Death is not the end

transcendence, ethics, and responsibility in constructing the meaning of life

Abstract

This article analyzes death as an anthropological, religious, ontological, and ethical problem, investigating how the experience of finitude acts as an ordering principle of existence and guides human conduct in the world. Based on a qualitative theoretical-bibliographical research approach, the study operates through a conceptual triangulation between existential philosophy, cultural anthropology, and Religious Studies. Within this interdisciplinary articulation, it analyzes how belief systems and models of the continuity of the soul cease to be mere abstract eschatological constructions and become effective practical operators in structuring social action. It distances itself from confessional views to support the thesis that the affirmation of transcendence, when grounded in the ethics of alterity and prospective responsibility, does not lead to evasion of reality or alienating fatalism. It can be concluded that awareness of finitude acts as a catalyst for historical praxis, removing the subject from individualistic isolation and projecting onto the present time a moral urgency that intensifies agency, solidarity, and commitment to social transformation.