Deck 12: Making Death Not Quite As Bad for the One Who Dies

Question 1

According to deprivationism as a theory of the value of death,

A) Death is never bad for the one who dies because, once dead, there is no longer a subject who can be harmed.
B) Death is bad for the one who dies if and when it prevents net good life.
C) Death is always bad for the one who dies because human life is intrinsically valuable.
D) One's death is usually worse for adults than children, as adults have more projects, relationships, and other commitments which death destroys.

Answer 1

Death is bad for the one who dies if and when it prevents net good life.

Question 2

According to hedonism,

A) Knowledge and friendships are intrinsically valuable.
B) Pleasure is (at best) extrinsically valuable and pain extrinsically dis-valuable.
C) Pleasure is intrinsically valuable; knowledge and friendships are (at best) extrinsically valuable.
D) All of the above.

Answer 2

Pleasure is intrinsically valuable; knowledge and friendships are (at best) extrinsically valuable.

Question 3

A young man has an accident that leaves him severely cognitively impaired and incapable of experiencing pain or pleasure; one week after the accident he dies during an earthquake. According to deprivationism, the young man's death is

A) Comparatively not bad for him, as the accident a week prior already prevented many years of net good life.
B) Still very bad for him, as his death prevented many years of net good life.
C) Still very bad for him, as life is intrinsically valuable.
D) Not bad for him, as the process of dying is no longer painful (due to the accident).

Answer 3

Comparatively not bad for him, as the accident a week prior already prevented many years of net good life.

Question 4

Tom dies one day before McDonald's decision to make Tom's favorite sandwich (i.e. the McRib) a permanent item on the menu. Egerstrom argues that (on deprivationist views), McDonald's choice made the value of Tom's death

A) Better for Tom, because McRib sandwiches are gross.
B) Worse for Tom, as Tom's death now prevents his enjoyment of daily McRib sandwiches.
C) The same for Tom, as events that occur after Tom's death cannot affect the value of his death.
D) The same for Tom, as dead people cannot experience pleasure.

Question 5

Imagine that Tyra's sister, Gwen, destroys Tyra's favorite park shortly after Tyra's death in order to make her death less bad for her. Egerstrom argues that

A) Gwen's action was futile; her action is unsuccessful in making Tyra's death less bad for her.
B) Gwen's action made Tyra's death worse for her; Tyra would have tried to stop Gwen if she were still alive.
C) Gwen's action made Tyra's death worse for her, as Gwen's action prevents other people from enjoying the park.
D) Gwen's action succeeds in making Tyra's death less bad for her; the loss of the park means that Tyra's death deprives her of less net goodness.

Question 6

What is the deprivation view of the value of death? How does Egerstrom argue that, on deprivationist views, events that take place after a person's death can affect the value of the death?

Question 7

Jeff McMahan argues that deliberate attempts to lessen the badness of another's death after their death will be futile; such attempts, he argues, do not reduce the deceased's "overall loss in dying." What is McMahan's argument? Do you agree with McMahan? Why or why not?