신화적이고 시적인 전통 속에서 인간의 지위는 보잘 것 없다. 신과 운명이 멸하지 않는 전능성을 가지고 있다면 인간은 신에게 종속된 죽는 자에 불과하다. 인간은 죽는 자(brotos, mortal)로 정의된다. 죽음이란 마주하고 싶지 않은 비참하고 참혹한 사태이기는 하지만 인간인 한에서는 불가피하게 받아들여야 하는 운명이다.
파르메니데스는 죽음의 문제와 연관해서 가장 괄목할 만한 인물이다. 그는 세상의 변화(生滅變異)를 있음과 있지 않음으로 정의하여 변화가 불가능하다는 것을 논증한다. 세상의 모든 변화가 성립하기 위해서는 있지 않음이 반드시 개입되어야 하는데, 있지 않음은 생각할 수도, 언급할 수도 없기 때문에 변화 자체가 불가능하다는 걸 논증한다. 이로부터 인간의 죽음은 불가능한 사건이 된다.
인간은 죽는 자이기 때문에 사악한 운명(kakē moira)에 시달려 왔으나 파르메니데스가 논증을 통해 죽음을 추방한 이후 인간은 사악한 운명의 굴레로부터 벗어나게 되고 인간의 삶은 옳고 정의롭게 된다.
플라톤은 죽음과 변화가 추방된 파르메니데스의 순일(純一)한 존재(의 세계)를 궁극의 목표이자 진리인 좋음의 이데아로 설정한다. 플라톤에 따르면 인간의 몸은 변화의 세계에 귀속되어 있기 때문에 몸의 영향을 가급적이면 최소화하는 방식으로 영혼을 정화함으로써 불멸의 세계에 동참할 수 있다. 이로부터 인간은 불멸의(immortal) 존재로 재탄생하게 된다. 죽는 자에서 죽지 않는 자로의 인간 재탄생 과정은 죽음의 문제를 철학에서 추방하는, 곧 죽음의 문제를 망각해가는 역사라고 말할 수 있다.
To the epic heroes, death is one of the worst losses with which they never want to be confronted. In spite of that, humans are destined to die. It is mainly because humans are mortal. The death in the epic is deprivation to which no one would like to face, but has to do. In that all humans must die and the death is the most miserable incident, we all are bound to bad fate (moira kakē). Parmenides first defined the birth and death and clearly eradicated the dark shadow of death. He presented definiens - is and is not - by which he defined all the differences and changes and thus, proved the impossibilities of death. In the world depicted by Parmenides, we do not have to show concern about bad fate (moira kakē), death. The power that drives to conduct humans’ lives is not bad fate (moira kakē) but Thetis and Dike. Human life itself becomes righteous. Plato thinks that life after birth means to be a marriage between body and soul. Through life, humans have to discipline hard to separate soul from body - meaning that humans have to exercise “to die.” The separation of body from soul is death. Perfect death (complete separation of soul from body) guarantees the eternal life, the immortality of soul. Indeed, a death perfectly free from the influence of body makes no souls perish after death. The soul lives everlastingly. The history from Homer to Plato is not only a process of giving meaning to Being (creating ontology) but also the history of expelling the problem of death which was the main concern for all men.
To the epic heroes, death is one of the worst losses with which they never want to be confronted. In spite of that, humans are destined to die. It is mainly because humans are mortal. The death in the epic is deprivation to which no one would like to face, but has to do. In that all humans must die and the death is the most miserable incident, we all are bound to bad fate (moira kakē). Parmenides first defined the birth and death and clearly eradicated the dark shadow of death. He presented definiens - is and is not - by which he defined all the differences and changes and thus, proved the impossibilities of death. In the world depicted by Parmenides, we do not have to show concern about bad fate (moira kakē), death. The power that drives to conduct humans’ lives is not bad fate (moira kakē) but Thetis and Dike. Human life itself becomes righteous. Plato thinks that life after birth means to be a marriage between body and soul. Through life, humans have to discipline hard to separate soul from body - meaning that humans have to exercise “to die.” The separation of body from soul is death. Perfect death (complete separation of soul from body) guarantees the eternal life, the immortality of soul. Indeed, a death perfectly free from the influence of body makes no souls perish after death. The soul lives everlastingly. The history from Homer to Plato is not only a process of giving meaning to Being (creating ontology) but also the history of expelling the problem of death which was the main concern for all men.