Supporting Information for Self, Death, and Afterlife
Is it possible to survive death?
● Possible does not mean probable as it just isn’t logically contradictory.
● Physicalists generally argue no because there is no metaphysical element to ourselves - when our body dies,
we die.
● Dualists say it is possible because the soul is metaphysical and does not die when the body dies, e.g., lightbulb
analogy, the resurrection of the soul, reincarnation, and rebirth (essence of the person/soul; Buddhism).
● Dual-monists say it is possible but there must be a physical life after death - the body follows.
● Christians say it is possible as it was demonstrated by Jesus’ resurrection - ‘nothing is impossible with God’.
Those who believe in a resurrection of the soul believe in a ‘particular judgement’ (e.g., liberal Christians, etc.): each
individual at the point of death is judged. RBs also believe in a physical resurrection because scripture talks of a ‘final
judgement’, a collective time in future where everyone will be judged.
Reasons for Belief in a Life After Death
● Humans are afraid of death, and a belief in the afterlife brings comfort that our lives on Earth have meaning
and that we will be reunited with loved ones when we die.
● The afterlife gives our short lives (especially those of children) meaning and purpose.
● Religious believers (RBs) talk about the sanctity of life: surely something so valuable would not be so
impermanent.
● Religious experiences (REs) often encourage a belief in an afterlife: mystical experiences (encounters with the
divine), miracles, answered prayers, visions, and near-death experiences provide proof of an afterlife. The
existence of mediums, ghosts, and how many are able to remember past lives also serve as proof.
● John Hick argues that, ‘If the human potential is to be fulfilled in the lives of individuals, these lives must be
prolonged far beyond the limits of our present bodily existence’.
● Justice and moral perfection is not achieved in this life. The good is only fulfilled when the good is rewarded
and the evil is punished (deontology (Kant)): ‘Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some
to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt’ (Daniel 12:2). The idea that justice comes in the
afterlife (like deontology) suggests that this is why many do not bother to seek justice now.
● The afterlife is a place where human potential can be fully realised (Plato and the imperfection of the physical
world).
● Death is a biological function and part of a natural process where eventually all things perish. However, not
all things necessarily perish in the same way that new things are made. Why can’t consciousness migrate from
one physical thing to another as nutrients and matter do? Also, if it is clear that the universe is infinite, why
does everything have to die and come to an end? Why can’t our souls be infinite, too?
● Freud suggests wish fulfilment: a belief in the afterlife eases the loss of loved ones and makes the grief more
bearable. It also helps people manage general disappointments and difficulties in life: no matter what is
happening to you, knowing it’s happening for a reason brings comfort and helps people make sense of their
existence.
○ Marx argues religion is ‘the opium of the people’, keeping people ‘drugged’ (oppressed) into believing
this is how the world should function, and that we should obey religious leaders that may have
capitalist interests at heart, e.g., religious leaders keeping a large sum of donations made to them for
themselves.
Arguments against the concept of an afterlife
● There is no empirical evidence to support the existence of an afterlife.
● It can just be a religious way of refusing to accept the inevitable.
● Freud’s argument of wish fulfilment also applies here: though it may bring comfort and ease to people, there
is no definitive proof to show the existence of an afterlife.
● How can we prove or speculate a ‘perfect’, permanent afterlife when this world itself is impermanent and
existence is imperfect? However, Hick’s soul-making theodicy provides a counterargument in that humans are
deliberately imperfect (as is the world) so they can develop the virtues necessary by helping make this world a
better place, and by making themselves better people. Doing this would allow them to achieve eternal life,
and we cannot know about this or what it is like due to epistemic distance: knowing would mean everyone on
this planet would always behave as God would expect them to, so it would not be a fair judgement of people.
, ● Russell says that, ‘When I die I shall rot, and nothing of my ego will survive’. However, personality is not
physical. Our personality is merely the development of our brain and our experience of the world.
● Some argue a focus on the afterlife devalues our unique and improbable existence (Dawkins). Human
existence and experience are bound to this world only. To make sense of our existence (no matter how short),
we must accept our role within this physical reality. We do not relish the wonder that we are part of because
we are too fixated on the next life (getting ourselves ready for heaven).
○ Dawkins and Parfit argue the only way in which we live on in others is in their memories and the DNA
that we pass on to the next generation.
Resurrection of the body-soul
Christian teaching is that Jesus' resurrection was physical (the first four books of the Old Testament). Gospel accounts
of Jesus showing the disciples the marks of the sphere wound in his side and the nail marks on his feet and eating a
piece of fish to show that he was physical, i.e., physically resurrected and not a ghost. In the parable of the sheep and
the goats, Jesus taught that on the day of Judgement, all people will be resurrected before judgement and will then be
sent to heaven or hell. This kind of teaching can be seen in Catholic theology and in some Protestant teaching, e.g.,
that of Hick.
Roman Catholic teaching on the resurrection body is that it differs from the earthly body in several aspects:
● It becomes immortal.
● It becomes impassible (cannot suffer).
● The resurrected will have different degrees of glory (status).
● It will be completely ruled by the soul (Catholic interpretation of ‘it is sown a natural body, it shall rise a
spiritual body’) - followers of Abrahamic religions believe God will physically resurrect the body (and soul)
from the grave.
The concept of a purely spiritual resurrection is rejected, as it was by Aquinas, who taught that the body and soul are
reunited (traditional Christians are dual-aspect monists, believing the body and soul must work together). Catholics
believe the body is necessary so that, as the partner in the soul’s earthly life, the body can share its reward or
punishment.
A problem with resurrection is that it is dependent on God taking the physical (in the physicalist approach) from this
world and in effect, destroying the world. Replica theory avoids this.
Resurrection of the Body
Resurrection is a ‘life again’, i.e., the recreation of bodies. Key questions about resurrection include:
● Do we truly die? How is it that ‘we’ are brought back to life? Is the resurrected body just a copy of our own
(replica theory)?
● In what state does the body return? At what age?
There are two key types of resurrection:
1. Dualist resurrection, where only the soul is resurrected.
2. Physical resurrection (typically Monist), where the soul and body are connected in this life and the next.
The resurrection of the body is found within the Abrahamic traditions. It is the belief that, in the future, God will bring
about Judgement day. For Christians, this will be signalled by the second coming of Jesus (in Islam, Isa (Jesus) the
prophet is involved in Judgement day). On this day, the bodies of the dead will be resurrected and restored. It is not
the bringing ‘back’ to life of corpses but the re-creation of bodies. Jesus said ‘I am the resurrection and the life. He
who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live’ (John 11:25).
Jesus himself showed that God has power over death (attributions verification) through his own bodily resurrection.
Whilst it demonstrated to his disciples that he was God incarnate, it was to show that sin had been atoned for and
that sin was no longer a barrier to eternal life with God: ‘After my skin has been destroyed, then in my flesh shall I see
God’ (Job 19:25).
The resurrected person is not the same as the one that died (as the body will be a spiritual one), but it will contain all
the memories and characteristics of ourselves. ‘For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and
