The Denial File
What We Can't Think About—and Why
The Missing Solution in Dr. Becker's Masterpiece
Michael Tymn | June 13, 2023
In his 1973 Pulitzer Prize-winning book, The Denial of Death, anthropologist Ernest Becker states that “religion solves the problem of death, which no living individuals can solve, no matter how they would support us….it gives hope…
Musicking and the Denial of Death
Audrey Cardany | May 30, 2023
The human construction of culture is central to mitigating death anxiety by providing pathways to immortality and creating criteria for determining meaning in life as well as validating personal worth in society. The Arts are essential elements of culture…
Not “To Be” E-Prime and Mortality Salience
Kevin Holbeche | April 27, 2023
English Prime. It conjugates the English language without the verb “to be” – for example, without the words “is”, “am”, “are”, “was”, and “were”. Some believe that these words possess certain dogmatic and infallible aspects, where only uncertainty and the unknowable should truly hold sway.
On Cosmic Heroism
Geertje Else Wiersma and Rev. Charles C. Navle | January 13, 2023
Our minds, our dreaming nature, can put us anywhere, even journeys to the stars themselves and to times past and times to come. That we …
Minecraft: A Safe Place to Avoid Death?
Phoebe Agnew-Bass | June 18, 2022
Terror management theory (TMT; Pyszczynski et al., 2015), inspired by the works of Ernest Becker, proposes that humans’ ever-present awareness that death is inevitable has …
Death: Why the Awareness of It May Lead Us to Reject Veganism
Gabrielle Nieuwoudt | May 11, 2022
Terror Management Theory (TMT), inspired by the works of Ernest Becker, asserts that humans, unlike other animals, have the ability to recognize that one day …
Denying Death by Playing Your Cards Right
Sara Savar | May 11, 2022
The basic incentive behind gambling is to win money (Binde, 2013). This appeal of monetary gain might lead to the development of a gambling addiction. …
What Can Becker Teach Us About Addiction?
Harshi Dhingra | November 19, 2021
Ernest Becker’s teachings have been adapted into a number of different courses. Becker spent a lot of his life trying to answer one very simple …
Using TMT to Uncover the Motivations of Violent Nihilists
Jackson Foran | August 14, 2021
The notion of violent nihilism has become increasingly relevant in the past few decades due to the prevalence of seemingly senseless violence. For instance, many …
Pilgrimages to the Edge
Michael Coffey | July 24, 2021
“Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages” -Geoffrey Chaucer Pilgrimages attract people who have something to work out. The walk is a ritual that offers …
Living with Intention: Recognition of the Transcendent Life
Janice Tufte | July 23, 2021
Practicing Islam and other religions today can prove to be challenging for a number of reasons. One is the growing number of divisive socio-political climates, …
Putting the ‘Fun’ in Funeral: Death in Entertainment Media
Tau Nell | March 12, 2021
Terror Management Theory (TMT), inspired by the works of Ernest Becker, posits that human beings, due to their unique awareness of their own mortality, make …
Life in Death’s Waiting Room: An Existential Analysis of Death Row Prisoners
Alanah Maskell | March 11, 2021
The death penalty is legal in thirty states in America and activists have long called for its abolishment. These people are given the worst punishment …
Do Not Muzzle My Masculinity: Men and Face Masks During COVID-19
Nikita Rattu | March 11, 2021
Globally, there have been over 100 million reported cases and over 2 million deaths attributed to COVID-19,1 classifying the COVID-19 outbreak as a pandemic.2 One …
Commentary on The Denial of Death
Kirill Khrestinin | March 11, 2021
Death is unavoidable. Sooner or later people we know will drop out of existence, finding their so often premature demise. Everything around you will be …
Achieving Immortality at Any Cost
Amanda Ferrer Knight | January 22, 2021
What drives someone to kill, and specifically become a serial killer, has fascinated society. Serial killers are often presented in the media as “insane.” However, …
The Role of The Classroom in our Society
Peter A. Pompa | October 27, 2020
I’ve been applying the insights and ideas from Ernest Becker’s work since I first came across The Denial of Death sometime in my early 20s …
Reviving Becker’s Intellectual Tradition
Bruce Sheiman | April 29, 2020
In this essay I want to make a broader case for Ernest Becker’s thinking than has hitherto been presented, going beyond the narrow focus on …
Separating the Artist from the Art: On the Legacy of Worldview Violators
Sam Fairlamb | April 28, 2020
How should we treat the legacies of those who achieve greatness but then go on to commit acts such as murder, sexual assault, or other types of …
The Populist God: Reflections From a Former Right-Wing Populist
Gábor Vona | October 26, 2019
At 20, I began my political career and was positioned to the right of Viktor Orbán, then prime minister of my country, Hungary. By 40, …