Ganli Demyttenaere
PHL. 101
PEQ Artifact
John Martin Fischer: Why Immortality Is Not So Bad.
John Martin Fischer believes that contrary to Bernard Williams the life of immortality would not be so bad if two conditions were met. One of those conditions is that the person is identical to the individual and second the person’s life must be attractive to them. Personally, I disagree with the first condition and while I agree with the second condition I don’t think it is necessary for an immortal life to be good, still I completely disagree with Bernard Williams. William’s clause that an individual must still be oneself is not logical, since as Fischer says it's very different to lose oneself in an activity than to become someone different …show more content…
Fischer disagrees with Williams by asking why boredom must be unthinkable. He proposes that there are some things that people can find endlessly fascinating and he distinguishes between those things, one that is fascinating but then is not as fascinating as we first thought, thereby self-exhausting. The things that are complete in themselves, which is more like facing personal fears or struggling to reach a goal which is also self-exhausting, as a person may not want to repeat that experience. However, Fischer says that if humans found enough of the repeatable actions such as a favorite food or activity and if we spread those out varying it a little then there would be no end to its fascinating …show more content…
In addition, I feel that only those who have no imagination or creativity cannot think of more than a few things they enjoy doing. After all, people say imagination is endless, so wouldn’t that be true for an immortal as well? Yes, writer's block could be something that occurs and maybe that writer never gets over it but usually they move on to something else. At that point, it may become mid-life crisis like which would still be an option for the immortal. They could go and do some new activity or test their levels of immortality. Just as Fischer uses the example of Andre so to could an immortal do the same. As I mentioned previously, the earth and humans as a society will always be changing. It would take many millennia to explore it all, and re-explore it so many times that one would become bored with one's existence.
For Williams the question of immortality was a poor one, when faced with infinity he proposed humanity would be bored and faced with the dilemma of change. Fischer proposed that neither of William's conditions was sure to occur, instead proposing that if one spaced out the repeatable pleasures and even if they did change immortal life wouldn’t necessarily be any worse than a mortal life. As a whole, I agree with Fischer that it is begging the
PHL. 101
PEQ Artifact
John Martin Fischer: Why Immortality Is Not So Bad.
John Martin Fischer believes that contrary to Bernard Williams the life of immortality would not be so bad if two conditions were met. One of those conditions is that the person is identical to the individual and second the person’s life must be attractive to them. Personally, I disagree with the first condition and while I agree with the second condition I don’t think it is necessary for an immortal life to be good, still I completely disagree with Bernard Williams. William’s clause that an individual must still be oneself is not logical, since as Fischer says it's very different to lose oneself in an activity than to become someone different …show more content…
Fischer disagrees with Williams by asking why boredom must be unthinkable. He proposes that there are some things that people can find endlessly fascinating and he distinguishes between those things, one that is fascinating but then is not as fascinating as we first thought, thereby self-exhausting. The things that are complete in themselves, which is more like facing personal fears or struggling to reach a goal which is also self-exhausting, as a person may not want to repeat that experience. However, Fischer says that if humans found enough of the repeatable actions such as a favorite food or activity and if we spread those out varying it a little then there would be no end to its fascinating …show more content…
In addition, I feel that only those who have no imagination or creativity cannot think of more than a few things they enjoy doing. After all, people say imagination is endless, so wouldn’t that be true for an immortal as well? Yes, writer's block could be something that occurs and maybe that writer never gets over it but usually they move on to something else. At that point, it may become mid-life crisis like which would still be an option for the immortal. They could go and do some new activity or test their levels of immortality. Just as Fischer uses the example of Andre so to could an immortal do the same. As I mentioned previously, the earth and humans as a society will always be changing. It would take many millennia to explore it all, and re-explore it so many times that one would become bored with one's existence.
For Williams the question of immortality was a poor one, when faced with infinity he proposed humanity would be bored and faced with the dilemma of change. Fischer proposed that neither of William's conditions was sure to occur, instead proposing that if one spaced out the repeatable pleasures and even if they did change immortal life wouldn’t necessarily be any worse than a mortal life. As a whole, I agree with Fischer that it is begging the