Stephen E. Rosenbaum's How To Be Dead And Not Care, By Thomas Nagel

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Epicurus was a philosopher who was born in 341 BC and lasted until 270 BC. He examined the situation of death and came to the conclusion that once one is dead, no harm can be done, due to the fact that they no longer exist. Stephen E. Rosenbaum is a philosophy professor. Rosenbaum wrote the essay “How to Be Dead and Not care”, in which he explains Epicurus’ views and then defends Epicurus’ beliefs about death. The reason why he defends Epicurus, is because he’s being logical. Rosenbaum also believes that we spend too much time thinking about death, which is something we will never have to experience. However, Thomas Nagel who’s a philosophy and law professor, disagrees with both Epicurus and Rosenbaum. Nagel believes that one doesn’t have to experience …show more content…

I believe that when one dies, they cease to exist in this world. With this being said, the person who is dead will not experience any emotions related to this world. Rosenbaum states “Being dead is clearly not part of a person’s life, in the normal sense, though we might say that it is part of a person’s history” (177). What does your history have to do with you being dead? Nothing. If you’re dead, you’re dead—your history doesn’t make any difference. This implies that if it’s not part of one’s life, then one can’t really experience any emotions because living and being dead are two fundamentally different states.
In the essay “How to Be Dead and Not Care”, Thomas Nagel replies to Rosenbaum and Epicurus by bring up an example of being betrayed by a friend. For example: let’s say your best friend sleeps with your husband and you die not knowing that they did that behind your back when you were living. Thomas Nagel would say it harms you even if you never found out. However, Epicurus, Rosenbaum and I believe it doesn’t harm you, because you never experience the

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