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    It is not irrational to prefer that our lives be extended... — Carmelics
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    Home/Afterlife & Death
    HistoryEditSee Inverse

    It is not irrational to prefer that our lives be extended into the future rather than the past.

    Afterlife & Death
    ?Rate how convincing each reason is below to see the overall strength.
    1 reason for
    2 reasons against

    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
    ?
    • 1.We have active, forward-looking goals and concerns that are central to our identities, fundamental values, and commitments.
      ?

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    • 2.We cannot make and pursue plans for our past; we must project our plans (our self-realization) into the future.
      ?

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    • 3.Only extension into the future makes our existing forward-looking pursuits possible.
      ?

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    Reasons Against

    2 perspectives
    Reason against 1 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Parfit's reductionist view entails that personal identity is not what matters; what matters is psychological continuity and connectedness.
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    • 2.If psychological connectedness rather than identity grounds rational preferences, past extension with rich remembered experience satisfies this criterion equally.
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    • 3.Therefore, the asymmetry between past and future extension cannot be grounded in what rationally matters to the self.
      ?

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    Reason against 2 of 2
    ?
    • 1.The Epicurean tradition holds that the pre-natal period of non-existence caused us no harm, and Lucretius's symmetry argument demands we treat ante-mortem and post-mortem non-existence identically.
      ?

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    • 2.If the symmetry argument succeeds, any rational preference for future over past life extension rests on a temporal bias—mere proximity to the present—rather than a principled asymmetry.
      ?

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    • 3.Temporal bias toward the future is a psychological contingency, not a rational justification, and a consistent rational agent should discount it.
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    Afterlife & Death

    Related

    If psychological connectedness rather than identity grounds rational preferences...If the symmetry argument succeeds, any rational preference for future over past ...Only extension into the future makes our existing forward-looking pursuits possi...Parfit's reductionist view entails that personal identity is not what matters; w...
    +5 moreShow less
    Temporal bias toward the future is a psychological contingency, not a rational j...The Epicurean tradition holds that the pre-natal period of non-existence caused ...Therefore, the asymmetry between past and future extension cannot be grounded in...We cannot make and pursue plans for our past; we must project our plans (our sel...We have active, forward-looking goals and concerns that are central to our ident...

    Similar

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    Source

    AI-extracted2/3 agreementValid
    SEP: death
    Main passage, drawing on Kamm (1998, 2021)
    View source passageHide passage
    Whether or not we have the extensive bias described by Parfit, it is true that the accumulation of life and pleasure, and the passive contemplation thereof, are not our only interests. We also have active, forward–looking goals and concerns. Engaging in such pursuits has its own value; for many of us, these pursuits, and not passive interests, are central to our ‘identities’, our fundamental values and commitments. However, we cannot make and pursue plans for our past. We must project our plans (our self–realization) into the future, which explains our forward bias. (We could have been devisin...
    Extraction notes

    Validity: The premises are all explicitly stated in the passage and together they provide a clear rational basis for the conclusion that preferring future extension over past extension is not irrational, which is also explicitly stated in the passage.

    Confidence: High confidence. The premises and conclusion are explicitly stated and connected.

    Details

    Type
    claim
    Perspectives
    3 (1 for, 2 against)
    Edits
    1 edit