much proved it. How can some even still argue about it. He gave one example that proved it wronge. Meaning not all fears are related to death. Most but not all.

You could be scared of say not being popular if you are popular, or scared to stand up to someone (parents, friends who ever) But those fears arent connected to death.


People are making some really good points. . . .but their off topic. XP

 

fear is one of the factors that keep us living. if we weren't afraid of anything, we'd see people jumping off of buildings and burning themselves alive. I think fear is a good thing, because each and every person has a few of them, no doubt. it's funny to hear people claim themselves as "fearless"...being fearless basically means you're ignorant.

I don't understand how someone had the idea that all fears are connected to the fear of death. Nephilim covered this for the most part. I see it as don't be afraid of the consequence, be afraid of your actions. if you are afraid of the actions first then most likely you won't do it. therefor, no consequences to deal with. I hate to see people who are spontaneous and do things out of compulsion. taking the risk is one thing, suffering the aftermath is another.

 

I think even if someone didnt fear death they still wouldnt jump off buildings and burn themselves because they would still feel the pain. Now if they were invincible, hell I would be jumping off buildings and sleeping in pits of fire. But i definetly agree with you on fear being a good thing. It practically pumps energy into you....its a good feeling once its over.

 

Fear spawns your body's most primal instincts - it is rarely good. You do not experience true fear before jumping off a building - you only feel hesitance. Fear is when you already know the coming the death - such as that when you are already mid-air, after you have jumped off the building. However, fear makes someone frantic and unthinking, and though it gives them energy, that energy is usually used unwisely.

Other people jump off buildings and sleep in pits of fire because 1) They are confident that they are survive - usually not the case, only for those stunt people or the funny guys in Ripley's Believe it or Not and such, or 2) They aren't afraid of death anymore, and accepted, because they have accepted death over life - or so they think. Either that, or they fear something else over their fear of death - such as humiliation, torture, and so on. This is suicide.

 

The only thing that scares me about detah is what happens after it. Not knowing it scares me, therefore I don't want to die because I'm scared of that blank mystery behind it all....


But am I scared oif heights and spiders because of death?

No.

I'm a wuss. I'm scared of pain. Therefore some of the things I am scared of (like...balls...sports balls I mean) is because I don't wnana get hurt.

But not all fears are ones connected to pain or death. I'm scared of spiders they're scary looking , and heights because...Not having my feet on something scares me. Don't know why. (I'm fine in planes)

But fear isn't connected to death. Maybe to some people but how can a fear of spiders be connected to death? Yo, just squish the stupid things. (That's what i do!)

 

Well, my greatest fear is being abducted by aliens, and that has nothing to do with being scared of them killing me. Death doesn't scare me, it is more the thought of not being in control, something that most humans tend to try and do to their enviroments.

 

It's called genetic memory.

But not all fears are ones connected to pain or death. I'm scared of spiders they're scary looking , and heights because...Not having my feet on something scares me. Don't know why. (I'm fine in planes)
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I don't know why or how... but i remember watching on Discovery (yay for Discovery!) that our ancestors experienced fear from those deadly animals. If they LOOK scary it's because they were MEANT to.

i.e. spiders look yucky because that's their defense mechanism against possible predators.

If you were a primitive jungle-inhabiting people, would you have the nerve to squish those spiders with your bare feet/hands?

No way! So you get away as fast as you can.

Ta-da! The trick worked.

Still, phobias are strongly related to past experiences that get firmly imprinted on our memories.
i.e. if something hurt you REALLY bad, you want to avoid situations that look similar (because, according to your subconscious, those situations could repeat that tragic scene.

Well, actually that's one of the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (or PTSD). Fear of situations similar to the ones that surrounded the traumatic event.

And that means the person needs treatment to recover from the trauma.

 

Using a psychoanalytical approach(Freudian) you can theorize that even though one may say that they are afraid of something because it is ugly, it truly originates from fear of death, and they are repressing this fear.

But, it isn't always death that people are afraid of! One may be afraid of scruffy looking people because they are materialists who don't want their things stolen and believe all scruffy looking people to be thieves. Some people also have a fear of the colour purple, it's called porphyrophobia. It's not like a colour will come and kill a person. Although, I suppose if they cut a purple wire on a bomb it sort of can.

 

lol i just looked at the therad name and it says in blue "are all fears connected to... That Guy!" just struck me as funny.

 

Okay... I give up. Give up what? even at the start I said most fears are, but then the people that posted here convinced me that not nearly all are... I give up! :dizzy2:

 

Wow. Logic. However, how many fears that people deal with every day are controlled by logic? Just because something is beyond our control, doesn't mean we don't think in the back of our minds "maybe I'LL be the lucky one, to escape the inevitable."

 

I wouldn't step on them...I'll get a club like stick, follow my primitive instincts and smash it, smash it, smash it!

That's true. My fear of knives and other sharp things comes from when i was a little baby and I cut myself with my dad's razor. It also become strengthened with I cut myself with a friggin' butterknife trying to cut hard cheese (NEVER do this. You're applying so much force that when it slips it makes a deep cut, like it did to me!) I mean, I can use them, but some knives scare me so bad i won't touch them.
but this can also be connected to the fear of pain...

 

Pain CAUSES fear.

It's called "conditioning". Remember Pavlov's dog? (Well, that was POSITIVE conditioning, but you get the idea).

Now I think fear of death, on the other hand, is the product of millions of years of evolution. Did you know for example, that whenever sharks smell dead shark, they flee? Some guys have synthesized "shark serum", and whenever they spread it on the water, sharks "run away". I'd really like to know how this neural mechanism works.

I think it has to do with neurotransmitters, because the brain is not only electrically, but also chemically driven. And so, maybe certain smells activate a specific gene which says "danger!".

Interesting, very interesting... <-- Dr. Hess from SMJ.

 

Yeah, but just because you don't want to die doesn't mean you fear death. As I said, I really am not frightened of the fact that I'm going to die, but I really would rather like to keep on living. Hell, I'm going to the pub with my friends tonight, I'd rather not get shot in a driveby if I can help it. I have things to look forward to!

 

it sometimes seems as though we fear fear itself, like the horrible sick feeling some people dont want to get from seeing something such as a monster in the movies. its hard to explain, im trying my best, or if you have seen something scary, and has sparked your fear but not comepleatly, you could fear the feeling of fear you may have. the aura of fear hangs around you like a cloak,and gives you strange horrible feelings. or fear of being suprised, or scared, you know its going to happen,your going to be scared, so how will you know whats going to come exept the feeling of fear?

 

i've never feared death. it's a natural thing and well, i don't wanna live forever...

 

You got a point in here.

There are DIFFERENT kinds of fear.

There is the irrational fear (phobia) of something that you don't want to talk about.
There is fear caused by a traumatic experience (also phobia)
There is long-term fear, because you're scared of something.

And there's the sudden scary moment that triggers your fight-or-flight reaction (AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!)

Which brings the point: We fear FEAR itself, or WHATEVER caused that fear?

Hmmmmmmmm.... *puts on glasses, beard, and starts jotting down on notebook*

 

This is straight from my philosophy notes.

Socrates's behavior at his own trial was unusual in that, while he did try to show the jury that the charges against him were false, he did nothing to try to win their sympathy or plead for their mercy. Indeed, he often spoke in ways that were likely to antagonize members of his audience (such as when he suggested that an appropriate 'punishment' for his crimes be that the city feed him for free for the rest of his life). Socrates makes it clear that sticking to his own moral principles is more important to him than mounting the type of defense, or proposing the sort of punishment, that would allow him to escape his trial with his life. As he puts it after his conviction, "nor do I now repent of the manner of my defense, and I would rather die having spoken after my manner, than speak in your manner and live."



Socrates recognizes that most people would be willing to compromise a little in order to preserve their life, but he claims that they are mistaken to do so, because "a man who is good for anything ought not to calculate the chance of living or dying; he ought only to consider whether in doing anything he is doing right or wrong." People will often do things that they know are wrong in order to preserve their life (indeed, they will knowingly commit wrongs for much less), and Socrates argues that this is because they believe that death is a bad thing, in spite of the fact that they have no evidence that it is so. Our fear of death is, he claims, "For this fear of death is indeed the pretence of wisdom, and not real wisdom, since no one knows whether death, which they in their fear apprehend to be the greatest evil, may not be the greatest good. " Death could, after all, be a blessing, since life after death could turn out to be much better than our life in this world (indeed, most people seem to believe they are headed for something better once they die), and if that is the case, then there is no reason to fear it. On the other hand, if there is no life after death, then it is like nothing at all, if anything, a deep sleep from which we never wake up, and there is nothing particularly unpleasant about that either. Consequently, there is no reason to fear death, and thus no reason to compromise one's values just to avoid death.

It is thus more important to live a good life than it is a long one. While most later philosophers we read will agree with this, they will turn out to have very different conceptions of what a 'good' life consists in.

 

To me, there is only one problem with death. That is the fear of losing fonder memories or pleasantries of life, for life in the materialistic world is never boring to the materialistic soul which is never totally satisfied but always looks forward to being more satisfied. The world is not enough to such a soul.

So I do propose that greed or hunger is the cause to which all fears, including the fear of death itself, are connected. There is only one fear, the fear of not having. A soul always wants or needs something in a world bound by materials. The fear of death is just another fear in a universe of fears.

 

Change title

All fears arent connected to death, like heres one you could be walking down a corridor at night with men eyeing you, now you could just fear getting raped,so all fears dont revolve around death
I dont realy fear anything(except for one thing-not death though), for me I just worry sometimes

all right personaly I think this debate shouldn't be going on still because it allready been proven false.
I think we should change the title to something else,