I shall survive the death of my body Flashcards
(10 cards)
Replica theory: John Smith
John Smith disappears in USA, completely vanishes, he then, at the same time reappears in India fit with the same personality and memories. Hick is suggesting that we survive the death of our body through resurrection.
Replica theory: agrees
Body and soul are one, at death they both die. However in some cases it is possible for the dead to continue existing in the afterlife as a replica. This person would be the same, with the same characteristics and memories. Although death destroys us, God recreates us in another place.
Replica theory: challenge
Some philosophers would say that is that really the same ‘I’ surviving death. You are a replica and so not the original version of yourself. Thus you haven’t really survived death. Take for example, an art dealer. He wouldn’t pay millions for a replica of the Mona Lisa as it is not the same. No matter how much it looks like it.
Kant and Summum Bonum: Agree
Our purpose in life is too attain the highest good (summum bonum) in which virtue meets with happiness. However, we have short lives in which to achieve this goal and it seems unreasonable. Therefore, Kant concludes that God allows us the chance to reach this good in the afterlife, and so we have to survive death. For practical reasons, Kant says the soul is immortal and will survive death, allowing us to move onto the higher virtue after death.
Logical Positivists: Disagree
No point talking about it as it can’t be verified empirically. We cannot provide evidence with our senses. It is not an a priori statement and so we cannot gain knowledge through logical reasoning, and it is not a posteriori, meaning we cannot gain knowledge through sense experience. Thus the Logical Positivists would not accept the statement.
We do not know the conditions of the statement meaning we cannot prove it true or false, therefore the statement is meaningless.
We can prove statements like “the moon is made of green cheese” by going to the moon and taking samples. we cannot do such a thing for statements like “I shall survive the death of my body.”
Gilbert Ryle cricketer example
A foreigner is watching a cricket game and asks “where is the team spirit?” The foreigner expects the team spirit to be something identifiably extra to the players.
Gilbert Ryle - disagree
Argued the idea of the soul was a ‘categorical mistake’. He said it was the ‘ghost in the machine’. To speak of the soul was a mistake in the use of language. People talk about the mind and body as different phenomena, the soul being an extra of the body. To describe someone as being clever, or irritable does not require the existence of an invisible soul. To talk of a soul is to talk of how someone acts and integrates with the world.
Richard Dawkins - disagree
Humans are ‘robot vehicles’ and we do not have a pre-existing soul. There is no empirical evidence to support the idea of a soul as it is a concept, not fact. Idea of a soul comes from the human inabililty to accept that evil has no purpose. Each individual is the product of evolution with no immortal soul that survives death. As were are merely genes and DNA; all material there is no way ij which we can physically survive the death of our body.
Richard Dawkins - how can we survive the death of our body?
Through memories of us other people have, some of which are passed on to the next generation of offspring.
He said “when we die, there are two we can leave behind: genes and memes.”
Dawkins quote
“There is no spiritually driven life force”
