Posthumous Harm: Why the Dead Are Still Vulnerable

Engagingly written and tightly argued, Posthumous Harm clarifies the paradoxical intuition that we can harm the dead even if their consciousness has been extinguished. If death is the end of all experience, then the dead seem safe from harm. So why do we take care to dispose of their remains and assets as they wished? Why is it wrong to besmirch the reputation of Cicero or Rocky Marciano? How can there be harm if there is no subject to experience the harm? Considering the hypothetical posthumous defamation of Rocky Marciano, Belliotti makes a convincing case that the prize fighter can be harmed today even though he has been dead since 1969. Taking inspiration from Aristotle and Kant, and engaging contemporary philosophers including Nagel and Feinberg, Belliotti has produced a truly unique work, the only book-length study of the issue. -- William Irwin, Associate Professor of Philosophy, King's College & Series Editor, Popular Culture and Philosophy (Open Court Publishing)