the nature of death

1
(No Transcript)
2
death and meaning

• 6.15.06
• The meaning of life is that it stops.
• -- Franz Kafka

3
arg from life plan (fischer)

• p1. x is bad for S if x deprives S of
  personhood.
• p2. x deprives S of personhood if x deprives S
  of the capacity to live a meaningful life.
• p3. S has the capacity to live a meaningful life
  only if S can freely construct some sort of life
  plan and freely strive to live in accordance
  with it.
• p4. S can freely construct some sort of life
  plan and freely strive to live in accordance
  with it only if S is not dead.
• c. so, death is bad for S.

4
the meaning of life

• what are we asking when we ask
• what is the meaning of life?
• our focus a life, not life in general
• two questions
• what is a life?
• what is it for a life (whatever that is) to have
  meaning?

5
a life

• what is a life?
• a set of events
• the subject of each of these events is a single
  entity
• the entity is living at the time of each event
• the events are temporally ordered
• L is the life of a given subject S iff L is a set
  of events such that its members are temporally
  ordered and it contains all and only those events
  which have a living S as their subject.

6
the meaning of meaning

• what is it for a life to have meaning?
• meaning semantic value
• meaning causation/implication
• meaning intent
• meaning worth, value, or purpose
• hedonic
• aesthetic
• moral
• meaning what a one-night stand lacks

7
the meaning of life?

• some questions which get at it
• which aspects of human life are worthy of great
  esteem or admiration?
• which goods command our awe?
• what is worthy of our love and allegiance?
• what should an agent strive for besides obtaining
  happiness and fulfilling obligations?
• what must a rational being do or be to connect
  with value beyond his animal self?
• what kind of life should we desire to live?

8
what is the relation between death and meaning?

• death makes meaning impossible
• nihilism life is meaningless (or, there is no
  reason to live)
• death makes meaning possible
• there is no relation at all (Luper-Foy)

9
arg from annihilation

• p1. the death of S the annihilation of S.
• p2. if x annihilates S, then x makes it
  impossible for Ss life to be meaningful.
• c. so, death makes meaning impossible.

10
arg from no-experience

• p1. a life is meaningful only if it consists of
  at least one meaningful experience.
• p2. for any experience E, E is meaningful only
  if E is consciously experienced and remembered by
  the experiencer.
• p3. death the cessation of conscious
  experience and memory.
• p4. all lives end in death.
• c. so, all lives are meaningless.

11
arg from boredom

• p1. if we did not die, we would live an eternal
  life.
• p2. an eternal life would be boring.
• p3. a life can be meaningful only if it is not
  boring.
• c. so, life can be meaningful only if we die.

12
arg from independence (luper-foy)

• p1. if a life has the value it does independently
  of the fact that it will end, then there is no
  relation between death and meaning.
• p2. a life has the value it does independently of
  the fact that it will end.
• c. so, there is no relation between death and
  meaning.

13
support for p2 (luper-foy)

• p2. a life has the value it does independently of
  the fact that it will end.
• cf. a car cannot be made good or bad by the fact
  that it will be scrapped.
• death has the value it does due to the value of
  the life it ends, so life cannot have the value
  it does due to its death.

14
wwed?

• Epicureans believe that death is not bad, so we
  ought to be indifferent about death.
• What must someone be like in order to be an
  Epicurean?
• Luper-Foy argues that someone must think that
  there is no reason to live
• Epicureanism ? nihilism

15
epicurean indifference

• complete indifference
• there is no circumstance than which death is
  worse
• and under no circumstances is death best
• modest indifference
• under certain circumstances death is best
• but still there is no circumstance than which
  death is worse

16
death, desires, and badness

• Luper-Foy claims that
• BAD if x is contrary to my fulfilling desires,
  then x is bad (for me).
• something can be contrary to my desires in two
  ways
• by thwarting them
• by removing them
• if this is correct, then Epicureans cannot have
  fulfilling desires that are contrary to their
  death.

17
epicurean desires

• Luper-Foy claims that Epicureans can have only
  four kinds of desires
• escape
• independent
• conditional
• unfulfilling
• call those desires which ground meaningful lives
  rich.
• Luper-Foy claims that none of the Epicurean
  desires are rich (see p. 278).

18
arg from rich desires

• p1. Ss life can be meaningful only if S has rich
  desires.
• p2. if S is an Epicurean, then S does not have
  rich desires.
• c. so, if S is an Epicurean, then Ss life
  cannot be meaningful.

19
vs p2 (rosenbaum)

• conditional desires can be rich.
• p1. if Epicureans have motivation to act in
  various ways which give them pleasure and
  satisfaction, then they can live meaningful
  lives.
• p2. conditional desires provide motivation to
  act in various ways which give pleasure and
  satisfaction.
• c. so, Epicureans can live meaningful lives.

20
vs p2 (rosenbaum)

• Epicureans can have unconditional fulfilling
  desires, which are rich.
• p1. if death is not bad, then if one is an
  Epicurean, one can have unconditional fulfilling
  desires.
• p2. death is not bad.
• c. so, if one is an Epicurean, one can have
  unconditional fulfilling desires.
• this arg relies on the falsity of BAD.

21
vs. BAD (rosenbaum)

• BAD if x is contrary to my fulfilling desires,
  then x is bad (for me).
• counterexample
• x replaces my fulfilling desires with a more
  fulfilling desire
• easy modification
• BAD if x is contrary to my fulfilling desire D,
  then if x does not provide me with a desire that
  is more fulfilling than D, x is bad (for me).
• Rosenbaum gives us no reason to reject BAD.
• but if BAD is true, then if one is an Epicurean,
  one cannot have unconditional fulfilling desires.

22
arg from no reason

• p1. if Epicureanism is true, then being dead is
  not bad.
• p2. if being dead is not bad, then there is no
  reason not to be dead.
• c1. so, if Epicureanism is true, then there is no
  reason not to be dead.
• p3. if x is a reason to live, then x is a reason
  not to be dead.
• c2. so, if Epicureanism is true, then there is no
  reason to live.

23
vs. p3

• p3. if x is a reason to live, then x is a reason
  not to be dead.
• plausibly, to be dead to not live
• if so, then p3 is equivalent to
• p3 if x is a reason to live, then x is a
  reason not to not live.
• plausibly, a reason not to not live a reason to
  live
• if so, then p3 is equivalent to
• p3 if x is a reason to live, then x is a
  reason to live.
• this suggests that p3 is true by definition.

24
vs. p2

• p2. if being dead is not bad, then there is no
  reason not to be dead.
• general principle if x is not bad, then there is
  no reason not to x.
• counterexample
• being an elementary school teacher is not bad,
  but if you find pleasure in being an astronaut
  there is still a reason for you not to be an
  elementary school teacher.
• are there similar counterexamples to p2?
• EX being dead isnt bad, but if you find pleasure
  in being alive there is still a reason for you
  not to be dead.

25
evaluation

• EX being dead isnt bad, but if you find
  pleasure in being alive there is still a reason
  for you not to be dead.
• EX entails that life is better than being dead
  (for you).
• if this is so, then being dead is worse than
  being alive (for you).
• but if being dead is worse than being alive (for
  you), then relative to being alive, being dead is
  bad (for you).
• cf. if being a school teacher is worse than being
  an astronaut (for you), then relative to being an
  astronaut, being a school teacher is bad (for
  you).
• but Epicureans deny that being dead is bad at all

26
today

• we looked at
• the question what is the meaning of life?
• 2 arguments that death ? no meaning
• annihilation
• no-experience
• 1 argument that death ? potential meaning
• boredom
• 1 argument that there is no relation at all
• independence
• wwed?
• 2 arguments that Epicureanism ? nihilism

27
for monday

• read
• (CP) Pascal, excerpts from Pensées
• (LDM) Schopenhauer, "On the Sufferings of the
  World"
• (CP) Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus
• (CP) Nietzsche, excerpt from The Will to Power
• (LDM) Nagel, The Absurd
• this paper is already considered a classic