Beyond Survival and Extinction: Death and the Transformation of Consciousness

Abstract: This essay examines how different metaphysical frameworks reconfigure what the question of death even means—diagnosing why the survival/extinction binary is structurally inadequate under consciousness-first views and offering a taxonomy of positions (terminating, preserving, and transforming) as analytic tools, not endorsements. The essay does not argue for personal survival after death or refute extinction; it aims to clarify the conceptual landscape, exposing hidden assumptions in how we frame the question of death just as companion essays Myth of Metaphysical Neutrality and Asymmetric Methodological Restraint expose hidden assumptions in how we approach consciousness. Part of the Return to Consciousness research program—18 philosophical essays exploring consciousness-first metaphysics. Full project: https://brunoton.github.io/return-to-consciousness/