Self, Death And The Afterlife Flashcards
What is the belief of materialsm?
We are only our physical bodies, there is no separate part of us called
the soul that contains our personal identity and can survive death
Scholars that support materialism
Richard Dawkins: we are machines of meat, programmed by our DNA and the sense that we have aconscious comes from the fact that we have evolved to have an extremely sophisticated brain
Gilbert Ryle: believing in the soul is illogical,this is a category mistake this is life saying there is a ghost inside a machine that makes it function. It is ridiculous, illogical and shows a fundamental of human not ature and the world
Evidence that supports materialism?
We know at death that our bodies decompose, this shows that the person is
gone and can no longer exist.
What is the general principle of dualism?
the soul/mind exists separately to the body, although the two interact. The soul
can exist outside of the body, and usually has the ability to survive death.
what scholars support dualism?
Plato – humans are made from matter that encases their soul. The soul existed before matter and wants to get back to the spiritual realm – living the life of a philosopher will allow the soul to escape at death, those who do not achieve this are reincarnated.
Aristotle – all beings have a soul that gives them their form (e.g. humans have a human soul). The soul contains our character that can be perfected over our lifetime. However, there is no afterlife and the soul cannot survive death.
Reincarnation
In Hinduism: based on the Ancient Indian belief in the existence of the “atman” – a permanent essence of self that is reborn through eternal lifetimes until moksha (enlightenment) is achieved – then the soul goes to inhabit a heavenly paradise outside the realms of rebirth with the universal Brahman (God-concept). Damien Keown
compares reincarnation to taking off clothes after a long day – at death, the soul sheds its current form and puts on a new one, starting its new life. The soul stays the same but the outside is different, but each soul carries over personality traits into the next life.
Evidence for reincarnation?
Some people have past-life memories that can be verified, making it seem that this is a true phenomenon.
Hindus would argue that those that achieve enlightenment have perfect understanding of these concepts and remember all of their past lives at Moksha.
Evidence against reincarnation?
Occam’s Razor – not the most likely explanation.
Past life memories could be coincidence, lies or a hoax. Hume would argue that these come from the human love of awe and wonder. He would also likely point out that these views come from another civilization that he would call “ignorant and barbarous” in nature.
Parfit’s Bundle Theory:
We are connected to the states we used to be in and the states that we will be in through psychology and time, but there is not a
constant identity that exists between these states.
He calls these states “temporary terminal states” as there is no deeper level of ‘self’ inside us that remains the same – we are
merely a bundle of these states.
We exist after death through the memories that people have of us, but there is not continuation of personal identity after death.
Dennet’s Functionalist Theory:
AKA “mainframe theory”.
Argued from a Functionalist perspective that the brain could be uploaded onto a different platform after death, allowing the person to live on in a high-tech computer.
He argues that a suitable robot, programmed with human memory, would have both a ‘self’ and a ‘body’ – the body being the robot and the brain being a computer.
Panpsychism and Process Thought:
This could be related to Process Thought (the response to the problem of evil put forward by Whitehead and Griffin).
Process Thought suggests that all beings will live after death, in the mind of God, who is intimately connected to the universe.
This is a panpsychic idea, relating to the view that all parts of the universe have a consciousness or soul of some kind.
this relates to the scientific idea that energy in the universe can never be lost, it is just converted into another form. At death, the
soul/mind cannot be lost, it goes an inhabits a new state. (Materialists however would heavily criticise this view.
What is Descartes argument from doubt?
This is the basis of the argument, “cogito, ergo sum.” (“I think therefore I am”). It shows
supports substance dualism by showing that the fact that a thinking being exists cannot be doubted, evidenced through the fact that it is thinking, but the body itself could be doubted (because reality is an illusion and we live in the mind of a demon).
What is descartes argument from divisbility and indivisibility?
this is a more philosophical argument that thinks about the nature of the body/mind - Bodies, like other objects, exist in 3D (length, breadth, depth) and also exist in space and time, minds do not. The body can be broken down (e.g. decomposition at death), but the mind cannot. The differences between the two show that the mind is separate to the body and exists in a different logical/spiritual sphere.
What is Descartes argument from clear and distinct perception?
The fact that we can think about the body not existing and the mind existing shows that the mind is a non-corporeal object with the purpose of thinking. The body is a corporeal object that does not think, whereas the “self”, contained in the mind, is separate from the body. If I cut off my arm, the arm on its own would not have the ability to think, as it is just corporeal. The corporeal substance must be able to interact with the non-corporeal substance to create a living, thinking human.
General principle of dual aspect monism?
humans are made of one (unknown) ontological substance, but it is evident in human nature that these substances have two aspects – spiritual and physical.
This accounts for the hard problem of consciousness and explains why we feel like we are more than just our physical bodies.
