Skip to content
Carmelics
TopicsThinkersChangesContributorsLoading account…

    Carmelics

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

    Navigate

    • Topics
    • Search
    • Recent Changes
    • Contribute
    • How It Works
    • Glossary
    • Thinkers
    • Contributors
    • About
    • Statistics
    • Terms
    • Privacy

    Database

    Statements
    —
    Perspectives
    —
    Topics
    —

    Press ? for keyboard shortcuts

    LoyalLoyalJusticeJustice
    Made withinDC&Austin
    Home/Original/inverse
    See Original
    Inverse View

    It is not the case that It is irrational to object to death (assuming it ends our existence).

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

    Reasons For

    2 perspectives
    Reason for 1 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Death deprives us of future goods we would have experienced, and deprivation of goods is a harm even when unfelt (Epicurus's error is conflating harm with felt suffering).
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.Pre-natal non-existence deprives us of no goods, since there was no determinate subject yet to receive earlier goods, whereas death cuts short an existing subject's future.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 3.Because the subject of deprivation exists only in the forward direction, the asymmetry between prenatal and posthumous non-existence is ontologically grounded, not merely sentimental.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    Reason for 2 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Rational attitudes toward events need not require that the subject experience those events for the attitudes to be warranted (Nagel's objective standpoint allows for agent-relative harms).
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.Death forecloses the narrative completion of a life, and the truncation of a biographical self carries evaluative weight independent of any moment of suffering.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 3.An objection to death is therefore not irrational but tracks a genuine loss assessable from the perspective of the whole life, not merely from within it.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    Reasons Against

    1 perspective
    Reason against
    ?
    • 1.We do not find it objectionable that we failed to exist prior to being alive.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.The way things were for us while not existing before birth is just like the way things will be for us after death ends our existence.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 3.Our pre-vital nonexistence and our posthumous nonexistence are symmetrical, alike in all relevant respects, so any objection to the one would apply to the other.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    Next step

    Based on where you are in your exploration

    Strongest counterpoint
    Explore the most compelling reason on the other side.
    Statements
    321,452
    Perspectives
    108,905
    Topics
    42