Dead Wrong

Abstract The central thesis of this book is that it is possible for an act to wrongfully harm a person even if the act takes place after the person is dead. The main argument for this thesis is grounded in three claims: (1) that it is possible for an act to wrongfully harm a person while they are alive even if the act has no effect on that person’s conscious experiences, (2) that if this is so, then frustrating a person’s desires is one way to wrongfully harm a person, and (3) that if this is so, then it is possible for an act to wrongfully harm a person even if the act takes place after the person is dead. Chapter 1 introduces the book’s thesis and explains its significance. Chapters 2–4 each focus on one of the three main claims used to argue for the book’s thesis. In each case, the chapter starts by providing a defense of the claim in question and then responds to a variety of objections that can be made against it. Chapter 5 responds to further objections that can be raised against the book’s thesis and examines some of the ethical implications of the thesis for such issues as posthumous organ and gamete removal, posthumous publication of private documents, posthumous damage to graves and corpses, and posthumous punishment and restitution.