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RS Year 2 > Self, Death And Afterlife > Flashcards

Self, Death And Afterlife Flashcards

1
Q

Bertrand Russell and life after deatg

A
  • it is not rational but emotion to believe in life after death
  • we do not have a purpose so no created afterlife/end
  • no permanence concerning ourselves, so our lives would not continue after death
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2
Q

What is dualism

A

We have a body and soul, but the soul can be independent

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3
Q

What is materialism

A

The soul and body are one entity

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4
Q

What is monism

A

Body and soul always have to be together

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5
Q

Different perspectives on soul

A
  • Buddhism: no soul as there is no permanent fixed self (Anatta) -Nagasena
  • Hindu and Sikh - soul is divine, point to reunite with God
  • Descartes, cogito ergo sum - self awareness shows there is a self
  • reincarnation ans the soul - IMAGO DEI, made in the image of God in Christianity; eternal in comparison to the body
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6
Q

Belief in life after death and the soul

A
  • belief in whether there is a soul determines what you think will happen when u die (eg dualists think that soul outlives dead body)
  • problem of continued identity: if there is life after death, is it still me who experiences that?
  • medically dead = no brain activity, is this physical deahf
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7
Q

arguments for ‘we are just physical beings’

A
  • scientific reasons eg anatomy, no soul has been found in human body
  • nothing to show existence of soul
  • link to mind and brain –> brain damage affects personality
  • brain affecting drugs
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8
Q

arguments against ‘we are just physical beings’

A
  • self awareness, conscience
  • god within humans, non physical (divine jot, holy spirit etc)
  • immaterial thoughts, memories etc
  • reductionist to say we are physical
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9
Q

What is materialism

A

Minds are inseparable from the body
- there is no place where the soul exists separately
- body ceases to exist at death and so does person identity
- materialists have a scientific approach to life - emotion is a psycho chemical reaction
- no distinction between body and soul

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10
Q

what are hard materialists

A
  • do not accept that an individuals characteristics are anything more than physical ones
  • consciousness is brain activity
  • body and mind re one - no separation
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11
Q

What are soft materialists

A

Not all characteristics are physical
- consciousness is more than a brain process
- M and B are both interdependent
- source is physical but output can be non material processes and can affect physical world

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12
Q

Similarities between hard and soft materialists

A
  • brain and mind are not independent
  • body dies, brain dies
  • soft materialism - personal identity cannot exist without body
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13
Q

Differences between hard and soft materialists

A

HM believes consciousness is nothing more than brain activity and individual characteristics are only physical

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14
Q

Differences between hard and soft materialists

A

HM believes consciousness is nothing more than brain activity and individual characteristics are only physical

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15
Q

Why do materialists not believe in life after death or the soul

A
  • brain = body, so if body dies brain dies, PHYSICAL
  • materialists reject the soul as there is no non material substance, and the origin of self awareness etc is physical as it comes from the brain
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16
Q

two types of monism

A
  • materialism: nothing exists except for material world
  • agree that consciousness is function of the brain
  • mental processes are identified with purely physical processes in the central nervous system
  • phenomenalism: physical objects and events are reducible to mental objects, properties and events
  • only mental objects like the mind exist
  • Bishop Berkeley: what we think of a our body is a perception of the mind
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17
Q

Gilbert Ryle and conceptual versus actual experience (why is it a category mistake to view the mind as separate from the body)

A
  • speaking of the soul is a mistake in language - soul is a concept
  • ‘no ghost in the machine’
  • cannot point to separate consciousness anymore can we point to team spirit
  • it is a mental process, non Phys concept
  • like left right and a pair of gloves (right and left hand IS the pair); body and soul does not exist
  • soul is contained within the physical body, not separate
  • its existence is rooted in the B, it is not an extra thing within a person
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18
Q

How does Ryles view align with Buddhism

A
  • links with ANATTA - no permanent fixed unchanging self = no ghost in the machine

HOWEVER
- Rule focuses on identity as the BODY one of the 5 skandas
- - Buddha says identity is actions and consequences

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19
Q

Science and the soul - Dawkins

A
  • evolution of our morality - Consciousness, art, music etc is due to genetic evolution over animals –> shows evolutionary progress
  • pass on theses genes - pass on this consciousness +human dignity
  • survival of the fittest, natural selections, these genes for morality are passed on to our ancestors and we have mistaken them for a separate entity
  • those concepts have origin in the material world - people put too much value on them but they are from the mind
  • puts value on human life due to small chance of life - dogma/ doctrine limits our ability to to be better people and scientists
20
Q

Ryle and Dawkins are right

A
  • atheist - supports human emotion/culture without God
  • agrees with Buddha and ANATTA
  • agrees with human need to improve human life as it is our evolutionary predisposition
  • damage to our physical body affects our emotional personality eg brain damage
  • empirical data from science supports
  • Ryle, ontology of different aspects
21
Q

Ryle and Dawkins are wrong

A
  • reductionist as life is complex
  • falls apart if you do not believe in evolution
  • those who believe in divine creator believe that he has the power to mold immaterial and material together
  • if being good is evolutionary beneficial, morality may be seen as self serving
22
Q

what is dualism

A
  • there is a separate mind and body but are connected
  • there are distinct physical and mental substances
23
Q

why do dualists believe in this theory

A
  • evidence for physical and mental world eg emotion and conscience
  • rich complicated mental life
  • difference between mind and body substance
24
Q

plato and the soul

A
  • believes in green PSYCHE, soul separate from the body
  • soul is different to the body
  • ‘I’ does not mean the body, as it comes from the mind/soul
  • paradigm shift –> new way of thinking
25
Q

plato and tripartite soul

A
  • soul is made of 3 parts
  • rational: concerned with truth and logical thinking
  • spirited part is concerned with passions like anger
  • appetite: bodily desire
  • believes reason is the strongest element of this
  • your essence is your soul and the whole goal is to return to the world of forms
  • eg like escaping rebirth to be with God with Mukti, or going to heaven
26
Q

the realm of forms and plato

A
  • what we see are imperfect copies of perfect forms of concepts
  • for philosophers, reason is the part of the soul that can perceive the world of forms
  • we do not see this perfect truth due to ignorance
  • philosophers are the only people that can see the world of forms
27
Q

plato and the chariot analogy

A
  • white horse: spirit action and cooperation
  • black horse: desire and a rebel
  • reason =: the soul tries to stop these horses going in different directions to reach the world of forms
28
Q

the great circuit and plato

A
  • soul is great chariot race around forms –> if you fail race (overcome by black horse), soul drops in body
  • becoming a philosopher king is the best vs becoming a tyrant
  • enlightenment of the world of forms is REMEMBERING PRIOR KNOWLEDGE
  • soul is the only way to know WOF as it is from that world and pre-exists the body
  • at death, soul separates from body and returns to world of forms
  • dependent on knowledge, soul goes into world of forms or rejoins chariot race
29
Q

how does Plato’s dualist theory align with Buddhism

A
  • buddha can see world of forms/nirvana through ultimate knowledge like philosophers
  • chariot race is like reincarnation
  • remember prior knowledge of WOF is like tathagatagarbha
30
Q

aristotle on the body and soul

A
  • soul is structure of the body –> function and organisation
  • reason: highest form of rationality (nous)
  • soul is a form of the body –> sum total of the operations of a human being
  • eg axe is just metal and wood without its purpose of cutting things
  • importance is telos of something
  • body and soul are not separate but one thing, different aspects
  • does not believe in immortality of the soul –> cannot exist without the body
  • this may not apply to reason
31
Q

similarities between aristotles and platos ideas on the soul and body

A
  • body is finite
  • most important part of the soul is reaosn
32
Q

differences between aristotles and platos ideas on the soul and body

A
  • plato: soul will endure and reach realm of forms
  • opens possibility for life after death and reincarnation
  • aristotle: soul is not immortal and dies when body dies
33
Q

descartes and substance of body and soul

A
  • substance dualist
  • extended substance: takes up space and has a form
  • thinking does not have a substance but happens in the mind –> MIND IS DIFFERENT FROM MATTER (matter that makes up the body)
  • mind can operate without body but body needs mind
  • religion compatible –> mind = soul (due to religious pressures)
34
Q

what makes mind and body different descartes

A
  • mind and soul are completely different substances
  • can imagine that your body is not real, but not your mind as you are still thinking
  • therefore body is not the same as the mind –> mind is too different
  • mind is more real that body
35
Q

mind and body connection with descartes

A
  • brain: connection between mind and body –> but brain is not the mind
  • mind is whole and indivisible, but body is parts and can be changed/cut up
  • animals do not have minds/souls –> but aligns with Catholicism at the time (man is the only dualistic creature)
  • interactionism: m and b are two different substances but interact in the pineal gland (now proven false)
  • said it was the ‘principle seat of the soul’
  • mind influences matter –> thinking of doing an action makes you do it
36
Q

what are Descartes 3 arguments

A
  1. argument from doubt
  2. arguments from divisibility and indivisibility
  3. argument from clear and distinct perception
37
Q

descartes argument from doubt

A
  • you can imagine your body not existing but not your mind, as you continue to think
  • mind is therefore on a higher level than body –> separate levels of substance/importance
  • therefore they are different
38
Q

strengths and weaknesses of descartes’ argument from D

A
  • anyone can do the thought experiment –> intuitively reasonable
  • consistent with religion
  • aligns with views on personhood

BUT
- from a materialist perspective: origin of thinking comes from brain –> a material part of body (not separate)
- argument does not prove that anyone else has a mind
- gilbert ryle: ghost in the machine –> concept of thinking thing does not mean it is a reality

39
Q

descartes argument for divisibility and indivisibility

A
  • brain and mind are two distinct substances
  • essential property of physical things is extension –> anything that can be extended can be divided
  • mind is not extendable and therefore indivisible
  • using LEIBNIZ’S LAW, if they are the same, they would have the same properties
40
Q

for and against from argument from divisibility and indivisibility

A

FOR
- descartes –> mind= consciousnesses
- emotions/perceptions/feelings are not different parts, but different modes

AGAINST
- mind can be divided into memory perception, emotion etc
- actual divisions of the mind are possible due to 2 hemispheres of the brain (empirical scientific evidence)

41
Q

descartes arguments from clear and distinct perception

A
  • I have a clear idea of myself as a thinking non-extended thing –> I do not take up time and space
  • body is a non thinking extended thing –> M and B are seperate
  • because they are not identical they are separate
  • contrast with triangle and 3 sides, cannot separate this
42
Q

strengths and weaknesses of clear and distinct perception

A

FOR
- triangle analogy is easy to understand

AGAINST
- masked man: can believe him to not be your father but he is
- can accidently conceive impossible

43
Q

how does DESCARTES see the body soul relationship

A
  • a problem of interaction of material and immaterial
  • INTERACTIONISM: mind and body can causally influence eachother –> mental and physical
  • no evidence for his version of where they connect –> pineal gland but proved to be associated with melatonin and sleep
  • CAUSAL INTERACTIONISM
44
Q

how does MATERIALISM see the body soul relationship

A
  • no D and S relationship as there is no S
  • ideas on immortal soul is wishful thinking
  • functionalism: how mind functions, as mind is established as purely matter
  • same substance –> brain = computer
45
Q

how does MONISM see the body soul relationship

A
  • we are one substance with 2 aspects to eachother
  • joined together –> close to aristotles view
  • a person is one thing –> body = physical and mind non physical
  • relationship between one substance
46
Q

Problem with Descartes INTERACTIONISM

A
  • does not show how it takes place
  • modern anatomy shows pineal gland is linked to melatonin and sleep production
  • working with 17th century mechanist view of universe - science is primitive

RS Year 2 (9 decks)

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