Challenging the epicureans: Death and two kinds of well-being

Philosophical Forum 42 (1):1-19 (2011)
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Abstract

I argue that attempts to explain the badness of death as a deprivation to the person who dies fail to defeat the ancient Epicurean argument that death is nothing to us. At the same time, I argue that the deprivation account of the badness of death provides a way for us to understand how death can be bad for the person who dies. In support of this paradoxical thesis I invoke a distinction between momentary well-being and narrative well-being—a distinction which, while not entirely new, is insufficiently developed in the literature.

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Byron J. Stoyles
Trent University

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References found in this work

Death.Thomas Nagel - 1970 - Noûs 4 (1):73-80.
Well‐Being And Time.J. David Velleman - 1991 - Pacific Philosophical Quarterly 72 (1):48-77.
The Limits of Well-Being.Shelly Kagan - 1992 - Social Philosophy and Policy 9 (2):169-189.
Disappointment, sadness, and death.Kai Draper - 1999 - Philosophical Review 108 (3):387-414.
The Time of Death’s Misfortune.Neil Feit - 2002 - Noûs 36 (3):359–383.

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