What Is Nagel's View On Death

495 Words1 Page
bulb-icon

Recommended: Death essay by thomas nagel summary

DEATH by Thomas Nagel

Thomas Nagel presents an intriguing discussion about death. Nagel presupposes that life is, in general, a good thing to have and death is bad as our state of non-existence lacks any unpleasant positive features. Thus, death deprives us of all what we have, namely life.
Nagel makes an interesting remark about whether we can consider an event or aspect of life that is generally normal to all humans as a misfortune. Since we take it be more tragic when a young person dies than when an old one does (because the are more opportunities lost in such cases), we shouldn’t view it as tragic when someone dies at the end of what would consider a ‘normal’ human life span. He uses the example of moles, which are blind animals, to suggest that it’s not tragic for a mole to be blind since they’re all blind, and would never know sight and come to appreciate it. Nagel also presents a hypothetical scenario where everyone undergoes six months of pain and agony before dying. Everyone knows that this is ultimately going to happen, but Nagel asks if that does make …show more content…

For example, from my own personal experience, I don’t think that the death of my 85 years old grandfather was a tragedy. Death at the age of 85 would be a tragedy if we lived to a 1000 years without aging, but if we aged at the same rate we currently do, living to a 1000, and having the last 900 years spent like my grandfather’s last 5 years as a bedridden progressive dementia patient, too old to move, see, or meet any of life’s daily self care activities, then I strongly believe that living the full 1000 years is the real tragedy here. As we age, begin to have Alzheimer’s, have our first stroke etc., then the range of open possibilities available to us declines dramatically, and once this occurs, it may be that death is actually no longer a misfortune, though perhaps aging

Show More
Related

  • Concerning Thomas Nagel and Permanent Death

    732 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the beginning of Death, Nagel presented the question of whether it is a bad thing to die. He furnished two positions on the subject. The first position is that life is all one possesses and to lose life is the greatest loss one can encounter. The second position is that death is a blank, not an unimaginable condition, that has no positive or negative value whatsoever. Stating his aim to be considering whether death is in itself an evil, Nagel clarified that the state of being dead, or nonexistent, is not in itself evil for several reasons. First, death is not an evil that one is able to accumulate more of. A person cannot receive a larger portion of death no matter how long they have been in that state. Secondly, one would not regard temporary life suspension as harmful. In the case of long-term suspended animation or freezing, one can view this as a continuation of their present life. Thirdly, few people regard the long period of time before their birth as a misfortune. From these points, Nagel concluded that humanity does not object to death because it involves indeterminable periods of nonexistence. He then proposed that if death is an evil at all, it can only be because of what it deprives us of, since it has no positive features. He did not, however, agree with the idea that death is bad because it brings an end to all the good things in life. Nagel formulated that if all good and bad life experiences were removed, what i...

    Read More

  • Character Analysis Of Hans Hubermann In The Book Thief

    1581 Words  | 4 Pages

    Like in the book thief liesel and hans both went through so much and misfortune impacted them in a negative way giving them no positive in the end. In midsummer night's dream because of puck oberon and the lovers went through so much just for love and misfortune turned out to making their story into a positive ending. Misfortune is undeserved when society does not use their actions in a negative way and think that they are going to sneak out of not getting caught, well guess what everyone gets caught at some point by misfortune and then regret it the rest of their life. The actions that society chooses show to the world is what comes back to haunt society because as a society people chose to do things that affected others causing them to have misfortune and those who chose to do it. Misfortune is not something that everyone deserves because some people choose to do things that are positive not things that are negative leaving an impact. Misfortune is deserved to those who deserve it and those who do not deserve it should not be punished for those who you do not do

    Read More

  • Moral Luck In Thomas Nagel's View Of Moral Luck

    721 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the article Moral Luck, Thomas Nagel is defending his definition of moral luck and opposing Kant’s view of moral luck. Kant believes that moral luck is the good will and to do our duty by the reasons for our actions. Nagel believes that this theory is too simple. Nagel’s view of moral luck is when outside factors that are out of our control are considered to be reasons for moral judgements whether the actions are good or bad. Good and bad luck should not influence our moral judgement of a person and their actions. There is a problem with Kant’s condition of moral luck which is the conditions of moral judgement. Nagel intuitively believes that people should not be held accountable for their actions morally, if it is not their fault.

    Read More

  • The Connection of God and Nature in Bryant's Thanatopsis

    581 Words  | 2 Pages

    states that death is not bad, for it is a natural thing that is apart of everyone’s life. There

    Read More

  • Thomas Nagel's Deprivation Essay

    1375 Words  | 3 Pages

    In accordance with the prevailing assumption that there is something that is bad about death, Nagel argues that death is bad for the person who is dead. Nagel argues that death is an evil, not in and of itself, but by virtue of comparison. In contrast with intrinsically bad evils such as pain and even intrinsic goods such as life, death is an evil by virtue of opportunity costs—it is an evil in that it is the deprivation of life. Nagel emphasizes this distinction between intrinsic evils and comparative evils perhaps in anticipation of the objection that only things that give you unpleasant experiences can harm you. Nagel’s deprivation account of death inherently addresses the experientialist concern in the former half of the first objection by suggesting that it is the taking away of life that makes death evil. Nagel’s account suggests that the experientialists’ categorization of goods and evils are insufficient in accounting for other types of goods and evils, including comparative goods and evils such as “damage, deprivation and death” (page). Nagel emphasizes that there is nothing intrinsically bad about death because there is nothing evil about the state of being dead or nonexistent; rather, the evil of death lies in the counter-factuality of

    Read More

  • Lady Macbeth Suicide Analysis

    475 Words  | 1 Pages

    From first day of life till last, whatever a person strife for is nothing, but the end of all findings be death, that is inevitable. “If according to Freud, the subject pursues its own death, or is steered towards it by a drive for inertia, why not say suicide or masochism lies at the heart of life?” (Smith 67) If one is bound to die, than death with bravery and courage is better than death at the hands of enemy, which may even include nature or fate. “In this state and when confronted with hardships that makes life seem intolerable, suicide becomes a possibility.” (Lester 17)

    Read More

  • An Analysis of Nagel's Personal Rights and Public Spaces

    2232 Words  | 5 Pages

    This paper briefly looked at the structure of Nagel’s overall argument and then outlined and analyzed the part of his argument where it seems inconsistent.

    Read More

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

    1726 Words  | 4 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Epicurus Death Argument Analysis

    1169 Words  | 3 Pages

    “Become accustomed to the belief that death is nothing to us. For all good and evil consists in sensation, but

    Read More

  • Tragedy In Genesis

    4978 Words  | 10 Pages

    People tend to view tragedy in cataclysmic and catastrophic terms. Every night on the news we hear murders, assassinations and bombings referred to as Atragedies.@ Tragedy need not be an event which affects the community at large. Rather, any event which teaches an important lesson to a specific person or a group of people can be viewed as a type of tragedy. While the Greek tragedies focused upon the catastrophic nature of tragedy, The Biblical Book of Genesis provides the reader with another tragic paradigm. Genesis describes tragic events which are neither catastrophic nor transforming. In fact, according to the Genesetic paradigm, tragedy need not end in death.

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Death

    1331 Words  | 3 Pages

    One thing that we often hear is that “death is just a part of life.” So often in our day and age do we hear people utter these words. However, death is far more significant and impactful than some would allege. True death is not merely a time when we cease to exist; it is an entombment, a mindset in which we are dead to this world. Throughout our lives, it is true that we can all be dead in one way or another, but it does not have to be that way. When we have our eyes opened to what death actually is, it is far easier to grasp what the true meaning of life is, and to embrace it. Often, we will come across individuals who are enveloped in death and others who are immersed in true life. The shadow of death and entombment lies upon some, encompassing

    Read More

  • Death by Thomas Nagel

    610 Words  | 2 Pages

    Nagel suggests that Death can be the greatest of all losses or not be a great loss at all depending on the position we take. The deprivation of life would make it the greatest of all losses when he states, “on the one hand it can be said that life is all we have and the loss of it is the greatest loss we can sustain” (Nagel, 769). But Nagel shifts his position by also stating that “on the other hand it may be objected that death deprives this supposed loss of its subjects, and that if we realize that that is not an unimaginable condition…we will see that it can have no value whatever, positive or negative” (Nagel, 769). He suggests that if death is the end of a life, it would not be a great loss, but just the removal o...

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Thomas Nagel On Death

    1591 Words  | 4 Pages

    Thomas Nagel begins his collection of essays with a most intriguing discussion about death. Death being one of the most obviously important subjects of contemplation, Nagel takes an interesting approach as he tries to define the truth as to whether death is, or is not, a harm for that individual. Nagel does a brilliant job in attacking this issue from all sides and viewpoints, and it only makes sense that he does it this way in order to make his own observations more credible.

    Read More

  • Bernard Williams Two Types Of Desires

    886 Words  | 2 Pages

    “Bernard Williams is a distinguished twentieth-century english moral philosopher” (Jacobsen, p. 104). His perception of death and desire varies greatly from Lucretius who was a Roman follower of the ancient atomism and defended the views of Epicurus who like Lucretius, declared that death is a bad thing for people. On the contrary, Williams asserts that death gives meaning to life and that immorality might not be such a good thing and rather he believes that it is to be undesirable. The reasons as to why Williams thinks that a person’s death is a bad thing is due to the fact that when a person dies they are no longer able to fulfill/satisfy the desires we had when we were alive.

    Read More

  • Cultural Analysis On Death And The Afterlife

    1074 Words  | 3 Pages

    The concept of human mortality and how it is dealt with is dependent upon one’s society or culture. For it is the society that has great impact on the individual’s beliefs. Hence, it is also possible for other cultures to influence the people of a different culture on such comprehensions. The primary and traditional way men and women have made dying a less depressing and disturbing idea is though religion. Various religions offer the comforting conception of death as a begining for another life or perhaps a continuation for the former.

    Read More

More about What Is Nagel's View On Death

Open Document