Scheffler reading questions part 1 PDF

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SCHEFFLER, Death and the Afterlife L1 Reading Questions: 1. What does Scheffler mean by the Afterlife? Afterlife: others will continue to live after I die; does not believe in the traditional afterlife—no life after death 2. What does Scheffler think is involved in valuing something?  Important distinction between valuing something and believing that something is valuable  Valuing is a complex of interrelated attitudes and dispositions— includes but is not limited to a belief that the valued item is valuable  Valuing something involves: o A susceptibility to experience a range of contextdependent emotions concerning the valued item o A disposition to experience those emotions as being merited or deserved o A disposition to treat certain kinds of considerations pertaining to the valued item as reasons for action in relevant deliberative contexts  Valuing something is an attitudinal phenomenon has doxastic, deliberative, motivational, and emotional dimensions 3. What is the doomsday scenario? Scenerio in which the earth would be completely destroyed 30 days after your death. There is no information about whether you are the only person who knows or not. Not much detail given. 4. What are two reactions people are not likely to have to the doomsday scenario? 1. Complete indifference- we would probably not respond this way because we are not indifferent to everything that happens after our deaths- things other than our own experiences matter to us. a. Objection: although not a part of our experience, the contemplation of it would distress us and this would be a part of our experience b. The fact that we would not act with indifference means that things after our death sometimes matter to us—nonexperientialist interpretation of life: not only our experiences that we value or that matter to us 2. Deliberate about the good and the bad consequences of the destruction of earth in order to decide whether it would be a good or a bad thing a. Not instantly clear whether good or bad—end of joy, love, friendship, etc. but also the end of genocide, torture, oppression, pain, etc.

b. Non-consequentialist dimension- what we value is not simply or solely that the best consequences come to pass 5. What reaction is more likely? (2) most of us would respond with profound dismay—reactions have to do with deaths of people we love, disappearance of things we care about  Highlights a conservative dimension in our attitudes towards what we value—we want people and things we care about to flourish; not indifferent to destruction of what matters most to us 6. What three facts about the phenomenon of human valuing do these observations reveal? Pg. 9 7. How would Doomsday matter for our current projects and plans? (1)Our reasons to engage in a projects may not be as strong; we might cease to see any reason to engage in them (2)Our emotional investment in them might weaken; ex: may no longer feel as eager at the prospect of engaging in them; may become emotionally detached from or indifferent to them at the limit (3)Our belief that they were worthwhile activities in which to engage might weaken or, at the limit, disappear altogether - Several types of projects and activities that would appear fairly obviously to be vulnerable to such changes in our attitudes- ex: cancer curing project o Projects would be especially vulnerable if either (a) their ultimate success is seen as something that may not be achieved until sometime well in the future, or b the value of the project derives from the benefits that it will provide to large numbers of people over a long period of time - Effect of doomsday scenario on other types of projects is less clear- ex: creative and scholarly projects have no obvious practical aim - Many projects and activities whose importance to us is not diminished by the prospect of our own deaths but would be diminished by the prospect that everyone else will soon die o existence of an afterlife matters ore to us than our own continued existence b/c of the condition of other things mattering to us o continuation of life on earth is something that matters to us in its own right—imminent disappearance of human life on earth would be a reason why other things no longer mattered as much o people are often happy to purse goals that they do not expect to be achieved until after their own deaths

8. What does the Doomsday case indicate about our connection to the future? - The prospect of having one’s death disrupt one’s relationships affects one’s perceived relation to the future - The future will unfold after one is gone—this personalizes one’s relation to the future o The future can be conceptualized as a social world in which one retains a social identity rather than being nonexistent after death o One’s relationships that are disrupted at death erase the fear that one will be forgotten after death o People see not being remember is what being “gone” really is o Feel a place in the social world of the future even after you die b/c other people who value their relations with you will live on - Matters to us that people we care about live on after we die and that we are remembered—personalize our relation to the future - The fact that no one will be alive after our death makes the future seem more empty and alien - Participate in traditions that embody the values that one is committed to—can help ensure the survival of those values; custodial responsibility for the values of people of the future - Prospect that communal group will survive after one is gone personalizes one’s relation to the future—retain social identity in the world of the future 9. What is the Children of Men reference about? - Premise of the film: human beings have become infertile so human race faces prospect of imminent extinction - The imminent disappearance of human life would be sufficient for us to react with horror even if it would not involve the premature death of any of our loved ones - Many groups and traditions would die out sooner than they otherwise would have done—source of distress for those with group-based or traditional allegiances - There are less obvious sorts of activities whose value may be threatened in an infertile world- ex: enjoyment of food, drink, etc. —imminent dissapearnce of human life would exert a generally depressive effect on people’s motivations and on their confidence in the value of their activities 10. Does Doomsday reveal anything about how egoistic humanity is? - Displays limits of our personal egoism- The fact that we and everyone we love will cease to exist matters less to us than would the nonexistence of future people whom we do not know and who have no determinite identities; the coming into

existence of people we do not know and love matters more to us than our own survival and that of people we know and love...