Changing Perception of Death in Modernity and Postmodernity

Abstract

In this study, the perception of death in the changing world was examined and the effects of approaches such as death avoidance and ignoring death on modern and postmodern people were compared. In this context, it has been tried to examine whether peace and happiness, which are lost in the modern and postmodern era, are related to the changing perception of death. With the modernity, man has made it an obligation to avoid death which is an inevitable fact of life and spoils the enjoyment of life. In the postmodernity following the modernity, there have been some changes in the attitude towards death with the increase of interest and orientation towards many things that modernity tries to destroy. With the effect of postmodernity, the reality of death has been replaced by the desire to live long with no problem due to advanced medicine and technology that allows to move away from reality. The thing that psychiatry tries to teach to the people of the era who are driven to despair by the dream of eternity, become mentally unstable and depressed, and constantly seeking help from psychiatrists, is to think about the death which is an inevitable reality and is to face mortality.