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Death (PHIL 176)
Image: oyc.yale.edu
#623 overall

Death (PHIL 176)

Yale University

1 recommender · 1 thread · recommended in 1 year, 2026 · score 0.7

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Yale's open lecture series on philosophy of death, taught by Shelly Kagan, covering questions such as whether death is bad for the one who dies, and what makes a person the same individual over time. Lecture 12 covers personal identity through thought experiments about swapping minds and bodies.

Commenters point to it as a free Yale lecture series that explores the question of what personal identity is, using the mind-swap and torture thought experiments.

Humanities & Social Scienceintermediatefreevideo lectures#philosophy of death#personal identity#thought experiments#kagan

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20062026

What commenters said (1)

  1. Recommendstenuousemphasis2026in “Weeping whales: Stillborn humpback whale grieving documented”

    There's a great free Yale lecture series called Death that goes into this.

    https://oyc.yale.edu/philosophy/phil-176/lecture-12

    Version 1: A mad scientist swaps your mind with another person's (Linda's), then asks which resulting body he should torture. Intuition says spare the one with your personality, so personality looks like the key to identity.

    Version 2: He's going to torture you, but first gives you amnesia, then makes you believe you're Linda, then gives Linda your memories. Intuition says don't torture your body, so the body looks like the key.

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