From UPBEAT
John Martin Fischer, distinguished professor of philosophy at the University of California at Riverside, will present a lecture,“Would You Choose to Live Forever?,” on Thursday, February 28, at 4 p.m., in Buckley Center room 163. His talk is free and open to faculty, staff, students, and the public.
Fischer serves as president of the American Philosophical Association, Pacific Division, and is also project leader for The Immortality Project, an interdisciplinary research effort on various aspects of belief in immortality, backed by a $5 million grant from the John Templeton Foundation.
Abstract for the Lecture: “I discuss certain arguments presented by philosophers who might be described as ‘immortality curmudgeons.’ The immortality curmudgeons argue that, for various reasons, immortal life could not be appealing to any human being. I will argue that immortality, in the sense of living forever and not dying, could be choice-worthy for human beings like us. I will consider various objections put forward by the Immortality curmudgeons, and I will see how to reply on behalf of the immortality optimists.”
For more information contact Andrew Eshleman, philosophy, at 7317 or eshleman@up.edu.