Immortality and boredom: a response to Wisnewski

International Journal for Philosophy of Religion 65 (2):77-85 (2009)
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Abstract

This article contributes to the ongoing debate initiated by Bernard Williams’ claim that, due to the non-contingent finitude of the categorical desires that give meaning to our lives, an immortal life would necessarily become intolerably boring. Jeremy Wisnewski has argued that even if immortality involves periods in which our categorical desires have been exhausted, this need not divest life of meaning since some categorical desires are revivable. I argue that careful reflection upon the thought-experiments adduced by Wisnewski reveals that they do not substantiate his proposal, and hence that a plausible reason for rejecting Williams’ position has not been provided.

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Citations of this work

Against the Tedium of Immortality.Donald W. Bruckner - 2012 - International Journal of Philosophical Studies 20 (5):623-644.
Value in Very Long Lives.Preston Greene - 2017 - Journal of Moral Philosophy 14 (4):416-434.
Agency, Scarcity, and Mortality.Luca Ferrero - 2015 - The Journal of Ethics 19 (3-4):349-378.
God and eternal boredom.Vuko Andrić & Attila Tanyi - 2017 - Religious Studies 53 (1):51-70.

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References found in this work

Why immortality is not so bad.John Martin Fischer - 1994 - International Journal of Philosophical Studies 2 (2):257 – 270.
Infinity goes up on trial: Must immortality be meaningless?Timothy Chappell - 2007 - European Journal of Philosophy 17 (1):30-44.
Death.Geoffrey Scarre - 2006 - Routledge.

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