Self, Death, and the Afterlife

Question 1

Why does Descartes argue that it is possible for us to doubt the existence of the body?

Answer 1

Because of the Evil Demon argument: we cannot escape the possibility that we are being deceived about the experiences of our senses

Question 2

What is Descartes’ first argument for the existence of the soul?

Answer 2

The Argument from Doubt:
1. I can doubt the existence of my body
2. I cannot doubt the existence of my mind
3. Therefore my body and mind are radically different

Question 3

What is Descartes’ second argument for the soul?

Answer 3

The Argument from Divisibility and Non-Divisibility:
1. My body is extended and therefore divisible
2. My mind is non-extended and therefore non-divisible
3. Therefore my mind and body are radically different

Question 4

What does ‘extension’ mean in the Cartesian sense?

Answer 4

Occupying more than one dimension

Question 5

What is Descartes’ third argument for the soul?

Answer 5

The Argument from Clear and Distinct Perception:
1. I can clearly and distinctly perceive myself as existing separately from my body
2. I can trust my clear and distinct perceptions because a perfect God would not deceive me
3. Therefore I exist separately from my body

Question 6

What is the difference between a clear and distinct perception, and other beliefs?

Answer 6

A clear and distinct perception is a belief which appears to us as self-evidently true, and continues to persist even when we have applied a careful amount of doubt/scepticism

Question 7

Why does Descartes believe in a perfect God?

Answer 7

Because he believes we have a clear and distinct perception of one, through the Ontological Argument

Question 8

Give a criticism of Descartes’ first argument for the existence of the soul

Answer 8

It is argued by some philosophers that Descartes leaps from perception to the existence of a soul that perceives, wills, doubts, etc.
The argument does not prove that we have a past or future, or that the soul survives death

Question 9

Give a criticism of Descartes’ second argument for the existence of the soul

Answer 9

Since Descartes’ time, neuroscientists have demonstrated that the mind is ‘divisible’ since brain functions can be divided even to the point of dividing consciousness, e.g. through severing the corpus callosum

Question 10

Give a criticism of Descartes’ third argument for the existence of the soul

Answer 10

Following Descartes’ third argument requires us to accept his Ontological Argument, which many don’t, particularly in light of Kant’s criticisms
The third argument is guilty of a ‘Cartesian Circle’ (circular reasoning): I know God exists because I can clearly and distinctly perceive that he exists; I can trust this perception because it comes from a perfect God

Question 11

In what text would you find Descartes’ arguments for the soul?

Answer 11

Meditations on First Philosophy

Question 12

How does Gilbert Ryle respond to Descartes’ conception of the soul?

Answer 12

In ‘Concept of Mind’ Ryle argues that the existence of a separate soul (“ghost in the machine”) is a “philosopher’s dogma” that is no longer supported by the evidence of science, which suggests that we are nothing more than a material body

Question 13

What story does Ryle tell to illustrate his criticism of Descartes?

Answer 13

A student being given a tour of a university; he is shown all the facilities and then asks “But where is the university?” The student has committed a category error of assuming that there must be a separate university, similar to the philosopher who asks “But where is a soul?” when he has already been shown the body

Question 14

What does Descartes believe about the relationship between the body and soul?

Answer 14

Descartes is a substance dualist: he argues that there are two substances, a physical substance (the body) and a “soul substance”.
He is an interactionist: he argues that the two substances interact through the pineal gland of the brain

Question 15

What are the two main views about the body/soul relationship?

Answer 15

Dualism: body and soul are separate
Monism: body and soul are the same thing

Question 16

Give an example of a dualist

Answer 16

Descartes, substance dualist who believed the soul survived the death of the body / Plato, dualist who believed the soul existed before the body in the World of Forms / St Paul was an early Christian who argued that the soul survived the death of the body and would be resurrected in a new resurrected body at the End of Days

Question 17

Give an example of a monist

Answer 17

Aristotle, who argued that the soul could not be separated from the body; it is like an imprint in wax, which cannot be separated from the wax itself / Gilbert Ryle, who argues “soul” is just a way of describing the functions of the brain

Question 18

What is the name of the strict view that nothing exists over and above the material world?

Answer 18

Hard determinism

Question 19

What would a dualist say about continuing personal existence after death?

Answer 19

Most dualists argue that personal existence is possible after death, due to the soul being able to survive the death of the body e.g. Plato believes in metempsychosis (the soul takes a new body) / H.H. Price argues that “disembodied existence” in a lucid dreamlike state based off our memories and desires is conceivable and therefore possible

Question 20

What would a monist or materialist say about continued personal existence after death?

Answer 20

Many would argue that it is not possible since the “soul”/mind dies with the brain e.g. Ryle, Dawkins etc. would argue we have one life and that’s it / Hick in contrast argues through Replica Theory that God could create replica bodies which would allow us to survive death on another world / Some scientists and functionalists argue we could survive death in another material form, e.g. realising our consciousness through a computer

Question 21

What evidence is commonly given for existence after death?

Answer 21

Near Death Experiences (e.g. Grayson scale) / past life recollection (e.g. the research of Prof Ian Stevenson on children with past lives)