all Products Hardcover Books Science Space Science

Our Stories: Essays on Life, Death, and Free Will

Fischer, John Martin

Select Format

Print Book

Hardcover

Item Condition New

$64.48 USD $67.88 USD

$64.48 USD

~~$67.88 USD~~ $64.48 USD

Sale Sold out

Shipping calculated at checkout.

Quantity

View full details

In this collection of essays on the metaphysical issues pertaining to death, the meaning of life, and freedom of the will, John Martin Fischer argues (against the Epicureans) that death can be a bad thing for the individual who dies. He defends the claim that something can be a bad thing--a misfortune--for an individual, even if he never experiences it as bad (and even if he does not any longer exist). Fischer also defends the commonsense asymmetry in our attitudes toward death and prenatal nonexistence: we are indifferent to the time before we are born, but we regret that we do not live longer. Further, Fischer argues (against the immortality curmudgeons, such as Heidegger and Bernard Williams), that immortal life could be desirable, and shows how the defense of the (possible) badness of death and the (possible) goodness of immortality exhibit a similar structure; on Fischer's view, the badness of death and the goodness of life can be represented on spectra that display certain continuities.

Building on Fischer's previous book, My Way a major aim of this volume is to show important connections between issues relating to life and death and issues relating to free will. More specifically, Fischer argues that we endow our lives with a certain distinctive kind of meaning--an irreducible narrative dimension of value--by exhibiting free will. Thus, in acting freely, we transform our lives so that our stories matter.

Accessories:

No Accessory

Publisher

OXFORD UNIV PR

Bisac Major Subject

Science

Bisac Minor Subject

Cosmology

Binding Type

Hardcover

Country Of Origin

Number Of Units

Length

9.21 Inches

Barcode Indicator

EAN

Width

6.14 Inches

Publication Date

1970-01-01

Height

0.5 Inches

ISBN 10

0195374959

Weight

0.99 Pounds

Book EAN

9780195374957

Target Audiance

Adults

User reviews will be displayed here...

Item added to your cart

Our Stories: Essays on Life, Death, and Free Will