6 - The timing puzzle
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
Summary
In chapter 4 we saw that Epicurus rejected the harm thesis, on which death may harm the individual who dies. Epicurus held that the harm thesis can hold true only if there is a subject who is harmed by death, a clear harm that is received, and a time when mortal harm is received. This triad of requirements is easily met in some cases. For example, its subject, harm, and time are clear when death hurts its victims, and destroys their identities, while it takes place. However, things are less clear in the case of deprivation harm, which we identified in chapter 5 as harm that consists in our being prevented from attaining goods we otherwise would have had. Epicureans will presume that death can harm us by depriving us of goods only if there is a particular (stretch of) time when we are harmed. Those who agree with this presumption will then want to clarify when it is that deprivation harms us. As to the timing issue, the two solutions that come most easily to mind both seem worrisome: death harms its victims either while they are alive or later. If we opt for the second solution we appear to run head-on into the problem of the subject, for assuming that we do not exist after we are alive, no one is left to incur mortal harm.
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- The Philosophy of Death , pp. 122 - 140Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2009