The Badness of Death and What to Do About It (if Anything)

Abstract

Chapter 1 discusses the pros and cons of four views about the badness of death on the assumption that it involves one’s ceasing to exist: Deprivationism, Willlhavehadism, Alloverism, and Insultism. It considers how these views bear on such questions as whether death is always bad for the person who dies, whose life to save when not all can be saved, how the distribution of goods and bads in a life matters, and whether it is reasonable to have an asymmetrical attitude toward death and prenatal nonexistence. The chapter also considers what the four views imply about the badness of the extinction of humanity (and all other persons).