Philosophy of Life After Death - Essay Example

Philosophy of Life after Death Introduction There exists many believes of immortality also known as life after death. Persons are believed to survivedeath and remain in a conscious mind after receiving some rewards and punishments. Christians believe in life after death and that their members go either to heaven, purgatory or to hell according to one’s morals. Abraham religions and materialistic believe in the resurrection of the dead where the body will take another form and survive death. Gods establish a resurrection of a person based on ones actions and beliefs. In contrast, believe in life after death through life where the spirit migrates from one body to the reincarnated form. It is necessary to think of oneself as one thinks of life after death and consider of what would remain of him after he dies. This paper is a philosophical discussion that there is no life after death. There is no life after death. To discuss this consider the following philosophical arguments. First, the concept of dualism makes one belief in life after death. Dualism is a belief that people exist in both material and nonmaterial nature, which seem to be independent of each other. According to Taylor, dualists argue that human beings consists of body and soul, the later being the centre if character and mental element. In dualist, thinking the body is less significant since it is only a carrier of the soul, which survives after the end of the body (Taylor web). Some activities in our lives for instance to detect, to will, to consider are totally independent of the physical being, which makes sense in believing in dualism. Descartes as quoted in seven oaks philosophy website argues, “considered the human soul simple, indivisible and indestructible, and thus able to maintain its existence after the death of the body” (Flew web). One will tend to ask what form a body will take on the next life now that the body is no more. Dualism assumes that life after death is continuous and that souls and spirits no longer live in bodies. One measure to self is a solid form, which one must bear even after death. Therefore, dualism fails in this criterion in that the afterlife form do not have bodies to connect with, which means they acquire different forms all together. In resurrection, Christians believe that sinners get their punishments in purgatory and the saints enjoy in heaven. The enquiry one will ask is how a sinner in the spirit body will feel the pain inflicted on him in hell, or how a saint will enjoy without the physical form. These questions arise because pleasure and pain comes to the physical body and not to the soul. Assumptions in dualism prove that there is no life after death. Secondly, the philosophical believes of materialism is not a strong enough support in life after death. In materialism, persons are assumed to rejuvenate and receive the same type of body after death. The lives lived by the resurrected persons compares with their early life on earth in many ways. They live in a perfect world where they do all they want: good food, walk on bright paths, do not become ill, do not sin, and they have ample possessions. The major concern that arises is how the older person compares to the new person. Can we still prove it is the same person? According to Barnes as quoted in seven oaks philosophical website, “we cannot imagine ourselves living in heaven or paradise and still being ourselves: if our flaws are corrected, our disabilities removed, our needs and wants satisfied, are we still in any meaningful sense the same person?” (Flew web) Assumptions in materialistic approach of resurrection fail to meet the criterion of identity. The transformation of the persons who die to the new heavenly body without flaws, disabilities, or needs means that the two bodies are two entities altogether. To me, the process of life after death is an impossibility through resurrection. Consider a human being who is a cannibal. After death, will God resurrect the persons he ate together with himself or only him? William in philosophy now magazine suggests that god will restore us again from other atoms. These new bodies will only meet our design and replication of us and not us al all. This is the same position with resurrection. The replica version of resurrection cannot secure survival after death (William web). Christians and Abraham religions who believe in resurrection also believe that the transformation comes on the final judgement day that comes so many years after the death of the person. This brings about a problem in continuity and proves that there is no life after death. According to Plato in his theory of opposites, physical world consists of opposites such as big and small, light and dark. In his argument, there must be a reverse to life, which is dead. For one to speak of dead and living as opposites then, the deceased must have a soul. Reincarnation is supported in this idea that suggests that mental growth continues after one, and the dead continues another earthly being with excellent grades of consciousness. Plato believes in a circle of death, life, death, life, and so forth (Taylor 244). Plato’s explanation of knowledge is that things are true long before we can get to prove that they are true. Therefore, he suggests that we should acknowledge that we can survive death long before we prove it. However,his explanation of opposites does not prove the existence of the spirit and his explanation of knowledge are wrong. This too fails to prove death survival. Thirdly, the empirical signs of life after death is not enough to support it. The only evidence available in the whole lot about death survival is the many stories of paranormal phenomena. According to Williams allegedly paranormal occurrences are, “out-of-body experiences, near-death experiences, ghost sightings, mediums communicating with the dead, and memories of past lives” (William web). Evidence of paranormal phenomenon is not strong enough prove of death survival. They zero in to dualism that indicate a separation of the soul and the body and through it survive death. To Christians, the resurrection of Jesus Christ is their evidence of death survival. However, it require a naturalistic interpretation and thus subjected to the same scepticism as all the other miracles. For one to trust paranormal evidence, a naturalistic explanation must be a possible to the occurrence. Naturalistic explanations lack in many instances suggesting that the paranormal act did not exist at all. Fourthly, there is not one article today in the world describing a successful study of a human being who has survived death. Such an investigation will be an absolute reality of death survival. The expectations will be that the physical bodies of the recently deceased persons conform to their former bodies. Their friends will recognise them as bearing the same characteristics of the former self, including their voice, smile, walking style, and characters. However, effort by scientists to determine death survival has not borne any fruit. Crookes tried to prove this in 1874 but the person who materialised every time had died so long a go to reunite them with any living friends or relatives. The fact that scientists have failed in reuniting resurrected persons to their former character is manifest of no life after death. Fifthly, some unnatural things that people go through in the world today have some explanations.“Flat liners” movie is an example that there is no life after death. It is about some medical students who decided to conduct an investigation of their own immortality. They present themselves in a “circumstances of death” through synthetic methods using cardiograph as the flat line and decided to experience the thrilling moments it gave them. Dead persons they encountered during the experience invited themselves into their real worlds to punish their wrong doings. The movie cautions people of the guilt they have to go through at the point of their death of the evil things they did to others. It predicts that when one dies, nobody will punish them as reincarnation suggests. However, to enjoy ones freedom that is available in ones life, it is possible to choose to do the right things and avoid stressful moment and guilt (Samudrala web) Science and religion have different believes. For instance, while laws, causes and effects, control science, religion is governed by results of a supernatural being that relates and interacts with human beings. Religion and science meets when one questions how and where God interacts with Christians. We realise that god is causal amongst others. He acts in the world or is part of the world. In addition, we realise that God acts from outside the world from a location outside world and at times breaking the rules he created. Science meets with religion as they try to determine the basis for being (Smedes 277-294) Conclusion The many assumptions in dualism and materialism cannot be enough confirm death survival. The fact that there is no empirical evidence other than some paranormal activities of ghosts and mediums, which cannot be reconciled with natural occurrences, proves that no one can survive death. Finally, scientists are unable to save the situation in their laboratories and confirm a chance of life after death. Works Cited Taylor, Mathew. OCR Philosophy of Religion for AS and A. USA, Taylor, & Francis: 2009. Print Flew, Anthony.“Life after Death.” Seven Oaks Philosophy. 2012. Web, 23 May 2012 Williams, Steve. “Life after death.” Philosophy now magazine. 2012. Web, 23 May 2012 Feynman, Richard. “Where we are at the moment regarding the definitive proof of survival after death” The Campaign for Philosophical freedom. 2011. Web, 23 May 2012, Samudrala, Ram. “Flat liners” Ramblings. Web, 23 May 2012, Smedes, Taede. “Chaos: Where Science and religion Meet?”Academia. 2002. Web, 23 May 2012, Read More