This is a lecture on an article by Steven Luper, which responds directly to the Epicurean view of death.

1. “Annihilation”
BY STEVEN LUPER
PHIL. OF DEATH AND DYING
FALL 2012-ELI WEBER

2. 3 Components
 What a person would have to be like in order
to adopt the Epicurean view of death
 Why this isn’t the sort of person anyone
would want to be
 What’s right about the Epicurean view

3. Shared Assumptions
 Death is a kind of non-existence.
 Distinction between whether being dead is
bad, as opposed to the moment of death or
the process of dying.

4. What Makes Death Bad for Us?
 A state of affairs is bad for us if it thwarts our
desires.
 So death is bad for us because it thwarts our
desires.
 An advantage: Allows that in some cases,
death isn’t bad for us, because it doesn’t
thwart any of our desires.

5. What are Epicureans like?
 Epicureans can have:
1. Escape desires-desires that under certain
conditions, I would be dead
2. Independent desires-desires the satisfaction of
which are unaffected by what I do (or fail to do)
3. Conditional desires-desires I have only on the
condition that I am alive

6. What are Epicureans like?
 Epicureans cannot have:
1. Unconditional desires –desires which I have
irrespective of whether I am alive to see
them satisfied.
2. Fulfilling desires-desires the satisfaction of
which make life meaningful or enjoyable

7. What are Epicureans like?
1. If Epicureans have fulfilling desires that
death would thwart, they must think death is
a misfortune.
2. Epicureans don’t think death is a misfortune.
3. Therefore, Epicureans don’t have any
fulfilling desires.
The Epicurean indifference to death requires an
indifference to life that isn’t very appealing.

8. Is Epicureanism a Life Worth
Living?
 Can still be motivated by their conditional
desires
 Can still disapprove of wrongful killing
 Reasonable to modify desires to make
inevitable consequences less bad for you

9. Is Epicureanism a Life Worth
Living?
 Any good reason to not die is a good reason to live.
 Epicureans must avoid desires that give good
reasons to not die.
 In doing so, they also avoid desires that give good
reasons to live.
 Must also avoid any activities that would be “too”
enjoyable.

10. What’s Right about Epicureanism
 We shouldn’t expect to live longer than a
normal human lifespan.
 Our desires should reflect this unavoidable
fact.
 As death draws nearer, we should modify our
desires so that it isn’t bad for us.

11. Summary
1. We should not be indifferent about death.
Insofar as death thwarts our desires, it is bad for
us.
2. We should not want to be the sorts of people
who are indifferent to death. This requires that
we are indifferent to living.
3. Given the inevitability of death, it makes sense
to “Epicureanize” our desires so that they can
be fulfilled within a normal human lifespan, and
conditionalized at the end of life.

12. Critical Comments
 Luper’s view allows that things can be bad for
us long after we are dead, and without our
knowing about them.
 Are conditionalized desires really so bad?
 Luper’s entire argument turns on his
insistence that the Epicurean must think
premature death is bad, which they might
simply deny.

13. You still need to…
 Take the reading quiz, if you haven’t already
done it.
 Do the assignment, which is due by Friday at
5pm.
 Complete the survey.