2.1Death and Life after Death

Question 1

Reason 1 for belief in life after death (dualism)

Answer 1

dualistic view is that if the soul is a non physical substance, then it exists independently of our physical bodies and will survive bodily death

Question 2

Reason 2 for belief in life after death (St Paul’s)

Answer 2

Argues all scriptures are ‘God breathed’ originates from God. Given that God is infallible (can’t be wrong) the scriptures too are infallible. There is numerous mentions to life after death in the scriptures

Question 3

Reason 2 for belief in life after death (St Paul’s) EVIDENCE

Answer 3

For God being infallible - “whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” - John 3:16
To show reference in scriptures -“ a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out” - John 5:29

Question 4

Reason 3 for belief in life after death (21 gram experiment)

Answer 4

Duncan MacDougall measured the body before and after death of patients and after death there was a consistent 21g loss of weight. It is argued that this is the soul leaving and moving on from the physical body after death

Question 5

Reason 4 for belief in life after death (NDE’s) AND why we should believe it

Answer 5

Experiences where people are near to death and during this period thousands of people claim to have seen a realm beyond and departing their body. When brought back to stable conditions people recite these experiences.
Principle of testimony: we should generally trust people’s experiences unless we have a good reason to doubt their reliability

Question 6

Reason 1 against the belief in life after death (reply to 21g experiment)

Answer 6

If the soul is a non-physical thing it wouldn’t weigh anything and therefore it would not alter anything in terms of bodily mass leaving the body after death.

Question 7

Reason 2 against the belief in the afterlife (logical positivism)

Answer 7

They say a statement only has meaning if you can empirically verify it. They say that you cannot empirically verify that “there is life after death” so therefore it is a meaningless question. They would not answer the question but say it is meaningless to ask that.

Question 8

Reason 3 against the belief in the afterlife (Physicalism)

Answer 8

They say that everything is made out of physical matter and therefore everything is perishable. This means none of our body would survive the decomposition. Fevered bodies have fevered minds and weakend bodies have weakened minds

Question 9

Reason 3 against the belief in the afterlife (physicalism) EVIDENCE

Answer 9

“The mind displays the marks of mortality”

Question 10

Reason 4 against the belief in the afterlife (Symmetry argument)

Answer 10

Lucretius says that we shouldn’t worry about life after death. We didn’t worry about our eternal pre-birth nonexistence so we should worry about our eternal post life nonexistence.

Question 11

Symmetry argument 1-4 premises

Answer 11

1) if x and y are significantly similar, my attitude to the two should also be similar
2) Our pre-natal and post-death nonexistence are significantly similar
3) I am not saddened by my pre-natal nonexistence
4) Therefore I shouldn’t be saddened by my post-death non-existence

Question 12

Linear views on human existence (Abrahamic religions)

Answer 12

They view life as being born and dying but somewhere along that path is a judgement of one’s eternal fate. They remain dead until the Last Judgement where your fate is decided

Question 13

Abrahamic religion views on human existence EVIDENCE

Answer 13

“a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out” -John 5:29

Question 14

Cyclical views on human existence (Hindu-Buddhist)

Answer 14

They consider human existence to be cyclical. Birth leads to death, then rebirth, the death then rerebirth and so on. Long series of reincarnations. Your past deeds determine the nature (karma) of your next life.