Death and Self

Workshop ”Death and Self”

July 2–3, 2025

Goethe University Frankfurt

Department of Philosophy 

What is a self? What is death? Is death the end of our self? In our upcoming workshop "Death and Self", we will explore the themes of death, selfhood, and their intricate relationship.

What constitutes a rational attitude toward our own death? Should death be considered a harm to ourselves, or only to those we leave behind? And how do our sense of self and our subjective experience shape our attitudes toward death?

These and related questions will be addressed in nine talks, each offering a distinct philosophical perspective on the topic.

The conference is hosted by the Institute of Philosophy at Goethe University Frankfurt and takes place as part of a research project funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) (German Research Foundation).

Workshop Program: 

July 2

8:45 - 09:00WELCOME

9:00 - 10:30Dan Zahavi ”Killing the Ego”

10:45 - 12:15Maria Müller-Hornbach ”Losing Ourselves in Death: Why It Isn't as Bad as We Thought”

12:15 - 13.45BREAK

13:45 - 15:15Mikel Burley ”’Dying to the Self’: Christian and Buddhist Perspectives”

15:30 - 17:00Wolfgang Fasching  ”The Whence and the Whither”

17:15 - 18:45Nadine Mooren ”Death and the Second Person”

July 3

9:00 - 10:30Gerson Reuter ”My Death: The End of a World”

10:45 - 12:15Marcus Willaschek ”What Makes My Death Mine?”

12:15 - 14:00BREAK

14:00 - 15:30Natalja Deng  ”Is Death Nothing to us? Perspectives from the Philosophy of Time”

16:00 - 17:30 Michael Cholbi ”Estrangement from the Valuable: Toward a Comprehensive Account of Death’s Harms”

19:00 Institutskolloquium mit Dan Zahavi ("Being You - Or Not?")

(not part of the workshop but everyone is cordially invited)

Participation is free, but we kindly ask you to register by emailing [email protected].

Organized by Maria Müller-Hornbach and Marcus Willaschek