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上次我们从形而上学转而讲述价值理论Lasttimewemadetheturnfrommetaphysicstovaluetheory.我们开始讨论为什么死亡是件坏事Westartedaskingaboutwhatitisaboutdeaththatmakesitbad.我们谈到死亡的第一个坏处是Thefirstaspectofthebadnessofdeaththatwetalkedaboutwas当某人死去thefactthatwhensomebodydies,活着的人会感到痛苦that'shardontherestofus.我们活着必须承受We'releftbehindhavingtocopewith失去所爱之人的痛苦thelossofthispersonthatwelove.然而如果我们想明确Nonetheless,itseemslikelythatifwewanttogetclear死亡的主要坏处aboutthecentralbadnessofdeath,那么活人的损失并不是关键itcan'tbeamatterofthelossforthosewhoremainbehind,关键是那些死去的人butrathertheloss,死亡给他们带来的伤害thebadnessofdeath,forthepersonwhodies.总之That,atanyrate,这才是我今后要关注的问题iswhatIwanttofocusonfromhereonout.我的死亡Whatexactlyisitaboutmydeath,或者我会死去的事实orthefactthatI'mgoingtodie,为什么对我来说是坏事thatmakesthatbadforme?现在我希望明确限定Now,Iwanttogetclearaboutprecisely我们这里讨论的问题whatitiswewanttofocusinonhere.很明显死亡可能带来的一种伤害是Now,onethingthatcouldbebad,obviously,死亡过程会造成痛苦istheprocessofdyingcouldbeapainfulone.人人影视我被一只孟加拉虎撕成碎片thatIgetrippedtopiecesbyBengalitigers.如果是这样那死亡过程会很可怕Andifso,thentheactualprocessofdyingwouldbehorrible.很痛苦Itwouldbepainful.如此将死亡过程看作Andclearlyitmakessensetotalkabouttheprocessofdyingas可能对我造成伤害符合情理somethingthatcouldpotentiallybebadforme.但是同样我也可能在睡眠中死去Althoughsimilarly,Imightdieinmysleep,这种死亡过程对我没有伤害inwhichcasetheprocessofdyingwouldnotbebadforme.无论如何我认为我们大多数人Atanyrate,Itakeitthatmostofus,虽然可能有过这种顾虑althoughwemighthavesomepassingconcernaboutthepossibility认为我们的死亡过程会是痛苦的thatourprocessofdyingmightbeapainfulone,但这也不是that'snot,again,当我们面对死亡时thecentralthingwe'reconcernedaboutwhen所担心的根本问题wefacethefactthatwe'regoingtodie.而且It'salsotrue,ofcourse,我们会发现在这里{\chere,现在虽然我们还没死rightnow,whilewe'renotactuallydying--但想到我会死去这件事仍让我感到不快theprospectofdyingtobeunpleasant.所以死亡对我的另一个坏处就是So,oneofthethingsthat'sbadaboutmydeathformeis现在当我想到我可能会死去时thatrightnowI'vegotsomeunhappythoughtsas我感到不快IanticipatethefactthatI'mgoingtodie.但是Butagain,这依然不是死亡的主要坏处thatcan'tbethecentralthingthat'sbadaboutdeath,因为想到死亡becausetheprospectofmydeath--会产生难过或悲伤的情绪itmakessenseforthattobeapainfuloneoranunpleasantone,这只能更进一步说明死亡本身是件坏事onlygiventhefurtherclaimthatdeathitselfisbadforme.我会害怕焦虑担心遗憾Havingfearoranxietyorconcernorregret或苦闷如此这般当我想到oranguishorwhateveritisthatmaybeIhavenow自己难逃一死时aboutthefactthatI'mgoingtodie,都基于这样一个逻辑前提piggybacksonthelogicallypriorthought就是死亡本身对我是件坏事thatdeathitselfisbadforme.如果不是基于这样一个前提Ifitdidn'tpiggybackinthatway,那所有这些对死亡的恐惧itwouldn'tmakeanysensetohavefear焦虑畏惧苦闷或无论什么oranxietyordreadoranguishorwhateveritis就没有道理了thatImayhavenow.比方说我告诉你Imean,supposeIsaidtoyou,明天你会碰到件事Tomorrowsomething'sgoingtohappentoyou这件事非常好andthatthingisgoingtobesimplyfantastic,好得难以置信不可思议absolutelyincredible,absolutelywonderful.然后你说Andyousaid,好吧我相信你但我要告诉你Well,IbelieveyouandIhavetotellyou,我一想到这件事就觉得担忧害怕I'mjustfilledwithdreadandforebodinginthinkingaboutit.这完全不合情理Thatwouldn'tmakeanysenseatall.你感到担忧害怕Itmakessensetobefilledwithdreadorforebodingorwhathaveyouonly只有当你想到的事情ifthethingyou'relookingforwardto,本身是坏事时才合情理anticipating,isitselfbad.例如Maybe,forexample,你害怕去看牙itmakessensetodreadgoingtothedentist,那是因为你相信看牙是件痛苦的事ifyoubelievethatbeingatthedentistisapainful,unpleasantexperience.如果看牙本身并不可怕Butifbeingatthedentistisn'titselfunpleasant,那你想到看牙就害怕就不合情理了itdoesn'tmakesensetodreaditinanticipation.所以如果我们想找到死亡的主要坏处Soagain,ifwe'rethinkingaboutthecentralbadnessofdeath,我们似乎应该关注死亡本身itseemstomethatwe'vegottofocusonmybeingdead.是什么使我的死亡如此可怕Whatisitaboutmybeingdeadthat'sbadforme?现在如果我们提出这个问题Now,ifweposethatquestion,答案似乎itseemsasthoughthe简单明了answershouldbesimpleandstraightforward.当我死去我不复存在WhenI'mdead,Iwon'texist.在本课程的前一部份Nowpreviously,inthefirstpartoftheclass,我们讨论过这个问题wespentsometimesayingthat,某些观点认为look,oncertainviews,在某段时间里你可能已经死了there'llbeaperiodoftimeinwhichyoumightbedead,但你的肉体却活着butyourbodymightstillbealive.或者你已经死了Oryoumightbedead,虽然你的肉体还存在buteventhoughyourbodystillexists,但它不是活着的而是作为尸体存在it'snotalive,butyouexistasacorpse.咱先将这些束之高阁Putallthataside.不考虑这些模糊不清的Gototheperiodbeyondanyofthatmurkystuff短期的状态intheshort-termandjust,仅简单地forsimplicity,从物理主义角度来看我一旦死亡let'ssupposewiththephysicaliststhatonceIdie,我将不复存在Iceasetoexist.好的Allright.那我们不就找到了死亡的坏处了吗So,don'twehavetheanswertowhat'sbadaboutdeathrightthere?当我死去我将不复存在WhenI'mdead,Iwon'texist.这不是对死亡坏处的Isn'tthatthestraightforward最直白的解释吗explanationaboutwhydeathisbad?我想说的实际上是Now,whatIwanttosay,ineffect,isthis.我真的相信不复存在这一说法解释了IdothinkthefactthatIwon'texistdoesprovidethekey死亡为何是坏事以及它的坏处究竟是什么togettingclearabouthowandwhydeathisbad.但我并不认为这个答案很直白ButIdon'tthinkit'squitestraightforward.我认为正如我们将要看到的Ithink,aswe'llsee,我们需要花些功夫才能证明itactuallytakessomeworktospelloutexactly为什么死亡不存在howdeath,hownonexistence,对我来讲是件坏事couldbebadforme.即使证明了这一点Andevenhavingdonethat,也仍然存在一些疑难there'llbesomepuzzlesthatremain这些将稍后讲解thatwe'llbeturningtoinalittlewhile.所以基本思路看起来很直白So,thebasicideaseemstobestraightforwardenough.当我死去我将不复存在WhenI'mdead,Iwon'texist.不存在是件坏事难道不是吗Isn'titclearthatnonexistenceisbadforme?但是你很快会碰到质疑Well,immediatelyyougetanobjection.不存在有什么不好呢Yousay,howcouldnonexistencebebadforme?毕竟Afterall,不存在就意味着你不存在thewholepointofnonexistenceisyoudon'texist.