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Death

This course will examine a number of issues that arise once we begin to reflect on our mortality. The possibility that death may not actually be the end is considered. Are we, in some sense, immortal? Would immortality be desirable? Also a clearer notion of what it is to die is examined. What does it mean to say that a person has died? What kind of fact is that? And, finally, different attitudes to death are evaluated. Is death an evil? How? Why? Is suicide morally permissible? Is it rational? How should the knowledge that I am going to die affect the way I live my life? (from oyc.yale.edu )

Instructor

Professor Shelly Kagan.

Philosophy

2008

Lecture 01 - Course Introduction

Lecture 02 - The Nature of Persons: Dualism vs. Physicalism

Lecture 03 - Arguments for the Existence of the Soul, Part I

Lecture 04 - Introduction to Plato's Phaedo; Arguments for the Existence of the Soul, Part II

Lecture 05 - Arguments for the Existence of the Soul, Part III: Free will and Near-death Experiences

Lecture 06 - Arguments for the Existence of the Soul, Part IV; Plato, Part I

Lecture 07 - Plato, Part II: Arguments for the Immortality of the Soul

Lecture 08 - Plato, Part III: Arguments for the Immortality of the Soul (cont.)

Lecture 09 - Plato, Part IV: Arguments for the Immortality of the Soul (cont.)

Lecture 10 - Personal Identity, Part I: Identity across Apace and Time and the Soul Theory

Lecture 11 - Personal Identity, Part II: The Body Theory and the Personality Theory

Lecture 12 - Personal Identity, Part III: Objections to the Personality Theory

Lecture 13 - Personal Identity, Part IV; What Matters?

Lecture 14 - What Matters (cont.); The Nature of Death, Part I

Lecture 15 - The Nature of Death (cont.); Believing You will Die

Lecture 16 - Dying Alone; The Badness of Death, Part I

Lecture 17 - The Badness of Death, Part II: The Deprivation Account

Lecture 18 - The Badness of Death, Part III; Immortality, Part I

Lecture 19 - Immortality Part II; The Value of Life, Part I

Lecture 20 - The Value of Life, Part II; Other Bad Aspects of Death, Part I

Lecture 21 - Other Bad Aspects of Death, Part II

Lecture 22 - Fear of Death

Lecture 23 - How to Live Given the Certainty of Death

Lecture 24 - Suicide, Part I: The Rationality of Suicide

Lecture 25 - Suicide, Part II: Deciding under Uncertainty

Lecture 26 - Suicide, Part III: The Morality of Suicide and Course Conclusion