Life after death

Dualism- Descartes

"I think therefore I am" He could not disprove his own thought and as a result he believed that there was a separate non-physical mind whose essence it was to think.

Strengths of biological materialism

-Clear scientific evidence for the existence for DNA and the role it plays in the development of living organisms -If consciousness is electro-chemical events within the brain it would seem impossible for humans to survive brain death -Suffering is the natural outcome of evolution and survival of the fittest. There is no mystery as to why an all-loving God doesn't intervene

Strengths of the immortality of the soul

-Comforting (our souls are joint with God) -Near death experiences are support for this testimony -We have a subjective inner world in which we can't physically locate -Consciousness and moral awareness could indicate a separate soul

Criticisms of Hick's replica theory

-Davies: it is of no comfort to say that after death a replica continues to live because it is not the same as the real thing however similar they appear "for the continues existence of a person is more required than replication" -Christian teaching: if everyone goes to heaven then it is not necessary to believe in Jesus' death and resurrection because there are many other routes to the same path -Eternity of opportunity for people to improve then people can lead reckless lives now

Weaknesses of rebirth

-Difficult to provide any theory that depends on the metaphysical -No hard evidence for the laws of Karma affecting out lives -Difficult to live without the idea of a fixed or true self. It's important to know what we really are like

Weaknesses of the immortality of the soul

-Gilbert Ryle "a ghost in the machine" -Kant's argument can be rejected by saying that we don't strive for the highest good. For example the vast amount of evil in the world -Lacks a basis in tradition -Unclear how the separate soul can relate to the physical body -No empirical evidence -Against Descartes; proving that one can think is far from proving that our soul is separate unity

Strengths of resurrection

-It gives value to the physical self and our connection with the world -It avoids the problems identified by Gilbert Ryle "ghost in the machine" -Finds support in the Bible and in the Qur'an (basis in tradition) -If there is life after death it is hard to imagine what this would be like without a body

Weaknesses of biological materialism

-It hasn't been proved that consciousness can simply be reduced to chemical processes in the brain -Genes do not have intentions and desires like humans do -Humans have freewill, we don't seem to be at the mercy of our genes -Dawkins doesn't explain why people act in ways which would risk the survival of our genes -Near death experiences

Arguments against the soul existing

-No empirical evidence -No scientific explanation for what it is -Evil acts in the world -No definite descriptions as to what the soul is -An idea that humans have created to increase their importance

Arguments for the soul existing

-Our moral values -Our conscious -Near death experiences -Our uniqueness as a person

Strengths of reincarnation

-Provides a good explanation for the presence of inequality across the human population (suffering a consequence of our own deeds) -Explains infant geniuses and natural instincts -Supporting the evidence of people who claim to have knowledge of prior lives -Resolves the issue of unique souls only being created to experience misery

Weaknesses of resurrection

-The body in many ways is a source of weakness and arguably it would be better to exist as non-material souls e.g. Greed and desire -Christian arguments about resurrection aren't persuasive to atheists -No empirical evidence to support this theory, quite the opposite we see our bodies decaying over time -What happens if our body is damaged at the point of death? Injured, diseased or even gotten rid of?

Strengths of rebirth

-The doctrine forces the believer to consider the consequences of their actions -Offers an explanation for the desire to exist -Psychological truth in the idea of anatta since we are something that is constantly changing. Humans are not the same person as they were five years ago. You experiences different/new things and change as a result of this.

Weaknesses of reincarnation

-The growing population of the world -It relies on the view that the soul and mind exist independently of the body. Gilbert Ryle says that our conscious life is simply the product of of processes in our brain- materialistic view -We would expect to see spiritual evolution of humanity but this is not the case -Metaphysical and cannot be verified

John Hick's example for his replica theory

1. A man is at a conference in London, and during the blinking of his eyes, he finds himself transported to a conference in New York. He has continuity of body, memory and personality (he's the same person) which is verified by friends of his from London who travel to New York to see him. 2. Instead of a sudden disappearance, there is a sudden death. The man at the conference in London dies and an exactly similar 'replica' of him appears in New York. There is continuity of memory, body and personality and a living counterpart of a dead man in another country. 3. A person dies and is 'replicated' in another world which is populated with other dead persons who have been 'replicated.' It is God who brings this resurrection/'replication' about.

Gilbert Ryle and 'The Concept of the Mind'

Argues that a dualist view (particularly Descartes) makes a 'category error' in regards to the existence of the soul. Dualism take a vision of the human in which makes the mind a separate substance somehow attached to the body (acting like the pilot of a plane) "The ghost in the machine". The body simply becomes a machine with the mind (the mysterious, non-physical 'real me') like an operator outside of the body. The category error that dualists make is that the two terms 'mind' and 'matter' are of the same logical type. This not the case even though sentences about the mind and matter might look superficially similar. Example: Someone is taken around a university and is shown all of the different components (e.g. the lecture theatres and library's). But at the end of the tour he says "But where is the university?". This person is guilty of a category error assuming that the university is a serrate form from the other bits which collectively make the university.

Rebirth

Buddhism says that there is a consciousness which depends its existence on the flow of time. This self will eventually stop re-becoming when it reaches nirvana. Only when we let go of desire can we escape the cycle of birth and death. We are constantly re-born into different states which are largely determined by karma.

Problem with dualist theories- the problem of disembodied souls

HH Price asks what a society of disembodied souls would be like. Without bodies we could not feel, hear or experience anything. It is a very limited existence- not necessary

John Hicks- Replica Theory (monist theory)

He rejects dualism whilst presenting a defence of belief in bodily resurrection. Humans are a psycho-somatic unity (the mind/soul and body can't be separated. Resurrection is a divine action in which an exact replica is made of our bodies but not on earth. The replica exists in a different space from us and can only exist in one place at a time. This is observable by God and not by us. A replica is NOT a copy but is the replication of our appearance and character and is identifiable as ourselves.

Problems of monist theories- Problem of Identity

How do we know that one person who dies is the same as another who survives their death. Bernard Williams argues that what makes us the same person to who we were in the past is "spatio-temporal continuity", and this continuity is broken when we die.

Biological Materialism- Richard Dawkins

Human consciousness has evolved due to the survival advantaged it has. Following 3million years of evolution the human brain is capable of complex thought, language and reasoning. Genes cause each human to develop a brain as it grows and the sense of consciousness which arises from this- our individuality and sense of self is based on digital information. "Consciousness arises when the brain's stimulation of the world is so complete that it must include a model of itself". The only way people survive death is through memories by others or through their genes which might be passed onto offspring but this is limited as "many genes do not even make it past their first generation" and this is because of survival of the fittest- these genes do not make good survival machines. Death brings about the end to the body's role as a survival machine

Reincarnation

It is a dualist theory on life after death. It literally means "to be made again in the flesh". The essential self (or soul or atman) will survive death and be born again in another body. Because of the trauma of birth and death memories of each life are hard to find as they are buried in the unconscious. Found in Hinduism. Your actions have a direct influence on what happens to your next existence- it you live well you will gain an improved reincarnation. The atman seeks union with the ultimate reality and those who perceive the world for what it is- an illusion- may achieve release from the world.

Materialism

Only physical matter exists and so the existence of a non-physical soul it impossible. The identity of a person links to their physical body.

Hard Materialism

Refuse to accept that anything that can't be known empirically is real. Emotions, feelings and thoughts are processes in the mind. The identity theory claims that all mental activity is centred in the brain- mind produced matter. You can modify someone's mood, behaviour and character by drugs.

Soft Materialism

The mind is produced by the brain and without the brain there can not be a mind. The mind is a separate thought of consciousness but is still physical The identity theory can not explain that when an individual makes a decision they form an intention. The mind is a separate thing

Resurrection

The belief that post-death existence is re-created. The resurrection views the human body body as a psycho-physical unit (there is no separate soul which proceeds elsewhere at the moment of physical death.) "Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt" Daniel 12:2 Thomas Aquinas says "the natural condition of the human soul is to be united with a body"

Substance Dualism- Plato

The body and soul/mind are separate things Plato: arguments for the immortality of the souls 1) Cyclical- everything comes into existence from its opposite. Circle of life and death 2) Recollection- the knowledge we acquire is not learnt by recollected. Realm of the Forms 3) Affinity- the body has an affinity with the earth and the soul has an affinity with the Realm of the Forms 4) Final- the soul is simple and can not be destroyed when death (its opposite) comes. It retreats.

Monism and Aristotle

The human mind is the centre of identity for humans and this can not be separated from the body if humans survive death -Aristotle- the soul is the form and shape of the body. Examples: an imprint in wax can't be separated from the wax itself. If the eye was a body the soul would be the capability to see If an axe was living its body would be the handle and axe head while its form is what makes it an axe The faculties that compose the soul 1) Nutrative- the soul moves us to get food 2) Locomotive- the soul enables our body to move 3) Intellectual- the soul enables us to reason and think

The body

The physical being

Immortality of the soul

The soul is a distinct and an immortal entity within the body which survives death and ascends into the afterlife. -Plato- "the soul is that which renders the body living". There is an immortal soul which enters the body at birth and leaves it at death. Something living must have given life the dead body. -Descartes- "I think therefore I am" existence of our true self can be know through reason. Our basic knowledge of ourselves is separate from our bodies- the body is spatial and physical but not conscious. -Kant- our purpose in life is to reach the highest goodness ("summum bonum") and this takes along time but out lives are short. God would therefore allow us the chance to achieve this after death.

The Soul

The spiritual being, immortal, immaterial and eternal