"If the examined life is not worth living, then is death not worth examining?"

Cabinet Magazine has joined with New School philosopher Simon Critchley to launch the School of Death, “an educational institution dedicated to exploring the relationship between death and the examined life.”

In the spirit of pop-up retail, the School’s inaugural offerings are being delivered in May at Family Business, a free time-share space in Chelsea, NYC for “people who have something interesting to say.” The approach reaches back to the Greek origins of the word school - scholē - which meant “conversations and the knowledge gained through them during free time.”

School of Death instruction is taking the form of evening and weekend talks accompanied by daily lessons handwritten on a chalkboard at Family Business. Pictures from the May 7 opening and more can be found here. On May 16 Simon Critchley will lecture on “Learn How to Die” while workshops on the afternoon of May 18 will study suicide notes and the art of epitaph writing.

To read/view more:

Simon Critchley on the History of Death
Simon Critchley, The Book of Dead Philosophers