Immanence

Scientific American on the conceivability of death

I think most of us who have contemplated suicide seriously have entertained speculations such as these:

Consider the rather startling fact that you will never know you have died. You may feel yourself slipping away, but it isn’t as though there will be a “you” around who is capable of ascertaining that, once all is said and done, it has actually happened. Just to remind you, you need a working cerebral cortex to harbor propositional knowledge of any sort, including the fact that you’ve died—and once you’ve died your brain is about as phenomenally generative as a head of lettuce. In a 2007 article published in the journal Synthese, University of Arizona philosopher Shaun Nichols puts it this way: “When I try to imagine my own non-existence I have to imagine that I perceive or know about my non-existence. No wonder there’s an obstacle!”

(”Never say die”, by Jessie Bering, at sciam.com)

Breadcrumb trails:

America, Brain, Capa, Existence, Nome, Philosopher, RTL

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