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POSSIBILITY OF PHYSICAL EXISTENCE AFTER DEATH - Coggle Diagram
POSSIBILITY OF PHYSICAL EXISTENCE AFTER DEATH
HARD MATERIALIST VIEWS
Hard materialists would say theres no way of continuing personal existence after death
It makes no sense to think of someone surviving death
a persons identity is linked inextricably to the physical body
when our physical life ends, alll mental activity comes to an end
RUSSELL
Concepts about surviving death result from instinctive fear of death
the continual change in each of us means there can be no distinctive theory
were simply a collection if experiences that arises out of memory & habit
FLEW
The concept of life after death is linguistically incoherent
talk of life after death is effectively talking about 'dead survivors', which is self-contradictory
In speaking about someone, we are referring to a particular person, not a disembodied soul
personal pronouns such as 'i' and 'you' can refer only to living organisms that we can experience, or with which we can interact
cannot be proved theres no life after death
near-death and reincarnation experiences may support the possibility
many christians believe Jesus' reincsarnation was an actual event
the experience of life after death is incapable of empirical proof
HICKS REPLICA THEORY
Hick = soft materialist
humans are a psycho-physical unity: when the body dies so does the soul
Unlike many other materialists, hick did believe in life after death
he believed that claims about life after death are cognitive statements and as such, can be debated
there were 3 scenarios to his thought experiment
1) a living person transported in the blink of an eye from one part of the world to another
2) a dead person in one part of he world and the appearance of a 'replica' in another
3) a dead person on earth, and his/her appearance as a resurrected person in another sphere
hick didnt believe life after death would be like the 3rd scenario
he was simply trying to stimulate debate bt showing that life after death as a physical possibility
if hick was right in his belied that God is omnipotent, then bodily resurrection may be logically possible
his belief, expressed with his theodicy about future states of existence fits in with beliefs about reincarnation
but there are many unanswered questions about the details of the scenarios
e.g the possibility that God could create a number of replicas, each of which would have a different consciousness
RESURRECTION
Due to Gospel teachings and St Paul's teachings, Christians may believe iJesus' resurrection was bodily:
All the gospels record an empty tomb, and 3 record resurrection appearances
Paul lists resurrection appearances and speaks of bodily reurrection
this is picked up in the Nicene creed, which states belief in the resurrection of the body
However, Jesus' own teachings about resurrection suggest he has a more spiritual concept of the afterlife:
in addition, in Pauls letters, there is no reference to the empty tomb
in his teachings on the resurrection of christians, he thinks in terms or continuity yet discontinuity
before death we have an earthly body, but after death we have a spiritual body
The literalist christian understanding on the resurrection is contrary to scientific fact: dead bodies dont come back to life
the more liberal christian understanding of the resurrection as a metaphysical claim ('spiritual bodies') renders scientific investigation inappropriate
ST PAUL: " faith is needed to accept the resurrection but faith in the resurrection transforms the meaning of all lives
he supported the idea of spiritual resurrection where he says what is sown to a physical body is raised as a spiritual body
Materialism doesnt automatically entail a denial of life after death, or of some continuation in some form
E.G developing the science of cryonics deals with the low-temp preservation of people who's lives cannot be saved by conventional medicine
Their heads can be preserved at -196 degrees, waiting for resuscitation and reattachment to a body who science permits