Views about life after death

Question 1

How do many philosophers view post mortem existence?

Answer 1

Some see it as incoherent, the soul is rejected because it is unverifiable. Others see it as coherent, Hick argues that it can be logically possible.

Question 2

What do dualists believe?

Answer 2

Humans have a duel nature of body and soul. The body is physical and where physical events happen, the soul is not physical and is where mental events happen.

Question 3

Describe the two conflicting Christian positions

Answer 3

1. Some take the dualistic position and believe in the death and decay of the body, but immortality of the soul. 2. Roman Catholics tend to take the monist position which holds that the body-soul is what is resurrected.

Question 4

Give five definitions of the soul

Answer 4

1. The spirt of the person which dies when the body dies. 2. The same as the mind. 3. ‘Pneuma’ the breath of life that god breaths into Adam in genesis. 4. Descartes- it has no extension in space and time and interacts with the brain in the pineal gland. 5. Aristotle- the soul is the psyche that animates the body.

Question 5

Explain the idea of the soul as pure ego

Answer 5

Whilst brain and body are physical, the soul is non physical and is not governed by physics, so is free to make decisions and choices. This viewpoint sees the soul as the spiritual side of the body which can survive death.

Question 6

What is the main Christian doctrine?

Answer 6

The soul and the body are inseparable, humans are body-soul and when the person dies the whole person dies and god resurrects the whole person.

Question 7

How do Islam, Judaism and Christianity all view the life?

Answer 7

Humans have one life after which they are judged by god and sent to heaven or hell.

Question 8

What is reincarnation?

Answer 8

The Hindu idea that the atman goes through a cycle of being re-enfleshed known as samsara.

Question 9

Describe moksha

Answer 9

This is the ultimate aim of Hindu life and is the freeing of the atman from the cycle of samsara to be reunited with Brahman, the person recognizes their fundamental nature which is pure consciousness and bliss.

Question 10

What is the role of the atman within Hindu reincarnation?

Answer 10

Hindu reincarnation demands the continuation of the atman as pure ego.

Question 11

Explain the role of karma in Hindi reincarnation

Answer 11

Karma is the law of cause and effect which governs reincarnation, by doing one’s dharma and acting well, one will achieve a better rebirth, but doing bad actions will lead to a bad rebirth.

Question 12

Describe rebirth within Buddhism

Answer 12

What is reborn is not pure ego, there is continuity between each rebirth, but not identity and what is reborn is not the same person. Rebirth is like the continuous process of growth, decay and replacement of cells within the human body.

Question 13

What is anatta?

Answer 13

‘No self’. The idea that the person is in a state of flux with mental and physical characteristics forever changing. Soul is not a sufficient criterion of personal identity and can lead the person to become too accustomed to the illusion of being a self which leads to unhappiness.

Question 14

What are the five skandhas we are all made from in Buddhism?

Answer 14

1. Physical matter. 2. Sensations. 3. Perceptions. 4. Volitions. 5. Consciousness.

Question 15

What do humans do to the skandhas?

Answer 15

Skandhas are constantly changing and we impose upon them a singular identity. Through ignorance we overrate this identity and believe that there is some sort of unchanging essence.

Question 16

How does one reach nibbana in Buddhism?

Answer 16

It occurs when you let go of the fiction that there exists some sort of unchanging essence. In letting go of this we let go of the forces that power rebirth until rebirth ceases and we reach nibbana.

Question 17

What does Christianity teach about Jesus’ resurrection?

Answer 17

It was physical, he had the nail marks on his feet and ate a piece of fish- he was not a ghost.

Question 18

What did Jesus say about resurrection?

Answer 18

In the parable of the sheep and the goats he taught that all people will be resurrected on the day of judgement and will be judged by god to be sent either to heaven or to hell.

Question 19

How is the resurrected body different from the normal body in Catholicism?

Answer 19

1. It is immortal. 2. It can’t suffer. 3. It is more glorious. 4. It is ruled by the soul.

Question 20

What did hick set out to do with his replica theory?

Answer 20

To defend the Christian view of the resurrection of the body after death by god. He presented a thought experiment known as the replica theory to show that this is logically possible.

Question 21

What does hick believe about the body-soul?

Answer 21

He is a monist who believes in body-soul, the body and soul are inseparable and when the body dies, the soul dies, but since the body rots away after death it is impossible for the individual to be resurrected with bodily identity. Instead, what is resurrected is a perfect replica.

Question 22

What is the first of hick’s three replica theory situations?

Answer 22

1. Mr X disappears from a meeting in New York and immediately reappears at a similar one in Australia. He phones his baffled colleagues and when he returns to New York they give him tests which identify that he is indeed the same Mr X who disappeared earlier.

Question 23

What is the second of hick’s replica theory scenarios?

Answer 23

Mr X dies in a meeting in New York, leaving his body for his colleagues to see, at the same time, Mr X feels ill and then appears in a meeting in Australia. He calls his baffled colleagues who run tests when he returns and despite the presence of an identical corpse, have to conclude that the Mr X before them is the same Mr X who disappeared from the meeting.

Question 24

What is the third of hick’s replica theory scenarios?

Answer 24

Mr X dies and at the same time a perfect Mr X replica comes into existence in a resurrection world. His body is not composed of physical matter, even through it looks like his old body and it is obvious to him that he is in a spatio-temporal world, even though it is not earth.

Question 25

How does Mr X know that he has been resurrected in scenario 3?

Answer 25

He remembers being on his death bed and loosing consciousness. He meets and recognizes relatives whom he knows have died and they tell him that he has only just appeared.

Question 26

What does Hick say about evidence?

Answer 26

Evidence could mount up just as strong as in scenarios 1 and 2 that he has been transported to Australia. Resurrected persons would be in no more doubt as to their personal identity as the person in scenarios 1 and 2, they could arrive at the rationally formed conclusion that they are in a post mortem world.

Question 27

What does hick conclude?

Answer 27

Resurrection into a post mortem world is at least logically possible and we would deliver the ‘same person’ verdict when considering if the person who died is the same person as the one who finds himself with post mortem experiences.

Question 28

Give a criticism of hick

Answer 28

If the body Mr X dies in is missing a leg, will his resurrected body be missing one too? Hick suggests god would create some sort of ideal version of Mr X, but this would mean he was different from any version of Mr X in reality.

Question 29

What issue does cremation pose for replica theory?

Answer 29

It destroys the body, so was banned by the Catholic Church until 1963. It is now permitted as long as it does not suggest a denial of faith in resurrection.

Question 30

Give a final critique of hick

Answer 30

Would a change of body result in a change of mind? If Mr X had dementia when he died would his resurrected body be restored to full cognitive function?