Table of Contents
Abstract
Economists measure the harm caused by a death by quantifying its opportunity cost (all what the person is deprived off due to her death). This calculus contradicts the thesis of the neutrality of death defended by several philosophers since the Antiquity. This article reviews old arguments justifying the neutrality of death, and, by a contrasting effect, reveals postulates of the economic analysis of death, such as the consolidated nature of lives, as well as the cumulative nature of well-being across time.
Outline
- 1. Introduction
- 2. L’analyse économique de la mort
- 3. Épicure : la mort n’est rien pour nous
- 4. Lucrèce et la neutralité de la mort
- 5. Sénèque et la vie gaspillée
- 6. Wittgenstein et la vie intemporelle
- 7. Bachelard et la vie fabriquée
- 8. Nagel : la mort comme source de privation
- 9. Le patient de Parfit
- 10. Kamm : privation, insulte et extinction
- 11. Broome et l’intuition de neutralité
- 12. En guise de conclusion
Keywords
Codes JEL : I31, J17