Death and Immortality

by Josef Pieper

"Pieper [attempts to] show how death must be seen as an experience of the whole man and is properly to be understood as punishment.' When he views man's pilgrim status on earth, Pieper is led to assert that death is an act of human freedom, consistent with Creation and redemption. . . . With his rare gift of high-level popularization, Pieper brings a critical mind and an in-depth acquaintance with the scholastic tradition to bear on contemporary thought and experience. . . . [This] volume deserves a place on any bookshelf devoted to Christian philosophy." Library Journal
"Dr. Pieper very subtly and usefully stresses the character of dying as act and choice, leading us up very gently to the shocking old notion that it might also constitute a well-deserved punishment." Times Literary Supplement

Genres: Philosophy, Christian, Christianity

144 pages, Paperback

First published November 15, 1999

About the author

Josef Pieper was a German Catholic philosopher and an important figure in the resurgence of interest in the thought of Thomas Aquinas in early-to-mid 20th-century philosophy. Among his most notable works are The Four Cardinal Virtues: Prudence, Justice, Fortitude, Temperance; Leisure, the Basis of Culture; and Guide to Thomas Aquinas (published in England as Introduction to Thomas Aquinas).

Reviews

[Evan Beacom · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pieper is just brilliant. He has a way of bringing the strongest statement of a position to the fore to grapple with it adequately. He fruitfully dialogues with thinkers philosophical and theological, Catholic and non-. This book gives much clarity to the question, "what happens when a man dies?" Also fascinating that he puts the question of how to die at the center of all philosophical endeavor. Finally, though he takes "living language" and popular ideas and intuitions about death seriously, the book offered correction to some of my own unexamined assumptions about death which I had inherited from...well, from who knows where. For example I would previously not have objected to the concept of the immortal (vs indestructible or eternal) soul. The lingering difficulty for me is to see death as merited punishment; I tend to think it's true but I wanted more attention given to this question, and in particular the death of innocents who merit no punishment.

[Christina “6 word reviewer” Lake]

Contemplates death's importance to spiritual vision.

[Sarah Myers · Rating 2 out of 5]

Since I have read and loved quite a few of Pieper's books, I was excited to run across this work, which I had never heard of before--especially since I could see by glancing through the chapter titles that he would talk about the issue of whether or in what sense man's death might be natural or unnatural. Regrettably, this book turned out to be one of the weakest I have read by Pieper. The first two chapters are fairly uninteresting, meandering discussions of the ways people tend to speak of death. Then it gets better as Pieper delves into the question of what it means for soul to separate from body, but he leaves threads hanging all along the way. He adopts the "both/and" answer to the issue of whether death is natural or unnatural, which is good so far as it goes, but after he had made his case for man's death as punishment and an unnatural cutting off of the life of soul and body, it was hard to see what room he had to also assert that death was in some sense natural to man, and immortality a divine gift. Is the punishment then nothing more than the withholding of a gift? I'm not saying that some of the problems that come up with Pieper's understanding of death are insoluble, but he does nothing to solve them.

The book also reads like something Pieper was still working out in his own head; the arguments often change course mid-chapter. For example, at one point he claims that death is an act of personal freedom, which to me seemed patently false, and I was curious to see how he would defend the claim. However, by the end of the chapter it seemed that he was only defending the lesser claim that acceptance of death is a personal action. All in all, I wish that Pieper had kept these ramblings to personal notes, and perhaps put them together later into a more finished and coherent book.

[Othy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am so sad to rate this book so low, but Pieper, a philosopher I have enjoyed and respect, is not strong in "Death and Immortality." His thoughts are jumbled and unorganized, and constantly he fails to explain or argue for a proposition. At times he seems to be wandering through all thought on death, and at times particularly Christian. I don't mind Christian thought, as I am a Christian myself, but I have seen the move from a broad discussion to a Christian discussion executed much better (i.e. in C.S. Lewis). Parts of the book were interesting, but I felt, as a whole, the book was unsuccessful in explaining Pieper's thoughts on the Christian view of death.

[Erik]

Recommended by James Schall in Another Sort of Learning, Intro to Part Three, as one of Fourteen Books by Josef Pieper.

[Haley Wallace · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 / 5

This book was a bit different of a read for me than normal for a variety of reasons. Namely, I tend to focus my reading on fiction (aside from the occasional memoir). Not only that, but the sole principle of this piece was to analyze and pin point what it is that could be awaiting us once we meet death and how to feel at ease with that (especially from a Christian perspective). This is a topic I’m entirely uncomfortable with facing 9 times out of 10, so I really had to force myself to focus on the content and absorb it.

I would say this book is a decent recommendation for anyone struggling with the potential uncertainty of the afterlife. For those seeking reassurance from a Christian perspective, with many arguments and rebuttals refuted and one sole claim laid out. Having a tiny bit of a background in philosophy would certainly help the read go more smooth, but other than that it is a pretty run of the mill text.

The author seemed to, to an extent, still be working out the answer in his head at times, which was hard for someone like me who was hoping for more of a firm opinion and strong stance. He certainly still has a claim he is arguing for, but there are times in the piece where it’s not the strongest.

The only other issue I have with this piece is that there were a good chunk of grammar and spelling errors. Not the biggest deal in the world, but it’s still important to take note of!

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

At his best, Josef Pieper manages to channel some very profound truths, but unfortunatley the theme is of the type that not much of truth can be known. So, he is left with what he has in order to dwell into the depths of death and immortality. It's a difficult topic, and Pieper does not exactly manage to clarify or make it easier to understand. No doubt however, he do give it its due and for a person who wants to study the topics in depth this book probably has a lot to add. For the reader who reads this in passing it may be a little too much of doing philosophy on the edge of what we are able to understand. Pieper himself has control, but as a reader I lost it quite often.

[Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I have l0ved many Josef Pieper's other works and highly respect him as a Christian thinker and philosopher, this book was the hardest one for me to find a common thread of thought. As with all of his books, however, there are rich nuggets that stand out.