Thinking about immortality

Abstract:

We are all going to die and cease to exist.  But even if this is right, it’s worth thinking about how it would be if it were not so:  if we were immortal.  The reason is that the significance of our mortality depends on what it would mean if we were not mortal.  But there are different sorts of immortality, and those who theorize about it are seldom clear or consistent about which one they mean.  I argue that the most important sort of immortality is very different from those most commonly discussed.

Biography:

Eric T. Olson grew up in eastern Washington state, USA, amid tumbleweed, coyotes, and rattlesnakes.  He studied at Reed College and later at Syracuse University, where his PhD thesis was supervised by Peter van Inwagen.  A period of unemployment followed.  Eventually he obtained a lectureship at the University of Cambridge.  He is currently Professor of Philosophy at the University of Sheffield.