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上节课我给大家粗略介绍了一下剥夺说LasttimeIsketchedthedeprivationaccount.这是一种说法或是一个理论That'sastoryortheoryabout指出死亡为什么是坏事whatitisaboutdeaththatmakesitbad.死亡是坏事是因为What'sbadaboutdeathisthefactthat,当你死去当你不再存在becauseyou'redead,becauseyoudon'texist,生活中的美好事物都离你而去you'redeprivedofthegoodthingsinlife.从本质上来说死亡并不坏Beingdeadisn'tintrinsicallybad.它不像是一段不愉快的经历It'snotlikeit'sanunpleasantexperience.但相比较而言它就是坏事Butit'scomparativelybad.之所以这么说是因为You'reworseoffbyvirtueofthefact你得不到你活着时能得到的东西thatyou'renotgettingthethingsthatyouwouldget,wereyoustillalive.如果我死了我就不能和爱人在一起IfI'mdeadIcan'tspendtimewithmylovedones.不能看日落不能听音乐Ican'tlookatsunsets.Ican'tlistentomusic.不能讨论哲学Ican'tdiscussphilosophy.剥夺说认为Thedeprivationaccountsays,死亡是坏事是因为what'sbadaboutdeathisthefact你失去了生活中美好的事物thatyou'redeprivedofthegoodthingsinlife.乍看起来很有道理Now,thatseemsprettyplausible,asabasicstorygoes.但就像我们上节课看到的Butaswealsosawlasttime,在哲学上这里面有些疑问therearesomephilosophicalpuzzlesabouthowitcouldbe.比如在什么时候死亡对你来说是坏事Thequestionofwhenisdeathbadforyou,更重要更根本的是andevenmoreimportantlyandmoreessentially,我们很难确定there'sthedifficultyofaskingourselves,我们是否真相信dowereallybelieveit'spossiblefor当你不存在了还会有事情对你是坏事somethingtobebadforyou,whenyoudon'tevenexist?我们面临一系列困难的选择Wesawaseriesofdifficultchoices.如果我们不引入存在前提Ifwedon'tthrowinanexistencerequirement,如果我们不说我还是用肯定语气吧ifwedon'tsay--toputitmorepositively,如果我们说即使你完全不存在ifwesaythingscanbebadforyou还会有事情对你是坏事evenifyoudon'texistatall,那我们就必须承认thenwe'reforcedtosay对拉里来说有些事是坏事thatthingsarebadforLarry.拉里是我们给潜在的人起的名字You'llrecallthatlarrywasournameforapotentialperson,他们可能存在somebodywhocouldhavecomeintoexistence但从来没有也从来不会存在butneveractuallydoesorwillcomeintoexistence.说到失去生活中美好事物的人们Well,talkaboutpeoplewhoaredeprivedofthegoodthingsinlife,拉里就完全失去了这一切Larry'scompletelydeprivedofthegoodthingsinlife.如果我们认为你是否存在Ifwethinkitdoesn'tmatterwhetherornotyouexist,不影响是否有事情对你是坏事forthingstobebadforyou,那我们就会说thenwehavetosay,这事儿对拉里来讲太糟糕了Oh,thingsarebadforLarry.不仅对拉里如此AndnotjustLarry,对十五亿亿亿亿butallofthe1.5million,billion,billion,billion从未出生的人都是如此never-to-be-bornpeople.这一类人的数目大得惊人Thenumberofpotentialpeopleisjuststaggering.倘若我们摒弃存在前提Andifwethrowawayanexistencerequirement,我们就必须承认这是道义上的悲剧wehavetosayit'samoraltragedyof对无数从没来到人世unspeakableproportionsthatthesepeopleareneverborn,从没存在过的人的悲剧thattheynevercomeintoexistence.如今有些哲学家就准备接受这种说法Now,therearephilosopherswhoarepreparedtosaythat.但如果你不打算这样做的话Butifyou'renotpreparedtosaythat,那你恐怕就得接受itlooksasthoughyou'vegottoaccept某一种形式的存在前提somekindofexistencerequirement.为什么我们对拉里以及Whydon'twefeelsorryforLarry他数以万亿计从没出生的同胞不感到难过andhisbillionsuponbillionsofnever-to-be-borncompatriots?这是因为事实上他们并不存在Because,indeed,theydon'texist.他们只不过是一种可能性They'remerelypossible.我们可能会说Andwemightsay,你必须存在才会有事情对你是坏事you'vegottoexistinorderforsomethingtobebadforyou.但当我们说这话的时候Butoncewesaythat,我们好像就近似于承认itseemswe'rerunningtowardsthepositionthat,死亡对我来讲不会是坏事因为很明显inthatcase,deathcan'tbebadforme,becauseofcourse,当我死了我就不存在了whenI'mdead,Idon'texist.怎么会有事情对我是坏事呢Sohowcananythingbebadforme?上节课最后我提出Iproposedattheendofclasslasttime我们可以thatwecouldtrytosolvethisproblem通过区分bydistinguishingbetween两种不同的存在前提来解决这个问题twoversionsoftheexistencerequirement--宽泛前提和严格前提amoremodestversionandthebolderversion.严格前提说的是Thebolderversionsays,有事情对你是坏事Inorderforsomethingtobebadforyou,当且仅当它发生时你存在you'vegottoexistattheverytimethatit'shappening.如果我们这样说那么我们确实可以说Ifwesaythat,thenindeed,wecansay,拉里从没来到人世不是坏事It'snotbadthatLarrydoesn'texist,因为他现在不存在becausehedoesn'texistnow.那么没有任何事情Sothere'snothing--即使我们想到evenifwewantedtothink他可能会拥有一些美好的东西thattherearegoodthingshecouldbehaving,但没有这些对他也不是坏事that'snotbadforhimtonothavethem.因为他现在不存在Hedoesn'texistnow.但同样Butitalso,如果我们坚持存在的严格前提ifwegoallthewaytotheboldexistencerequirement,我们就得承认wehavetosay,当我死了死亡对我就不是坏事Look,whenI'mdeadthatwon'tbebadforme,因为我那时已经不存在了because,well,Iwon'texistthen.除了接受存在的严格前提Butinsteadofacceptingtheboldexistencerequirement,我们也可以选择要求少点的前提wemightsettleforsomethingalittlebitlessdemanding,我叫它宽泛前提thethingIdubThemodestexistencerequirement.有事情对你是坏事Inorderforsomethingtobebadforyou,当且仅当你在一段时间内存在过therehastohavebeenatime,sometimeortheother,whenyouexist.你需要You'vegotto,asitwere,至少存在一段时间进入圈子中existatleastbrieflyinordertogetintotheclub,我们把我们关心的人aswemightputit,ofthosecreatures,生活过牵动我们心绪的人thosepossiblecreatures放在这个圈子里thatwecareaboutandareconcernedaboutmorally.你必须至少存在过一段时间Youhavetohavegottenintheclub才能进入这个圈子byatleasthavingexistedforsomeperiodoftime.但你一旦进入这个圈子Butonceyou'reintheclub,有些事情对你就会是坏事了thingscanbebadforyou,即使你在它发生的那一刻并不存在evenifyoudon'thappentoexistatthatparticularmoment.如果我们接受宽泛前提Ifweacceptthemodestexistencerequirement,那我们就可以说thenwecansay,拉里没生下来不是件坏事it'snotbadthatLarrydoesn'texist,因为拉里没进入这个圈子because,well,Larrydoesn'tgetintotheclub.要想进入我们会为你难过的圈子Inordertogetintotheclubofthingsthatwefeelsorryfor,你必须存在过一段时间youhavetohaveexistedatleastsomemomentortheother.拉里和其他Larryandthebillionsupon数以万亿亿亿计的潜在的人billionsuponbillionsofpotentialpeople那些从没存在过的人whoneveractuallycomeintoexistence,他们没有满足存在过一段时间这一条件theydon'tsatisfytherequirementofhavingexistedatsometimeortheother.所以我们不为他们感到难过Sowedon'thavetofeelsorryforthem.但我们会对Butwecanfeelsorryforsom