Hick and Afterlife Flashcards
John Hick what does he reject?
Rejects the traditional belief in body/soul dualism by adopting a materialist position and arguing that this does not weaken the possibility of life after death
hick AS but relate to soul
his theodicy is soul making and has universal salvation (where everyone is saved). so for life after death our body must go with us as soul and body are together. he thus argues for resurrection.
for Hick the soul gives…
meaning to the living being (like anscombe)
what category is Hick part of?
theistic monism (god- one substance continues)
hick is a …
soft materialist (he believes we are physical but does believe in some life after death)
Hick - what does he see us as?
an indissoluble psycho-physical unity
what are the advantages of of ‘I’ living on as a psycho physical whole (theistic monism/hick and aquinas)
keeps the religious tradition of life after death (heaven) keeps memories (you stay the same you)- no problems of identity
disadvantages of ‘I’ living on as a psycho physical whole (theistic monism/hick and aquinas)
what about the bodies that are buried? are they the real you? not much continuity
what is hick’s theory called and give general basis of it
replica theory - it is a THOUGHT EXPERIMENT- he postulates how god can recreate us in an exact copy in the afterlife
what does hick aim to show through his thought experiment
that the concept of life after death does not depend on humans having souls in the platonic sense. humans are a psycho physical unity- when body dies we die- no soul living on. but hick says this doesn’t rule out life after death. it is logically possible that an omnipotent god could recreate us in another world (heaven)
what does hick show in each of his 3 examples of John Smith
that the key to identity is memories. if the recreated replica remembers their former existence then there are grounds for claiming it is the same person.
general criticisms of replica theory
there is a break in continuity between the original body and the new one- so its difficult to say they’re the same person
identity is not just about memories, a person with alzheimers is still the same person
a copy of the mona lisa is not the same as the real thing and thus not as valuable in any sense
questions: what age would the replica be? would the replica be handicapped if the person was? would the replica be damaged if the death was violent?
peter vardy criticism of replica theory
what are the value of copies? if god can make one copy why not hundreds?
hick response to peter vardy criticism
god would only make one to preserve individual identity
P.Van Inwagen criticism example of replica theory
example showing the break in continuity: building blocks that were knocked down and are rebuilt are not the same as the original
