Makropulos Case: Reflections On The Tedium Of Immortality '

Phil1750-100

Immortality, desirable or not?
In “The Makropulos Case: Reflections on the Tedium of Immortality”, Bernard Williams argues that immortality is undesirable because one would achieve one’s categorical desires which will cause one to become bored and find immortality undesirable. In this paper, I will argue that this argument fails because if one lives a recognizably human life, they will experience memory decay thus allowing them to repeat the same categorical desires without becoming bored. In addition, if one must experience immortality in a recognizably human form then they and everything and everyone else around them will be, therefore giving the one with an eternal life a constant task of trying to perfect everything and everyone (mortals).
Williams describes two different desires
If memory decays over time then one with eternal life will forget the desires they have fulfilled and will be motivated to achieve the things they have already achieved before. Even if human memory did not deteriorate to the point in which one will forget what desires they have fulfilled, one may forget what those achievements felt like and may feel motivated to fulfill those desires again. Further support for this claim is that immortals could come up with new desires and activities that would save them from boredom at least long enough for the rejuvenation of older desires. If what I have stated is true, then Williams claim that once one’s categorical desires are satisfied, one will become bored is false because he neglected the fact that if one’s eternal life is similar to a mortal’s life (without death), then one will experience memory decay. The loss of memory would almost act as a reset button without having to die and be born in a new form like reincarnation, which fails Williams’s