Death Does Our Own Deaths, Right?

2min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

"I may not live to 90, but I know it's finite. And that knowledge doesn't make it harder for me to enjoy the sunset," he says. Part of Scheffler's theory about this is that human life has like a natural shape. "We have an understanding of it as having a certain, you know, like stages in effect,. and we are reconciled to and accept it as that."

Suppose all of humanity was infected by a virus that left us all infertile--no one will come along after us. How would you react to such a world? Agnes Callard of the University of Chicago says she would be filled with despair. But why does this seem worse than our own inevitable deaths? Callard speaks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the meaning of life, and what exactly about the end of humanity is so demoralizing. The conversation concludes with a discussion of whether humanity is making progress.