One Beat More: Existentialism and the Gift of Mortality

A keen athlete in his late forties, philosophy professor Kevin Aho hadn’t given much thought to his own mortality, until he suffered a sudden heart attack that left him fighting for his life. Confronted with death for the first time, he realized that the things he thought gave his life meaning, such as his independence or his ability to plan his own future, were in tatters.

Aho turned to those thinkers who have reflected deeply on the meaning of life and the anxiety of living when every hea...