by Kristen Alsberge

Created on: January 29, 2011

There are many ways to look death and it is varied between famous philosophers as well, so the question is: how do you view death? One of death’s common personas would be seen as an evil and frightening grim reaper viciously out to get everyone. That one represents Tolstoy’s look on death. Then again, the door of life may close but a window of greater opportunity opens up, with that being a look many positive and optimistic thinkers believe. That would portray the idea of Socrates, Plato, and the Stoics. These are two extremes of sorts. However, if neither view seems familiar to you and your views on the subject of death then, you might be like the Epicureans, Epictetus, and Seneca who don’t really care let alone acknowledge it as a good or bad thing.

Tolstoy was a famous philosopher from Russia. On Russia’s timeline, his time was during the reign of Peter the Great and was being raised as an Orthodox Christian. When he was younger, he hadn’t given much thought to death because, even though he grew up in that religion he didn’t truly believe in it. Being and acting as an Orthodox Christian was simply custom partnered with tradition and done without a thought just because that was the expected routine. Since he didn’t truly believe in that religion, he didn’t exactly have an outlook on the way of life or at least the same one he had been taught all those years.

Once Tolstoy found out about the hypocrisy of the religion he was born and raised into, he broke away from it. Of course this didn’t happen until he was old enough to notice what he really did believe and what really was going on. After he broke away, he began to contemplate what exactly he did believe. In the beginning, he came to settle on the belief that just doing something… anything for that matter was the purpose and way of progress. It didn’t matter the reason or logic behind the intention or action, as long as something was being done. Most of this philosophy outlook became almost like a paradox of Catholicism.

The philosophy he preached didn’t quite have a personal meaning behind it either. He didn’t even quite believe or have a method to his teaching and preaching. The fact was that he was doing something and it didn’t matter what it was. The subject matter he was teaching was just that it was something to do and that was his idea of the purpose and way of life so that was all that mattered.

Although he discovered

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