{"id":5988,"date":"2016-12-01T13:31:22","date_gmt":"2016-12-01T13:31:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2016\/12\/01\/what-exactly-is-the-epicurean-argument\/"},"modified":"2016-12-01T13:31:22","modified_gmt":"2016-12-01T13:31:22","slug":"what-exactly-is-the-epicurean-argument","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2016\/12\/01\/what-exactly-is-the-epicurean-argument\/","title":{"rendered":"What Exactly is the Epicurean Argument?"},"content":{"rendered":"

This entry is an addendum to The Horror of Death and its Cure<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here is one way to construe the Epicurean argument:<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

A. No person P can rationally fear any state S such that, in S, P isn't having any experiences.<\/span>
B. A dead person is in a state, being dead, such that he is not having any experiences.<\/span>
Ergo<\/span>
C. No person P can rationally fear being dead.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

A correspondent suggests that this is indeed the Epicurean argument, but goes on to question (A).  <\/span><\/p>\n

I too question (A).  Suppose a man makes sure that his wife and children will be provided for should he die by doing such things as eliminating debts, taking out a life insurance policy, etc.  He rationally fears a future state in which he won't be having any experiences, namely, the state in which his wife and children survive his demise but lack the wherewithal to live in the style to which they have become accustomed.<\/span><\/p>\n

It thus appears that (A) is false.  If so, the above argument is unsound.  But is the above argument the only or best construal of the Epicurean reasoning?<\/span><\/p>\n

I take the major premise to be, not (A), but<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

A*. No person P can rationally fear any state S of P<\/strong> such that, in S, P isn't having any experiences.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Now isn't (A*) self-evidently true?<\/span><\/p>\n

Why then do so many find the Epicurean reasoning sophistical?  To Philip Larkin in "Aubade" it is "specious stuff":<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

This is a special way of being afraid<\/span>
No trick dispels. Religion used to try,<\/span>
That vast moth-eaten musical brocade<\/span>
Created to pretend we never die,<\/span>
And specious stuff that says No rational being<\/span>
Can fear a thing it will not feel, not seeing<\/span>
That this is what we fear \u2014 no sight, no sound,<\/span>
No touch or taste or smell, nothing to think with,<\/span>
Nothing to love or link with,<\/span>
The anaesthetic from which none come round.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

This is good poetry but bad philosophy.  Larkin seems not to grasp that the question is not whether we fear "The anaesthetic from which none come round," but whether it is rational<\/em> to fear it.<\/span><\/p>\n

UPDATE (2 December):<\/span><\/p>\n

Daniel M. writes,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

(A*) isn't self-evident to me. Suppose you're told there's a 1\/10 chance you'll die in your sleep tonight. Supposing you desire to keep living, wouldn't you fear ending up in the state of death tonight? And given your desires, wouldn't the fear be rational? <\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

BV:  I would say that the object of your rational fear is not being dead, but the transition to being dead which I described in my original post as ego loss, the sensation of your self irrevocably dissolving.  The hour of death is a living dying, not a being dead.  It is that living dying, or conscious dying, that reasonably horrifies us, and for which there is no Epicurean, but there is a Christian, cure.  (See my original post.)<\/span><\/p>\n

D. M. goes on to point that there are intrinsic and extrinsic aspects to one's being dead that affect the overall Epicurean argument. Discussing them would require a separate post.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nRelated articles<\/legend>\n
\n
<\/a>'Outsider' Larkin finally joins the Establishment in Poets' Corner<\/a><\/div>\n
<\/a>The Competency of Desire<\/a><\/div>\n
<\/a>'Islamophobia' and 'Hoplophobia'<\/a><\/div>\n
<\/a>The Horror of Death and its Cure<\/a><\/div>\n
<\/a>Cryogenics boss: It's a dice roll<\/a><\/div>\n
<\/a>At the Monastery<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/fieldset>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This entry is an addendum to The Horror of Death and its Cure. Here is one way to construe the Epicurean argument: A. No person P can rationally fear any state S such that, in S, P isn't having any experiences.B. A dead person is in a state, being dead, such that he is not … Continue reading “What Exactly is the Epicurean Argument?”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[184,397],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5988","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-death-and-immortality","category-epicureanism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5988","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5988"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5988\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5988"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5988"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5988"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}