The Denial of Death

Psychology

First published: 1973
Print length: 314 pagesFree Press Paperbacks, 1997

Description

Ernest Becker examines how awareness of mortality shapes individuals and cultures. He argues that much human behavior and civilization function to keep the knowledge of death at a distance. People manage death anxiety through symbolic immortality projects that give life meaning beyond a single lifespan, while personal character can harden into protective armor that conceals mortality and restricts self-knowledge. Becker also considers how weakened religious hero-systems leave fewer sources of meaning and how clashes between rival immortality projects can contribute to violence and collective misery. The book brings psychological and philosophical inquiry together in a sustained study of death and meaning.

Reading profile

About this profile

Collected’s assessment, not reader ratings. Complexity runs from 1 (least demanding) to 5 (most demanding).

Writing: How much attention the sentences and language require.
Ideas: How much interpretation or abstract reasoning the book asks of you.
Structure: How much you need to keep track of speakers, timelines and connections.
Background knowledge: Prior knowledge needed to follow the book, beyond what it explains.
Emotional intensity: Emotional pressure, from gentle (1) to intense (5). Separate from difficulty.

Writing style

Academic · Dense · Essayistic

Pace

Slow

Tone

Cerebral · Dark · Earnest · Philosophical

Structure

Argumentative

Focus

Argument · Ideas

Emotional intensity

4 / 5

Reading complexity

1–5 · higher means more demanding

Writing: 4 / 5
Ideas: 5 / 5
Structure: 3 / 5
Background knowledge: 3 / 5

Themes

IdentityKnowledge and truthMortalityPowerReligion and faithWar

About Ernest Becker

Ernest Becker was an American cultural anthropologist whose compact career as a professor and writer produced an unusually broad account of human behavior. Drawing on psychoanalysis, philosophy, and religious thought, he treated culture as both a source of meaning and a defense against mortality. The Birth and Death of Meaning develops his synthetic theory of human nature, while The Denial of Death argues that individuals and societies organize much of life around managing death anxiety. His later work extended that argument toward the social roots of destructiveness. Becker’s distinctive method was to join large-scale cultural analysis with psychological speculation; his ideas later helped inspire terror management theory and influenced social psychology and the psychology of religion.

Book details

For the print edition listed above.

Publisher: Free Press Paperbacks
Language: English
ISBN: 9780684832401

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