if one has to die, how does one live?

[Xaviered]

If someone is born with a lifelong illness, that would ensure their death at a young age, to what extent do Objectivist ethics possibly apply to her?

How can someone who knows he/she is going to die, take any comfort in Objectivism?

[Tenure]

Ask Stephen Hawking.

was at a loose end. The doctors told me to go back to Cambridge and carry on with the research I had just started in general relativity and cosmology. But I was not making much progress, because I didn't have much mathematical background. And, anyway, I might not live long enough to finish my PhD. I felt somewhat of a tragic character.

...

After all, if I were going to die anyway, it might as well do some good. But I didn't die. In fact, although there was a cloud hanging over my future, I found to my surprise, that I was enjoying life in the present more than before. I began to make progress with my research, and I got engaged to a girl called Jane Wilde, who I had met just about the time my condition was diagnosed. That engagement changed my life. It gave me something to live for. But it also meant that I had to get a job if we were to get married. I therefore applied for a research fellowship at Gonville and Caius (pronounced Keys) College, Cambridge. To my great surprise, I got a fellowship, and we got married a few months later.

Edited November 23, 2007 by Tenure

[BrandonMV]

All you can really say is that such a person's life expectancy is substantially shorter than most. But in most cases, even the terminally ill don't know exactly when their time will come. Many of them far outlive their life expectancies; some continue to live full lives. Recovery is not unthinkable, especially with the knowledge that medical technology is constantly progressing. And so I don't think it's reasonable for someone to operate on the premise that death is inevitable so give up on life. A dying person is not a dead person; one can still choose to live. And the Objectivist ethics will still apply insofar as that choice is made.

[RationalBiker]

If someone is born with a lifelong illness, that would ensure their death at a young age, to what extent do Objectivist ethics possibly apply to her?

They would apply to her as long as she still values the life she has. At the moment she chooses death over life, they no longer apply. Objectivist ethics apply to a person who values life no matter how short the expected duration.

[Robert J. Kolker]

If someone is born with a lifelong illness, that would ensure their death at a young age, to what extent do Objectivist ethics possibly apply to her?

How can someone who knows he/she is going to die, take any comfort in Objectivism?

We all have this lifelong illness. It is called aging. We are all born into the ranks of death. Enjoy the ride for as long as it lasts for you.

Bob Kolker

Edited November 23, 2007 by Robert J. Kolker

[Capitalism Forever]

We all have this lifelong illness.

Thank you for bringing that to my attention; this is one more example I can use when someone asks me to explain what a stolen concept is!

[Clawg]

Even if some people had eternal life (with the exception of unnatural causes) it would not matter either. There is no reason to be unhappy just because other people have a higher life expectancy, for the same reason why you should not be unhappy just because your neighbor has bigger car, house and swimming-pool. Happiness is not the result of a competition with others, there is no podium at the end of your life where you have to compare your life with others.

I often hear from other people that they have 'lists' of things that one has to accomplish in life to be happy. If you accept that premise then you accept that values originate from a group and not from yourself.

Comparing aspects of your life with aspects of the life of someone else can be a tool to discover your own unused potential. But only if you can do something about it.

[John McVey]

As per Shawshank Redemption, either you get busy living or get busy dying. How long you can generally expect to live only determines the time-frame over which you plan to be busy living, and hence of what in particular you may do.

If you're going to die while still a child, then fill what life there is with as much of a child's great joys as possible, as suitable for whatever mental and physical abilities you're capable of (including age-appropriate as applicable). If you're going to die as an adult, further include at least some modicum of longer-ranged productive plans to enjoy what time you have. Both include due consideration for objective value, and Objectivist virtues, as applicable to the stage of mental development.

You either enjoy life, or you don't. There's no sense in bewailing what you cannot control - nor for abandoning objective value and virtue. You may include dying with dignity in your own way by your own choice, but that still means to the extent you have life within you then still seek what life-affirming joy in it you can.

JJM