Thomas Nagel: Death Suppose That Death Is the Permanent End of Human Existence

question 18

True/False

Thomas Nagel: Death
Suppose that death is the permanent end of human existence. If so, is death bad for the person who dies? Some argue that such a claim is senseless, on the grounds that nothing can be bad for a person who no longer exists. Nagel rejects these arguments, and defends the view that death is bad for us. In Nagel's view, death is not bad because of any of the positive features of death, but because it deprives us of the goods that life contains. Nagel defends his view from three objections.
The first objection is based on the assumption that nothing can be good or bad for someone unless it is experienced as pleasant or unpleasant. Because the dead do not experience anything, it seems that death cannot be bad for us. Nagel responds by denying the assumption behind the objection. We can be harmed by people betraying us behind our backs and without our knowledge, and we can even be harmed by people neglecting our wishes after our deaths.
The second objection is that death cannot be bad for a person, because after death there is simply no subject for which anything can be good or bad. In response, Nagel claims that it would be bad for a person to be reduced to the cognitive level of an infant, even if he remained perfectly content. The badness of such a fate is not undermined by the contention that the original person no longer exists, for the badness is grounded in the contrast between what actually transpired and possible alternatives. Such a fate is bad because it deprives a person of potential goods. Nagel claims that death is similar in this respect.
The third, and final, objection is this: because we were not harmed by our prenatal nonexistence, we cannot be harmed by posthumous nonexistence. Nagel responds that although our nonexistence before our birth did not deprive us of anything, death deprives us of time that we would otherwise be alive. Ultimately, then, Nagel concludes that these three objections fail to undermine the thought that death is bad for us.
-According to Nagel, the badness of death is a product, not of its positive features, but of what it deprives us of.

---

Definitions:

The Recall

A procedure that allows citizens to remove and replace a public official before the end of their term of office.

The Passing

The process or act of moving through or beyond an obstacle, or the act of deceiving by presenting oneself as someone or something else.

Madison Grant

An American lawyer, historian, and author known for his work in conservation and for his controversial views on race and eugenics in the early 20th century.

Anglo-Saxon

A term referring to the Germanic inhabitants of England between the 5th and 11th centuries, and often used in wider contexts relating to English history and culture.