Philosophy 3210 | R
2:40-5:30 PM | Anderson Hall 706
Instructor:
Dr. Aaron Smuts | asmuts@temple.edu
| office hours: 714 Anderson Hall, 2:30-3:30 T
Description
Epicurus argued that we should not fear death, since it could not
cause us harm: where death is, we are not; where we are, death is
not. Although this argument may seem patently absurd, it and similar
arguments have been difficult to refute conclusively. In this course
we will try to answer the question: Is death an evil? In order to
answer this question we will first need to know what “death” is.
We will explore several major puzzles surrounding the value and
nature of death. We will also examine the inverse of the harm
question: would immortality be desirable? Although it seems obvious
that we would like to live forever, philosophers have presented a few
serious problems that cast doubt on the value of an immortal life.
Independent of its harmfulness, we will consider reasons to think
that death might add value to our lives. In addition we will ask
whether it is possible to survive the death of our bodies. In
closing, we will ask what attitudes are appropriate to take toward
death.
Texts
Much of
the reading will come from articles posted on Blackboard. In
addition, there are three required books for this course:
- Fred
Feldman, Confrontations With the Reaper: A Philosophical Study of
the Nature and Value of Death (Oxford, 1992). ISBN: 0195089286
- John
Martin Fischer, The Metaphysics of Death (Stanford, 1993).
ISBN: 0804721041
- John
Perry, A Dialogue on Personal Identity and Immortality (Hackett
, 1978). ISBN: 0915144530
I
also recommend two other collections: - Jeff
Malpas and Robert Solomon, eds., Death
and Philosophy (Routledge, 1998).
- David
Benatar, ed., Life, Death and
Meaning: Key Philosophical Readings on the Big Questions
(Rowman and Littlefield, 2004).
Coursework
There
will be three forms of coursework: quizzes, papers, and examinations.
Each week I will give a short quiz at the beginning of class that
will require one or two sentence answers. Early in the semester
there will be a very short (1 page) paper followed a couple of weeks
later by a short (2 page) paper. These will be used to hone your
philosophical writing. About 2/3 of the way through the course, we
will have a take-home midterm. You will also be required to write a
longer term paper of 10 pages.
Quizzes
(10%) + Paper 1 (10%) + Paper 2 (15%) + mid term (25%) + term paper
(40%).
Attendance Policy
If you
miss 3 or more classes, you will receive a 0 for your quiz grade. If
you miss 6 or more classes, you will receive an F for the course.
Academic
Honesty
Plagiarism--claiming
someone else’s ideas or written work as your own--will not be
tolerated. Anyone caught cheating will be given a failing grade in
the course.
Schedule (tentative)
-
Week
1 (1/24) Introduction: Death, Survival, Harm, Immortality
1. Feldman, CWR,
Introduction
2. Feldman, CWR,
Ch. 1
Topic
1: The Nature of Death
Topic
2: The Survival of Death
-
Week
6 (2/28) Death and
Personal Identity, cont.
1. Perry, A
Dialogue on Personal Identity and Immortality. All nights.
2. Williams,
“The Self and the Future.” (Blackboard)
3.
Parfit, “Personal Identity.” (Blackboard)
Topic
3: The Harmfulness of Death
-
Week 9 (3/20) The Harm
Thesis and Some Puzzles
1. Williams,
“The Makropulos Case,” in MD (first 10 pages)
2. Rosenbaum, "How to Be Dead and Not Care: A Defense of Epicurus"
(MD)
3. Nagel,
"Death" (MD)
4.
Feldman, CWR, Ch. 9.
-
Week 10 (3/27) Posthumous
Harm
1.
Soll, “On the Purported Insignificance of Death” (Blackboard)
2.
Luper, “Posthumous Harm” (Blackboard)
3.
Pitcher, “The Misfortunes of the Dead” (MD)
-
Week
11 (4/03) The
Harmfulness of Death
1. Bradley,
"When Is Death Bad for the One Who Dies" (Blackboard)
2. Brueckner and
Fischer, "Why Death Is Bad" (MD)
3.
Parfit, excerpt from Reasons and Persons
(MD)
Outline
+ Abstract Due
-
Week
12 (4/10) Lucretius'
Asymmetry Argument
1. Kamm, “Why
Is Death Bad and Worse Than Pre-Natal Non-Existence?” (Blackboard)
2. Feldman, “F.
M. Kamm and the Mirror of Time” (Blackboard)
3. Frederik Kaufman, "Death and Deprivation; or Why Lucretius' Symmetry Argument Fails" (Blackboard)
-
Midterm
Due
Topic
4: Immortality
-
Week
13 (4/17) The
Desirability of Immortality
1. Williams,
“The Makropulos Case” (MD)
2. Fisher, “Why
Immortality Is Not No Bad” (Blackboard)
3.
Nagel, "Birth, Death, and the Meaning of Life" [optional] (Blackboard)
-
Week
14 (4/24) The
Desirability of Immortality, cont.
1.
Smuts, “Wings of Desire: Reflections on the Tedium of
Immortality”(Blackboard)
2.
James Tiptree Jr., “Painwise”(Blackboard)
3.
Borges, “The Immortal”(Blackboard)
Topic
5: Attitudes Toward Death
-
Week
15 (5/01) Attitudes Toward Death
1. Freud, “Our
Attitude Toward Death” (Blackboard)
2.
Tolstoy, “The Death of Ivan Ilych” (Blackboard)
3. Kaufmann,
“Death” (Blackboard)
4.
Kaufmann, “Death Without Dread” [optional] (Blackboard)
End of Classes
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