De la construcción de thanatos a la realización de la mors vera

Abstract

This text deals with the conception of good death and how this idea has changed in the West. Regarded as an event in the natural order of things or else in its relation to human existence, it is possible to speak of death and Death: on the one hand the demise of any living being and on the other the existential possibility. The possibilities of the temporal and permanent human existence emerge from the second, evolving into the reflection that drives the production of culture, religion, art, and science. It is presented in diverse images and forms with the same basis: the end. The struggle against it is against the finite quality and fragility of existence. Therefore, it is the driving force for the creation of systems of hope aimed at infinity through symbols immersed in cultures, reflected in the idea of eschatology to the hope for a good or true death. Thanatos is the god who rips out the human soul or spirit and also the idea of good death: mors vera. All cultures have defined the parameters for the transit of the deceased to the beyond and for the comfort of mourners.