The Analysis o/Death according to bernhard Welte Vhenomenological Considerations

Abstract

The paper deals with the phenomenological approach to death. The starting point of the reflection is Bernhard Welte’s description of death as a moment in which a human being achieves his wholeness. Thus, when regarding a dead person, we experience a transfiguration in his/her image in such a way that the moment of death can be spoken about as a numinous and sacred instant. Comparing this description with Martin Heidegger’s analysis in Being and Time, we see a different approach. Heidegger attempts to show that death cannot be defined by dealing with the death of another person, but only by describing the individual’s relationship to his/her own death. Finally the text discusses Eugen Fink’s notion of death, which has two aspects: the solitary dimension (one’s own death) and its social dimension (the death of others). Both dimensions are complementary.