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    Carmelics

    A reasoning platform. Break down any belief into clear reasons, explore both sides, and weigh the evidence honestly.

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    LoyalLoyalJusticeJustice
    Made withinDC&Austin
    Statements
    321,452
    Perspectives
    108,905
    Topics
    42
    Home/Original/inverse
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    Inverse View

    It is not the case that Even if an afterlife is impossible, it would not be pointless to reflect on whether the impossibility of an afterlife should dominate our values in this life.

    ?Set your confidence on the premises below to see your aggregate.

    Reasons For

    2 perspectives
    Reason for 1 of 2
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    • 1.If an afterlife is genuinely impossible, Epicurus's symmetry argument shows death is not bad for the subject, removing its normative urgency.
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      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.Without death's badness as a motivating premise, reflection on its implications cannot generate substantive revisions to how we ought to live.
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      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 3.Philosophical reflection is only non-pointless when it can in principle alter justified normative commitments, not merely rehearse foregone conclusions.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    Reason for 2 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Bernard Williams argued that immortality would drain life of meaning, implying mortality's finitude is itself constitutive of what makes values matter.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.If finitude is the source rather than the enemy of value, then accepting afterlife's impossibility already vindicates our present values rather than threatening them.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 3.Reflection premised on afterlife's impossibility as a problem to be managed misdiagnoses mortality and thus produces distorted rather than illuminating normative guidance.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    Reasons Against

    1 perspective
    Reason against
    ?
    • 1.Our values about present persons, things, and events have a bearing on the future, including the possibility of a future for individuals after their death.
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      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.The question of the implications for our lives now if at death we pass into oblivion remains significant regardless of whether an afterlife is possible.
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      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    Next step

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    Strongest counterpoint
    Explore the most compelling reason on the other side.