I don't know why you think there is some conflict or why caring about a post death reputation increases the effort I must spend while alive.

Consider that I don't spend any effort thinking about my post death reputation until I am asked, at the point I am asked I understand the question in terms of my treatment of people while alive and so I answer that I care about it in as much as it reflects how I have treated people while alive.

What part are you suggesting I should drop?

If it doesn't increase the effort you invest into your treatment of others while alive, then you can't say you actually 'care' about your post-death reputation.

It's like claiming I care about the environment, while doing nothing at all to indicate my care for the environment.

Its more like claiming you care about the environment after you die and doing things now that show that.

Yep.

If you have a tombstone or urn etc, what will the inscription say?

Go Away,
F**K Off,

or something else?

Something more philosophical and haunting like:

Don't cry.
If like myself, you don't remember being dead, you will never will be.
Eternity, you're already in it.
And frankly, I'm tired of it.
Death, I could only wish for.

This "disagreement" seems mostly to hinge on technicalities and rhetoric. Also, since the main stem of the argument seems to be...

...I find it a bit insulting that you grandstand and use the terms "non-convincing", "illogical", "faith-based" and "emotionally clouded person" to describe those who disagree with you. I mean, this is essentially merely an argument from ignorance.

And, when we delve a bit deeper: External evidence supports that the universe continues to exist after people die. Now, you obviously want to argue from your own internal perspective of awareness... and you would probably counter-argue that when your awareness seizes, the universe seizes. But that leaves a very big question: You accept external empirical evidence that awareness ends on death, but you don't accept the same external evidence telling you that the universe continues to exist! Why?

seizes = ceases.

Bah, that error has followed me my entire life. Curse your mystical English language and multiple ways of writing the same sounds.

I don't accept external empirical evidence that awareness ends upon death, nor do I accept external empirical evidence that awareness continues after death.

I simply do not know.

For this reason, on some days I tilt toward the 'awareness continues' camp, as per my post in this thread:

"Don't cry.
If like myself, you don't remember being dead, you will never will be.
Eternity, you're already in it.
And frankly, I'm tired of it.
Death, I could only wish for."

On other days, I tilt toward the 'awareness seizes' camp.

But I never subscribe to either camp (unless momentarily for devil's advocate purposes).

Mine is not an argument from ignorance, but rather an acute awareness of the limits of knowledge: most commonly overlooked, or consciously ignored by many.

Those who fail to fully acknowledge that they do not know are thinking illogically.

He who acts in accordance to 'knowing' (e.g., cares about post-death rep): acts based on faith.

Not actually the same sound though.

Hey, I'm a newbie :-) this is an interesting thread, makes me think ...
I reckon I care about what people think about me after I die for the same reason I care about what people think of me when I'm live. People's opinions matter. I agree that you shouldn't worry about what other people think too much, but in order to be a compasisonate and empathetic being, you must consider the thoughts of others ...
getting deep! LOL

Why not? Unless you're a complete recluse, your post-death reputation will matter to someone. People's perception of you and the emotions / feelings you inspire in them doesn't stop because you die.

The Empiricism Strikes Back.

If you know of any empirical evidence that contradicts the notion that a person's influence on others, the feelings he awakens in them and the affections he creates in others does not disappear upon death, please do share.

Based on this thread, you seem to be on a fishing expedition to some weird intellectual place where only direct experience matters. That makes no sense to me, surely you must know that your emotions, feelings and memories of people doesn't disappear when they die - and that their actions in life have influenced you - so you should have oodles of direct experience to go by.

I must concede, it can be easy and cheap to poke holes at empiricism using non-falsifiable beliefs. Yet, my contention in this thread has been broader than just the logical arguments against what can be known after death. Whether you care about your post-death reputation or not, is largely irrelevant. Rather, my contention is to demonstrate that we just don't know. There is humility in reminding ourselves of the limits of knowledge, from time to time. Moreover, it can momentarily reconnect us with that sense of wonder. Wonder that progressively diminishes as we learn more about our place in the cosmos.

I agree that it is always important to be vary of the limits of what we know, but we shouldn't draw conclusions based on not knowing. I mean, you don't want to worry about your post-death reputation, because you don't know what happens when you die - that is fine. That is very different from claiming that the ones who do are somehow wrong or stupid to do so, however.

While I believe it is logically wrong, I never used the word stupid, nor meant to imply that.

What is logically wrong about it?

What we don't know has no bearing on how I feel now about how those who know me will feel about me after I die. You're almost making an appeal to ignorance and I'm not even sure why.

A man should be concerned about his death-man reputation in equal amount as he is about his 'living' reputation. I am pretty convinced that this is a necessary block in the foundation of a righteous character.

Faith allow you to silent all sounds but God's word. Your reputation shall never be of your concerns but for him. and he doesn't need for a certain time to see you.

From experience, I have found that the reputation pie can only taste as good as it is small in size.