Theses Toward a Theory of Generative Death Anxiety: Thesis #3 (Part B)
In the last column, we began our discussion of
If you didn't find what you were looking for, try a new search!
In the last column, we began our discussion of
Thesis #3: Human beings have the intelligence to think abstractly, and to use symbols (esp. complex language, which eventually allows a human person to think of himself/herself in the third person.) This is in essence what sets human psychology apart from animal psychology.
Thesis #2 - Human beings share completely in the evolution of species, and much of human psychology, emotions and social life, as well as basic physical and nervous makeup, reflect that shared animal heritage.
I want to present in thesis during the coming months the ideas I have been honing for many years now, which I have called a “Theory of Generative Death Anxiety.” Aside from the many theologians I have studied (among whom Paul Tillich deserves special mention) this theory draws heavily on ideas of Otto Rank, Robert J. Lifton, Rollo May, Terror Management Theory in social psychology, and most especially on the ideas of Ernest Becker, to whom I was introduced while in seminary and to whose work I have devoted the lion’s share of my scholarly work.