Hegasias the death persuader was an ancient Greek philosopher and rhetorician who lived in the 4th century BCE. He was known for his powerful and controversial rhetoric, particularly in his advocacy of death as a preferable alternative to the suffering and hardships of life.
1 Note
c. 290
modern Libya
Iris true also that the knowledge of the immortality of the soul. And of the bliss of which it will be capable when released from this life might induce some people who are suffering this life to put an end to it, if they were convinced that they would afterward enjoy such bliss; but there are no rational grounds for this conviction;* and :only the false philosophy of Hegesias, * whose book was banned by Ptolemy, because several people who had read it had killed themselves, attempts to persuade us that this life is bad; the true philosophy teaches us the very contrary, that, even among the saddest misfortunes and the most oppressive sufferings, we can always find contentment m this life, as long as we know how to make use of reason.
René Descartes Oxford - Passion of the soul p. 59
#DisagreeIris true also that the knowledge of the immortality of the soul. And of the bliss of which it will be capable when released from this life might induce some people who are suffering this life to put an end to it, if they were convinced that they would afterward enjoy such bliss; but there are no rational grounds for this conviction;* and :only the false philosophy of Hegesias, * whose book was banned by Ptolemy, because several people who had read it had killed themselves, attempts to persuade us that this life is bad; the true philosophy teaches us the very contrary, that, even among the saddest misfortunes and the most oppressive sufferings, we can always find contentment m this life, as long as we know how to make use of reason.
René Descartes Oxford - Passion of the soul p. 59
#Disagree