What Is Nagel's Response To Death

Death by Thomas Nagel tackles the question of death and if it is bad that it is a permanent end to our existence. Nagel states two possible positions in response to this, either death is bad because it deprives us of living life, or it is not bad because even if death is a loss then there is no subject to experience it and therefore the loss of life cannot be felt. In response to the first position Nagel argues that life is valuable in itself even if we strip it of all experience good or bad. He then argues that since a state of nonexistence is not bad by itself, it cannot be what makes death bad. He argues for this position by stating that we do not see the period before we are born as bad so why would nonexistence after life be bad? Nagel

Nagel proceeds to respond to his objections with the argument that goodness or evil of a subject depends on their possibility and history, not just their state. Because of this, subjects may succumb to misfortune even though they are not able to experience it themselves. Another reply to the objection that death is not bad is that if one dies, one is not able to experience any more goodness in life if one dies. A response to the question of why death is considered bad while our time before birth is not, is because the time after one dies that death takes away from us and this is not the case for the period of nonexistence pre-birth. At the end of the essay Nagel presents the question of whether the non-realization of further life is bad in all cases, or if this depends on what can be naturally hoped for in life. An answer presented is that since we only regard deprivations as a bad if they unjustifiably add to the evil we must all face in life, only dying prematurely could be considered bad. Nagel’s final response to this question is that if whether or not we interpret death as negative depends on the point of view we have towards

Since death is the deprivation of both good and bad, it can be argued that it takes away the one factor that makes life worth living, the ability to experience goodness. Death may be a state of no pain or pleasure, but is that a state which can be considered good? Since we live before we die, we could say we know what is to be lost upon death to some extent. The deprivation of what we know and the entrance of something we do not, as well as the lack of epistemic understanding of how a state is experienced, can be seen as bad. However, a response to this could be that a life that has only experienced evil might welcome death as an end to the suffering of living. This can also be used as a response to Nagel’s statement that we are all fortunate to be born. Someone who is born with a disease that is incurable and leaves the subject in a constant state of pain, such as the Butterfly Disease, might feel as if they were not fortunate to be born. Death might also be seen as good because seen from an objective stance as in Nagel’s text, we all must die. Therefore, in a narrative view of life one could say that death is good because it is what we were born to