Life After Death

Question 1

What is the soul according to Plato?

Answer 1

In the realm of forms
The form is eternal so the soul has lived before so as we learn we are remembering rather than learning new things
The soul can reflect on things such as goodness and truth or beauty and justice. It has the ability to know truth and understand the forms using reason
The soul is made of three parts; reason emotion and appetite
We are driven by highest reason (to distinguish between right and wrong), middle emotion (to love, have courage, but needs checking to stop conceit) and lowest appetite (so we can look after bodily needs but not reach hedonism)
The soul seeks detachment from the body because it is a distraction to higher things by having base desires such as for food and reproduction.
The aim of the soul is to break free from the body to be endlessly in the realm of forms. This inner life is the psyche and steers the mind and body to work in unison
Plato gives the example of meno the slave boy, he solves a geometry puzzle because his soul has lived before

Question 2

What is dualism?

Answer 2

We are made of two substances, body and soul
The body is in the physical world and is subject to change and decay
The soul is non physical and part of the realm of forms where there is a perfect blueprint of the existence of everything

Question 3

Explain plato’s allegory of the cave

Answer 3

Prisoners have Ben chained in an underground cave since birth watching shadows on the wall formed by people standing in front of the fire with puppets
one prisoner is freed and sees the real world but when he returns to the cave cannot see the shadows properly anymore because he has seen the beauty of the real world
Once we understand what reality is (the forms), the informed must lead the ignorant out of the cave and into true knowledge.

Question 4

What is Descartes’ dualism?

Answer 4

Descartes believed that the body and mind are separate and distinct
The body is physical, the soul is not
The soul makes contact with the body through the pineal gland
The body is destined for decay while the soul continues afterwards, this is the immortality of the soul.
The property of mind substance is consciousness, while the property of bodily substance is length, breadth and depth
The mind and body interact with each other as the kind causes events to occur in the body and the body can cause events in the mind

Question 5

What is monism?

Answer 5

Aristotle disagreed with Plato and thought body and soul were a unity
He didn’t accept platos realm of forms as he believed if you wanted to study something you had to be able to observe it
He said the soul was a non physical part of humans which allowed them to reach their potential
It is like a light bulb- the bulb is the body, the filament is the human heart and the light is the soul
There cannot be life beyond the physical even for the soul

Question 6

What is the soul according to Aristotle?

Answer 6

Aristotle referred to the soul as the anima.
There are three faculties of the soul; the nutritive- the soul moves us to get food, the locomotive- the soul enables our bodies to move, the intellectual- the soul enables us to think
Plants have nutritive soils, animals have locomotive and humans have intellectual souls
The body and soul are inseparable like a wax stamp on a tablet
The soul is unchanging as it a person’s essence
The body may change over life but the soul remains the same throughout the process

Question 7

What is materialism?

Answer 7

Only objects exist in the physical form.
There is no soul
Life is a physics-chemical process and mind and thought are only either behaviours or electrochemical activities of the brain
Mental events are physical processes that are like other material things
Mental states e,g, intentions, fears and beliefs, are only inclinations to behave in certain ways or brain states. intelligence is the evolutionary result of chance events in the development of the universe. There is no purpose or plan in the development of the universe.

Question 8

What is behaviourism?

Answer 8

All statements about minds, mental life or mental events can be expressed in terms of behaviours.
Hard behaviourists e.g. B F Skinner say there are no such things as minds only bodies in motion. Just because we speak of intentions and ideas doesn’t mean they are real
Soft behaviourist claim there may be minds and mental events but we don’t need to think that they are real since a behaviourist methodology can account for everything that is interesting about them
Logical behaviourists e.g. Gilbert Ryle, claim the mental or intentional refers to ways of behaviour. You can use mentalistic terminology as long as we recognise that the way we talk is to describe observable behaviours that we identify as things. Minds describe bodily activity. We should maintain the logical distinction between the mental and the physical to distinguish between intentional and accidental behaviour. To talk of the soul is a category mistake. He said the body and soul were like a pair of gloves, there is no talk of buying a left and a right glove, just a pair, so don’t talk of the body and soul as separate things.

Question 9

Explain Crick’s materialism

Answer 9

Crick discovered DNA and believed that the soul was meaningless. Neuroscience can explain everything about a human being. The expression of ‘the soul’ is just a way of labelling an idea

Question 10

Richard Dawkins on materialism

Answer 10

Humans are survival machines programmed to replicate
Each individual is the product of evolution with no immortal soul
The purpose of life is DNA survival
Humans are only DNA carriers programmed to preserve the selfish molecules known as genes
Human identity is formed by genes working together as a unit. Humans perceive themselves as a whole as this is necessary for the genes to survive
Consciousness developed in humans so they can choose the behaviour which is more likely to lead to the survival of their genes for longer.

Question 11

Explain judgement, heaven and hell as physical

Answer 11

Some Christians believe that these places are physically real.
The physical body will experience these places.
The descriptions of the pain and suffering mirrored the period of persecution that Christians suffered
They were taught that the Black Death of the 14th century was a punishment from god for sinners
Doom paintings featured in many churches
People feared death so much that they were prepared to go to great lengths to avoid going to hell
The Catholic Church developed ways in which Christians could avoid Purgatory and hell. Indulgences such as visiting pilgrimage sites or touching relics were often at great cost for the people. This was one of the things which prompted the Protestant reformation

Question 12

Explain judgement, heaven and hell and Purgatory as spiritual

Answer 12

The idea that we do not have a physical resurrection, but we do have a spiritual resurrection and a spiritual purging along with it.
Some Christians believe in spiritual judgement comes at the point of death
Suffering and pleasure in hell and heaven are also spiritual feelings rather than a reality

Question 13

Explain Judgement, heaven, hell and Purgatory as psychological realities

Answer 13

Many Christians today believe that notions of resurrection etc, are out of date. There is no evidence for any kind of existence after death. Eternal life is measured in the quality of living in this life. Judgement and heaven and hell are th product of the human mind rather than the power of god.
Inner conflict of the psyche causes psychological hell and suffering while a healthy mind which is compatible with their deepest beliefs and spiritual instincts, will experience good feeling, like heaven.

Question 14

Christian ideas about resurrection examples

Answer 14

Burial rituals
Banning of cremation until 1963 for RC
The bodily resurrection of Jesus in the bible
Martyrdom

Question 15

Explain judgement in Christian terms

Answer 15

Those who were judged holy would enter heaven
Those who were judged sinful would go to hell
Unforgivable sinners would suffer for eternity while forgivable (venial) sins would have a period of purging before being allowed into heaven

Question 16

What is the Christian opinion of resurrection?

Answer 16

Teaches that Jesus rose from the dead, ate food with the disciples etc.
Jesus is symbolic of the everlasting life which comes from God. Death can be overcome through the power of god

Question 17

Christian concept of the soul

Answer 17

Follows plato’s ideas of dualism
Human soul separates from the body at death and goes into the world of forms where it contemplates the form of good before being reincarnated into the physical world again via a human womb
The Christian concept of the soul comes from Judaism and Greek philosophy.
Jesus was possibly a Pharisee Jew rather than a Sadduccee jew, so would have learnt ideas about believing in resurrection.
Used to believe the point of quickening in a pregnancy was when the baby’s soul had entered

Question 18

Resurrection and Augustine

Answer 18

Augustine believed sin of Adam and Eve had an effect on all human beings spiritually and physically
Physical resurrection would be where both the spiritual and physical effects of sin would be removed. Body and soul would be resurrected together.
Jesus ascended in a physical form so humans will too and god will provide a new physical form in heaven.

Question 19

Explain Spiritual resurrection

Answer 19

Some Christians disagree with a physical resurrection but believe that the soul does rise up and lives on god
St Paul- ‘it is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body’, don’t worry about what happens to the body, concentrate on a physical resurrection
Paul said if you didn’t believe in resurrection, Jesus died for nothing
Church beliefs rely more on Paul than Augustine
These ideas provided hope in the period of persecution

Question 20

Explain John Hick’s replica theory

Answer 20

Hick is a materialist
It would be possible to live after death if a replica appeared. If God is all powerful then he can do this. The replica will have the same memories and characteristics as the person that died
We die in this world but god resurrects us in the next
There can logically be only one replica existing at one point
He said he was providing logical reasoning that body could be resurrected
The theory deals with some problems of dualism but also allows for an eschatology. Hick’s limit of one replica means there is no objection to the problem of identity if there was more than one of you at any one time there would be a paradox.
The chief flaw is that of Paul Davies who argues that it would be no consolation to me that a replica version of myself were to suddenly be created upon my death because I would be dead
Hick ignores the question of punishment or judgement for sins no matter how evil
By stating that the version of the person which is created in the resurrection world upon death is an exact replica, Hick is suggesting that upon resurrection we will almost instantaneously die once again. For the resurrection world to have any point at all we must be slightly different replicas of ourselves e.g. younger if we died of old age or a grievous injury
Hick only proves possibility not a certainty

Question 21

The problem of personal identity and the replica body

Answer 21

A replica is not the same as the original so they have not survived death
God is creating someone exactly the same but it is still not you

Question 22

Hick’s response to criticisms

Answer 22

Imagined John smith, disappeared in America and a replica reappeared in India. He thinks of himself as the previous John smith and his friends accept him as such
But he is still relying on the existence of God

Question 23

Psychological continuity or contectedness

Answer 23

John Locke thought personal identity consisted in the sameness of consciousness. Consciousness creates personal identity
An individual can remember enough of heir different states of consciousness and awareness of self in different places and times becomes the personal identity
Individuals can have different bodies yet still have continuity
Locke used the example of the soul of a prince transferred from the princes body into the body of a cobbler whose soul had departed. The prince still had princely thoughts even though his body is different
Locke says consciousness can be transferred from one soul to another and that personal identity goes with consciousness
The soul changes but the consciousness is the same and so personal identity is preserved throughout the change
This supports reincarnation or rebirth as a means by which personal identity continues after death

Question 24

Scientific theories of consciousness

Answer 24

Stuart Hameroff and Roger Penrose support the survival of consciousness at the moment of death.
Penrose argues that there is a non algorithmic element to human thought and human consciousness and humans are capable of independent thought. Quantum effects in the brain are the source of our feelings of self awareness, our consciousness and capacity for inspiration
Consciousness is not a result of brain activity but tube like structures of protein which exist in every cell of the body which are the cause.
Microtubles can change and develop in nanoseconds and support brain activity. The microtubles leave the body if it is dying end return if death does not occur. The individual may then remember being in a different place
Critics reject this because the microtubles exist throughout the whole body not just the brain, drugs exist that damage microtubles but not consciousness and sir John Eccles argues the unity of the consciousness is provided by the mind not the neural machinery of the brain

Question 25

Outline Price’s dream world

Answer 25

Explains how a disembodied soul can exist independent of the body
Disembodied souls live in a place similar to a dream world. The soul in the afterlife would’ve mind dependent just as dreams take place in the mind.
Critics e.g, Hick argue that in a disembodied post-mortem existence our desires are to be fulfilled then tension is going to result from conflicting desires. Whose dreams take priority e.g, Elvis wanted to perform a concert but I wanted to have dinner with elvis.

Question 26

Explain basic reincarnation

Answer 26

Reincarnation involves an individual’s soul inhabiting a new body totally different from that of the previous life. In each lifetime the soul will impress fe itself until it achieves perfection. When it reaches this the soul will not be reborn but will enter a state of bliss

Question 27

Explain different views on reincarnation

Answer 27

Hinduism- they believe that the atman or soul is eternal and each soul is at one with the whole of creation, emphasis is placed on individual development through the cycle of life, death and reincarnation to achieve release from the cycle of death j to be reunited with Brahman. This reunification is moksha. By doing their dharma or duty a person achieves good karma. Good or bad karma influences the events of the next life and whether an individual is reborn to a higher or lower situations. The soul carries no personal attributes from each life but the immortal essence of the atman continues into each life
Buddhism and Rebirth- Buddhists deny that there are souls. There is no individual soul but an ever changing individual character which moves from rebirth to rebirth. This is illustrates by the idea of a flame moving from candle to candle, the consciousness of a person surviving from life to life. This consciousness is not identical but not entirely distinct from each other. There is continuity.

Question 28

Are ghosts evidence of survival beyond death?

Answer 28

There is controversy as to whether ghosts would be evidence of resurrection of the body, immortality of the soul and the existence of a consciousness beyond death that supports reincarnation or rebirth.
Criticisms include; could be hoaxes, the stone tape theory suggests magnetic tape replays events in certain conditions, ghosts could be mistaken identity e.g. trick of light and Dr Deepak Chopra pointed out that bodies are comprised of energy, just impulses.

Question 29

Is spiritualism evidence of survival beyond death?

Answer 29

Many see spiritualism as evidence of life after death because it involves communication between those who have died and are in the spirit world.
Criticisms include; some mediums have proved that they are frauds but it could either be communication from departed spirits. There is evidence to support both.

Question 30

Define a near death experience

Answer 30

An out of body experience occurring at the time of actual or threatened imminent death
Dr Raymond Moody coined the phrase of ‘near death experience’

Question 31

Main features of NDEs according to Moody

Answer 31

Ineffability
Hearing the news
A sense of peace and quiet
A noise
A dark tunnel
Being out of the body
Meeting other people
A light
Some kind of review of your life
Reaching a border and knowing that you will not go beyond it
Being brought back

Question 32

Examples of NDEs

Answer 32

Blind woman experiences being able to see during her experience
Pam Reynolds- life threatening aneurysm. In an intense operation she said she could describe the process of the operation, including the instruments. She was technically dead during the operation they cooled her body to a point where her heart stops beating. She went to a pin point of light which she went towards and then spoke to her grandmother

Question 33

Explain the theory of memory models

Answer 33

At all times, the brain is creating memory models of reality. When we dream we use these familiar models. In times of extreme duress oxygen deprivation occurs and the models become unstable but the brain will try to reconstruct reality. You see what you imagine you will see in death or your brain creates a fantasy of impending doom

Question 34

Medical intervention and NDEs

Answer 34

Why do they bring about NDEs and occur within people who haven’t had drugs at all. Oxygen deprivation may be a cause as it tends to cause disorientational lack of sanity.

Question 35

What do supporters of the NDE group say to critics?

Answer 35

The rebirth explanation is flawed because the brains of babies cannot remember and store the memories from birth
Children who claim to have had an experience will have had less exposure to ideas of NDEs. They are not expecting to die yet they can describe their experiences in line with the expected ideas
NDEs are life changing and have dramatic effects often changing to become more religious or spiritual. One thing is that they often no longer fear death. People often become less materialistic and give to others instead.

Question 36

Does NDE prove that there is life after death?

Answer 36

Yes-
Consistent descriptions of God or heaven and people share one set of characteristics, suggesting that their experiences are genuine and there is something beyond death
Every individual will see something different as they have had different life experiences
Very genuine experiences e,g. Vicki Noratuk
They see dead relatives so maybe they are living in an alternative reality
Some accounts are from people who are pronounced clinically dead
No-
People have different experiences, if it real then they should be identical
There are arguments to refuse NDEs entirely as unreal so there is no proof for life after death
They cannot be empirically tested

Question 37

NDEs and time of death

Answer 37

What constitutes the moment of death, there are variations in thought about this
You can’t determine what time someone has an experience

Question 38

Drugs and medication with NDEs

Answer 38

People who are about to die tend to be on medication which may bring about experiences.

Question 39

Epilepsy and NDEs

Answer 39

Temporal lobe epilepsy and migraines or brain tumours may put pressure on the eye lids and cause tunnel vision or experiences

Question 40

Recreational drugs and NDEs

Answer 40

Some such as LSD causes experiences

Question 41

Oxygen deprivation and NDEs

Answer 41

Could cause seizures and the temporal lobe to be affected. Susan Blackmore said that as the brain dies it has the effect of moving towards a growing light.