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    It is not irrational to want future life more than past l... — Carmelics
    Home/Afterlife & Death
    HistoryEditSee Inverse

    It is not irrational to want future life more than past life.

    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.The structure of the world permits life extension only into the future.
      ?

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    • 2.It is not surprising to find ourselves with no desire to extend life into the past, given that life extension is only possible into the future.
      ?

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    • 3.The possibility of future life extension alone is good enough.
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    Reasons Against

    2 perspectives
    Reason against 1 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Desires shaped purely by what is possible, rather than by what is intrinsically valuable, may reflect adaptive preference formation rather than rational evaluation.
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    • 2.Parfit's argument in 'Reasons and Persons' shows temporal bias toward the future is a genuine irrationality, not justified by mere possibility constraints.
      ?

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    • 3.If past pleasures have the same hedonic value as future pleasures, mere impossibility of past extension cannot rationalize preferring future life more.
      ?

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    Reason against 2 of 2
    ?
    • 1.The Epicurean symmetry argument holds that our pre-natal non-existence and post-mortem non-existence are metaphysically equivalent, undermining any asymmetric desire.
      ?

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    • 2.If we do not regret the vast past life we missed before birth, rationality requires we not disproportionately desire future life extension either.
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    Afterlife & Death

    Related

    Desires shaped purely by what is possible, rather than by what is intrinsically ...If past pleasures have the same hedonic value as future pleasures, mere impossib...If we do not regret the vast past life we missed before birth, rationality requi...It is not surprising to find ourselves with no desire to extend life into the pa...
    +4 moreShow less
    Parfit's argument in 'Reasons and Persons' shows temporal bias toward the future...The Epicurean symmetry argument holds that our pre-natal non-existence and post-...The possibility of future life extension alone is good enough.The structure of the world permits life extension only into the future.

    Similar

    It is not irrational to prefer that our lives be extended into the fut...93%It is not irrational to prefer not to be at the end of our lives, unab...86%Our attitude about future life should match our attitude about past li...82%We would prefer a life stretching indefinitely into the future rather ...81%

    Source

    AI-extracted2/3 agreementValid
    SEP: death
    Is it irrational to want future life more than past life? No...
    View source passageHide passage
    Is it irrational to want future life more than past life? No; it is not surprising to find ourselves with no desire to extend life into the past, since the structure of the world permits life extension only into the future, and that is good enough. But what if life extension were possible in either direction? Would we still be indifferent about a lengthier past? And should our attitude about future life match our attitude about past life?
    Extraction notes

    Validity: The passage explicitly states "No; it is not irrational" and supports this by noting that the world only permits future life extension and "that is good enough," which matches the extracted premises and conclusion.

    Confidence: The argument is fairly clearly stated, though the reasoning is somewhat compressed. The author offers a pragmatic justification for the asymmetry in our desires.

    Details

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