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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
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    Perspectives
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    42
    Home/Original/inverse
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    Inverse View

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

    ?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.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 for 2 of 2
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    • 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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    Reasons Against

    1 perspective
    Reason against
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    • 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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    Strongest counterpoint
    Explore the most compelling reason on the other side.