Listen "#41 - Posthumous Harm | David Boonin"
Episode Synopsis
You can support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/chenphilosophy
David Boonin is a philosophy professor at the University of Colorado Boulder. Professor Boonin’s interests lie in the areas of applied ethics, ethical theory, and the history of ethics.
Website: https://www.colorado.edu/philosophy/people/faculty/david-boonin
Book: https://www.amazon.com/Dead-Wrong-Ethics-Posthumous-Harm/dp/0198842104
Summary:
In this interview, we discuss Boonin's claim that the dead can be harmed. He takes a desire-satisfactionist stance on the nature of well-being, which essentially means that our well-being consists of getting our desires fulfilled. Since we can have desires toward things after we die, it follows that those desires can be frustrated after we die. This means that when said desires are frustrated, our well-being states when we are alive are negatively affected.
David Boonin is a philosophy professor at the University of Colorado Boulder. Professor Boonin’s interests lie in the areas of applied ethics, ethical theory, and the history of ethics.
Website: https://www.colorado.edu/philosophy/people/faculty/david-boonin
Book: https://www.amazon.com/Dead-Wrong-Ethics-Posthumous-Harm/dp/0198842104
Summary:
In this interview, we discuss Boonin's claim that the dead can be harmed. He takes a desire-satisfactionist stance on the nature of well-being, which essentially means that our well-being consists of getting our desires fulfilled. Since we can have desires toward things after we die, it follows that those desires can be frustrated after we die. This means that when said desires are frustrated, our well-being states when we are alive are negatively affected.
More episodes of the podcast The Ethical Frontier
#80 - The Limits of Liberty | Sarah Conly
23/11/2025
#79 - The Refugee Crisis | Serena Parekh
09/11/2025
#78 - Atheist Churches | Jacqui Frost
26/10/2025
#77 - Anti-Natalism 101 | Ben Bradley
12/10/2025
#74 - The Fear of Death | Tom Cochrane
01/09/2025
ZARZA We are Zarza, the prestigious firm behind major projects in information technology.