Title: LIFE%20AFTER%20DEATH
1LIFE AFTER DEATH
2Reading around this topic
- You should aim to study at least two of the
following introductory texts. This is not an
exhaustive list, but these are easily available
works and cover the general discussion well. - Peter Cole, Philosophy of Religion, ch. 10
- Brian Davies, An Introduction to the Philosophy
of Religion, ch.11 - John Hick, Philosophy of Religion, chs. 9 10
- Ann Jordan et al, Philosophy of Religion for
A-level, ch. 13 - Michael Peterson et al, Reason Religious
Belief, ch. 10 - Mel Thompson, Teach Yourself Philosophy of
Religion, ch.5 - Peter Vardy, The Puzzle of God, ch. 18
3BASIC QUESTIONS
- Jordan, Lockyer and Tate in their Philosophy of
Religion for A-level structure their discussion
by posing the following questions - Do we have souls?
- How can we survive death?
- Do we have more than one life?
- Is there evidence to support life after death?
- Is it life after death?
4Do we have souls?
- To answer this you must first decide which view
to hold on the mind-body issue - MATERIALISM Minds are not possible independent
of living bodies. - IDEALISM Only minds really exist. Bodies are an
illusion. - DUALISM We exist as two separable distinct parts
a physical body and a non-material soul.
5How can we survive death?
- Materialists who accept life after death would
require the resurrection of the body, which is
probably a replica body (Hick). - Idealists say that the illusion of the physical
body ends at death and we continue in spirit form
beyond it (Hegel). - Dualists accept the immortality of the soul. Thus
the soul continues after the body dies
(Descartes).
6Do we have more than one life?
- This is the view of reincarnation.
- At death the soul is said to leave the body and
start off life in another physical body. This is
called the transmigration of the soul. - Karma is the term to describe the consequences of
individual actions which cumulatively determine
your fate. - Ideally, the goal is to escape the cycle of
rebirth and achieve a state of bliss where
personal identity is lost and you become one with
the Ultimate Reality. (Moksha / Nirvana /
Nibbana)
7Is there any evidence to support life after death?
- This is an a posteriori concern. The relevance of
the evidence depends on the kind of life after
death being thought of. In each case the
so-called evidence needs careful evaluation. - Near-death experiences NDEs
- Regression to past lives
- Sightings of dead people
- Spiritualism
8Is it life after death?On defining your terms
- Is recollecting incidents from my previous life
or lives really what I think it is? If not, then
this is not life after a previous death at all. - Is the notion that I live on in the genes of my
descendents in any sense life after death? - If I die, am kept cryogenically, and subsequently
revived, is this life after death?
9A priori arguments are also relevant in these
debates
- Thomas Aquinas argument that we are made for an
ultimate end, happiness, which God will vouchsafe
for us in a future life. - Kants moral argument, in which life after death
is a necessary postulate of practical reason. - Platos argument that the soul is immortal
because it is imperishable. Because the soul is
simple, it is therefore indestructible.
10How to write a good essay on this topic
- Analyse the question in front of you.
- Use your material to answer the question in a
planned and clearly structured way. - Show you understand the range of issues relevant
to the question. - Outline the various options and their
proponents. - Give the best arguments for and against each
option.
11A clear outline of the topic 1
In his introduction to life after death, the
philosopher Stephen T. Davis wrote this
introduction
- Do people live after death? This is surely one
of the most important questions that is asked in
the philosophy of religion. Naturally there are
only two possible answers to it. Either human
persons will live after death or they will not.
- Let us call all theories that deny life after
death, Death Ends All views. There are three
main sorts of theory that affirm life after
death reincarnation, immortality of the soul,
and the resurrection of the body.
12A clear outline of the topic 2
Here, we will first consider the claim that life
after death is not just false but incoherent.
Next, we will consider two philosophical problems
that bear on the issue, viz. the relationship
between mind and body, and the problem of
personal identity.
Then we will discuss one important death ends
all theory. Finally, we will discuss
reincarnation, immortality and resurrection
respectively.
CLEAR ENOUGH ?!
13Some significant contributors to the debate on
life after death
14Flew
- In article in 1956, Can a Man Witness His Own
Funeral?, Flew argued that the notion of life
after death is incoherent. - 1 Statement of surviving death is
self-contradictory. - 2 LAD is empirically false.
- 3 People are what you meet bodies plus
behaviour.
15Descartes
- Dualistic theory that a human being material
body (temporary machine) non-physical mind or
soul (permanent essence). - Interactionism mind and body intimately
conjoined, but metaphysically cannot be causally
interrelated. Pineal gland is site of interaction
via animal spirits.
16Locke
- Story of the soul of a prince entering the body
of a cobbler. Test case for personal identity.
(cf. Bart the fly Simpson). - Three criteria for PI?
- 1 Memory criterion.
- 2 Bodily criterion.
- 3 Closest continuer or Psychological
continuity criterion.
17Russell
- Famous 20th cc Death Ends All atheist and
materialist thinker. Wrote, When I die, I rot.
Others include A.J.Ayer Kai Nielsen. Atheistic
Existentialists and ancient Stoics hold this view
too. The most notable Stoic was Epicurus (341
270 BC), who founded Epicureanism.
18Epicurus
Death, the most dreaded of evils, is of no
concern to us, for while we exist death is not
present, and when death is present, we no longer
exist.
- The empiricist epistemology of Epicureanism,
allied to a hedonistic ethics advocating pleasure
as the one good, led Epicurus to say that being
dead will be no worse than not having being born. - Central to his view is that because we do not
experience being dead, we should not be afraid of
it and death should therefore be of no concern to
us.
19Buddha
- Representative of those who believe in
reincarnation. The other sophisticated version is
that of Vedantic Hinduism. - Reincarnation is the view that the immaterial
essense (or soul or jiva) of a person can
successfully animate two or more bodies
(sequentially not contemporaneously). - Best modern supportive evidence in the work of
Dr. Ian Stevenson, eg. Twenty Cases Suggestive
of Reincarnation.
20Standard objections to reincarnation theory
- Equivocal nature of the evidence. Alternative
explanations of the evidence such as yoga
memory, other than reincarnation, can be found
such as telepathy, fraud, lack of verifiability. - Philosophical difficulties in the relationship
between me and my karmic heir. What links them
together, if anything? Is same jiva enough for
numerical identity / continuity? - If karma is true, there is no such thing as
undeserved suffering. How does the impersonal
karma mechanism work justly?
21Plato
- Classical advocate of the immortality of the
soul. Post death, the soul has one eternal and
uninterrupted life in a spiritual world. - Not widely supported today, the heyday of this
view was the Victorian era with its interest in
spiritualistic phenomena seances, trance
mediumship, automatic writing etc. - Nowadays the area is dominated by discussions of
OOBEs and NDEs. But are these post-death?
22Kant
- Kants moral argument for the God had the
immortality of the soul as one of its necessary
postulates. - H.H. Prices 1953 article, Survival and the Idea
of Another World showed that the idea of souls
inhabiting an immaterial world beyond death was
at least philosophically intelligible and
coherent. He was agnostic about its reality. - The most serious objection is the mind-body
unity argument. ie. mind requires a functioning
brain.
23Resurrection of Jesus
- The paradigm case of an historical claim that
there is embodied life beyond death. - Bodily resurrection is believed by Judaism,
Christianity and Islam. Within the Christian
tradition there are numerous readings of the
view temporary disembodiment same reassembled
and reconfigured matter resurrection new
material resurrection replication theory.
24Hick
- Famous discussion in his Death and Eternal
Life. - Posited the Replica theory. To solve the
personal continuity problem, God recreates a
person who has died (just one). This is the
same person, but in a different space-time.
Others would recognise him or her, and he or she
would say, I am the same person. - Persons are indissoluble psycho-physical unities,
and the analogy of software running in new
hardware may be illuminating here. - Ask, what differences would we notice?
25A short test
- In each case you simple answer the question that
is, or is not, associated with the figure on the
slide in the context of the issue of life after
death
26Buddha
- The Buddha was an advocate of which of the
following views? - a Resurrection
- b Reincarnation
- c Rot Recycle
- d Spookification
27Epicurus
- Epicurus believed that we should fear death
because it was the end of the existence of the
self. - True or False?
28Hick
- Hick advocated which of the following
- 1 Reincarnation
- 2 Immortality of the soul.
- 3 Replication of the person after death
- 4 Euthanasia.
29Flew
- Flews religious outlook was that of
- a Hinduism
- b Judaism
- c Jainism
- d Christianity
- e Atheism
30Descartes
- Descartes advocated which of the following
metaphysical positions - 1 Dualism
- 2 Monism
- 3 Illusionism
31Locke
- Locke offered a fantastical tale in order to
explore the issue of personal identity involving - a A man and his dog
- b A prince and a cobbler
- c An angel and a demon
- d A leper and a pharisee
- e Bart Simpson and a fly.
32Russell
- This philosopher was convinced that the ultimate
constituent of man was - a Spirit
- b Matter
- c Number
- d Aether
33Plato
- Plato believed that the soul or psyche of human
beings was - a eternal
- b indestructible
- c spiritual
- d pre-existent
34Kant
- Kants favourite argument for the existence of
God which referred to the immortality of the soul
was - a Ontological
- b Teleological
- c Moral
- d Cosmological
35Resurrection of Jesus
- Christians believe that they will be resurrected
like Jesus and thus have a heavenly body which
will be the form of their post mortem existence. - True or False?
36LIFE AFTER DEATHThe EndOr Only Just The
Beginning?