Modern Man and Mortality

by Jacques Choron

"What is the purpose and meaning of life if death is, as it appears to an ever-broadening segment of modern secularized humanity, total annihilation of the conscious personality?" This is the profound question asked by Jaques Choron in his new book, Modern Man and Mortality. And in his investigation of man's confrontation with the fact of death, he offers the most comprehensive, most objective study ever published on this subject. Building on the work of noted philosophers, physiologists, and psychiatrists, Dr. Choron presents rare insights into today's changing attitudes toward mortality. He analyzes the biological concept of mortality, discusses the theory of the death instinct, particularly as defined and interpreted by Freud, and he considers the concept of immortality, questioning the "proofs" that have been set forth over the centuries. The complex phenomenon of man's fear of death is investigated from many points of view, ranging from philosophical to psychoanalytical Dr. Choron deals with the varieties of this fear and the many "remedies" man has devised to ward off this final terror. Above all, the author is concerned with mortality as it relates inevitably to the ultimate meaning of life. He discusses the attempts by such great world figures as Nietzsche, Tolstoy, Rilke and Malraux to find the true purpose of existence, and he examines whether it is possible for man to believe that he is part of a cosmic plan with confronted by a scientific world view that dethrones him and reveals the futility of his aspirations.

276 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1964