Death and the Afterlife - Hardcover

Scheffler, Samuel

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0199982503 ISBN 13: 9780199982509

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2013

Synopsis

Suppose you knew that, though you yourself would live your life to its natural end, the earth and all its inhabitants would be destroyed thirty days after your death. To what extent would you remain committed to your current projects and plans? Would scientists still search for a cure for cancer? Would couples still want children?

In Death and the Afterlife, philosopher Samuel Scheffler poses this thought experiment in order to show that the continued life of the human race after our deaths--the "afterlife" of the title--matters to us to an astonishing and previously neglected degree. Indeed, Scheffler shows that, in certain important respects, the future existence of people who are as yet unborn matters more to us than our own continued existence and the continued existence of those we love. Without the expectation that humanity has a future, many of the things that now matter to us would cease to do so. By contrast, the prospect of our own deaths does little to undermine our confidence in the value of our activities. Despite the terror we may feel when contemplating our deaths, the prospect of humanity's imminent extinction would pose a far greater threat to our ability to lead lives of wholehearted engagement. Scheffler further demonstrates that, although we are not unreasonable to fear death, personal immortality, like the imminent extinction of humanity, would also undermine our confidence in the values we hold dear. His arresting conclusion is that, in order for us to lead value-laden lives, what is necessary is that we ourselves should die and that others should live.

Death and the Afterlife concludes with commentary by four distinguished philosophers--Harry Frankfurt, Niko Kolodny, Seana Shiffrin, and Susan Wolf--who discuss Scheffler's ideas with insight and imagination. Scheffler adds a final reply.

About this title

About the Author

Samuel Scheffler is University Professor in the Department of Philosophy at New York University. He is the author of Human Morality, Boundaries and Allegiances, and Equality and Tradition. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2012, he delivered the prestigious Tanner Lectures on Human Values at Berkeley, on which this book is based.

Reviews

Based on the Berkeley Tanner Lectures given by N.Y.U. philosophy professor Scheffler, this volume offers an unusual conversation about our fear of death, and our hopes to live on in memories. Of Scheffler&'s three lectures, the first two explore humanity&'s possible reactions to two catastrophic scenarios. In the first, particular individuals would live normal life spans, but with the knowledge that all of humanity would be wiped out by an asteroid 30 days after their death. In the second, humanity is rendered infertile, so that the most recent generation would be the last. Scheffler (Human Morality) suggests that these scenarios cause distress because they mean the end of what he calls the afterlife—the knowledge that others will continue to live after I have died and that the human race will continue. As a result, he believes, many activities and projects that we find worthwhile (finding a cure for cancer, preserving cultural traditions) will feel worthless if life ended after our deaths. Thinking about the end of humanity provides insights into what we value, and why we value it. After the lectures, several philosophers weigh in on Scheffler&'s ideas, offering their own interpretations, to which he responds—an insightful look at what death means to us. (Oct.)

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2013
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0199982503
• ISBN 13: 9780199982509
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 222
• Editor: Kolodny Niko