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OCR A2 - Life After Death

Tm2007

Hi everyone,

Is there anyone willing to help me and maybe others in the forum, to lend a hand in understanding life after death through Hicks, Plato and Dawkins and what is actually needed to construct a successful essay, as it is a very hard topic to grasp.

Thanks

Reply 1

Becca88

Right this is the 3rd time ive tried writin this thread so here goes...
There are the following main philosophers who are involved in life after death:
-Hick
-Plato
-Ayer
-Dawkins

Hick believes in resurrection and teaches that there will be a divine creation of an exact replica of each person in the next life.
-Replica theory- Basically a person dies and is replicated somewhere else this place being a parallel universe=resurrection world, not spacially related to objects in this universe.
-Believed physical body is importan otherwise it isn't the same person.
-Believed God had a plan for humanity but it is not achievable in this life so there is an afterlife.

Plato- Believed the soul is IMMORTAL so it always existed both before it enters the body and after. The soul alreadt has knowledge but forgets it when it enters the body so we are just remembering old things not learning new things.
- Soul guides the body but has to put up with bodily desires
-Soul is split into 3 parts:
1.Reasoning
2.Emotional/spiritual
3.Bodily desires

Dawkins-(Atheist) Rejects any concept of an immortal soul and thought humans are nothing more than a sum of his/her DNA. He believed life on earth is a natural consequence of evolution so he would not believe there is any sort of afterlife.

Near death experiences are part of life after death so here is a bit of info on them:
-There are common aspects of NDE's as many people have had them or know someone who has so experiments have taken place and found most are undescribable. - Could go into theorists but can't be bothered lol

Ayer- NDE's and afterlife are meaningless because you cannot verify it by experience of definition. However towards the end of his life he had a suspected NDE which weakened his conviction that death could be the end of him.

Dualism- There is both the physical and the metaphysical. Physical= body, metaphysical elements=soul

Idealism- Descartes developed both dualism and idealism-"I think therefore i am".
-Only mind exists not body as body is an impression in people's minds.

Monism- Physical body and material brain are both mortal so they will both die.

Well i hope that helps and if anyone else has more then please add on to it lol, I eventually got it finished wivout the internet crashin yay!!! :biggrin:

Becca x

Reply 2

Tm2007

Becca88, thank you so much for your contribution, the information you provided is very helpful

Reply 3

mark_t

becca, the theorists you said you couldnt be bothered to talk about, would yuo include william james with this? ineffability of the experience, something inneffable simply cannot convey the whole experience as it is experiential, and on a personal, individual level?

when we need to know about life after death, do we not need to know about resurrection and disembodied existance? and the implications from the problem of evil? cause that is the harder parts

what you have described was basically the body / soul distinctions (although very useful aswell)

Reply 4

Becca88

I probably wouldn't include william james personally but yeh we do need to know about ressurection and disembodied existence but i wasnt going to write eveything up cos i got tired lol but if u want me to i can find my notes and type sum more info up lol
Becca

Reply 5

mark_t

oh i feel bad :biggrin:

i would love it if you could do that, but dont go out of your way.

the main thing i was having difficulties with was answering a question based on something like...

...innocent suffering is impossible to explain unless there is life after death
which is the same i assume as "theories of life after death do not provide a solution to the problem of evil"

or questions like

...the concept of disembodied existence is incoherent

i probably am having troubles knowing what to write in them cause its the last thing on my revision list for philo 2 and my mind is refusing to learn more. lol

Reply 6

Becca88

The only information i have found on life after death is the following which is pretty limited so if any one can help please do so:

-All religious ethical systems are formed on the premise that moral behaviour in this life will be rewarded in the next life. The moral codes of their ethical systems are enforced with the promise and threat of rewards and sanctions in the afterlife.

-Western traditions:

Christianity
-Christians believe the purpose of their existence is to serve their creator, God. Through a life of faith and good works, one will receive salvation and be rewarded with exteenal existence in heaven after they die. Roman Catholics also believe there is a place called purgatory which is between heaven and hell and determines whether you can be forgiven for all of your sins or not which therefore determines whether you go to heaven or hell from there.

Judaism
-Their beliefs are very similar to christians. However, in biblical times their views were very different as it was orginally believed that at death, the soul entered "sheol", hell, in which both the good and wicked existed as shadows in the form of their descendants. However, during many years of persecution the "pharisees" developed the idea of individual resurrection and like chrisitanity, the concept of an eternal life in heaven for those who have lived a righteous life and followed the teaching of the torah.

Islam
-Muslims believe that Allah has prepared an everlasting paradise for those who live accordingto the qur'an to the best of their ability. Life isthe preparation of the soul for this transition, and allah will judge one based on his beliefs and actions in his life. If they do not live according to the Qur'an then they are sent to hell.

I also have some info on eastern traditions but that is all i have i wud appreciate it if anyone cud add more to it, thanks in advance.

Becca x

Reply 7

Becca88

Ive written a response to the life after death being a solution of the problem of evil in another thread if wanna read it lol
Becca

Reply 8

Lozz_viii

i dont no if im too late but i wrote an essay on the disembodied existence and got an A

do u mean structure because i find it best to firstly define the difference between materialism and dualism, and explain the dilemma that the question is proposing

i would then explain all the philosophers for and against, most of which i think becca has answered above..

i personally wouldnt use ayer or william james but i do include descartes as he says some important stuff on the interaction between mind and body, if u want me to explain that i can but i dont no if ul read this before tomoro lol.

i also use kant, price, ryle, vardy and something on the identity theory.

also if u remember to analyse everything and give personal insights into everything u write then u will get lots of marks!!

hope this helps to someone!

Reply 9

Notebooksecrets

mark_t

...innocent suffering is impossible to explain unless there is life after death
which is the same i assume as "theories of life after death do not provide a solution to the problem of evil"

or questions like

...the concept of disembodied existence is incoherent

i probably am having troubles knowing what to write in them cause its the last thing on my revision list for philo 2 and my mind is refusing to learn more. lol

I thought this sort of question was synoptic?

Reply 10

Lozz_viii

it looks like one but life after death and problem of evil can overlap sometimes..
ive had questions like it before
its rare though so i wouldnt worry

Reply 11

mark_t

ah thank you anyway, just had the exam and didnt need to know about life after death, but the information will be very useful for synoptics anyway,

thanks guys

Reply 12

Jay P

yeah you did if you just did ocr philosophy! a qusetion about hell should include alot of this stuff

Reply 13

mark_t

didnt do that question Jay P, so didnt need to know it! hehe

Reply 14

chocoholic4lyf

could sumone help me answer this plz

'the concept of life after death is incoherent' discuss
thx

Reply 15

Larlypop

desperate i wonder if u guys can help

i have been given the question "only a belief in a disembodied post mortem existance is philosophically justifiable discuss" would you guys hav any suggestions about who i could use or even just some useful sourdces, so far i have geech hick, plato/aristotle and vardy

thanx x x

Reply 16

x_TicTac_x

Heya

Is this for your A2 coursework because i'm doing it aswell :smile:

I've summarised Plato, Aristotle and Aquinas's views, as well as a bit about Descartes and Materialism, using Dawkins as an example. I've used the four ideas of life after death, so about ressurection, reincarnation, survival of the soul and no life after death (materialism) and used religious perpectives to back them up :smile:

Because it's about the idea that survival of the soul isn't justifiable focus mostly on that, write about what can support it and why it can be hard to believe.
To support it:
Near death experiences
Ghosts
Etc

For Near death experiences Hick is good to write about

Then just summarise with your own idea and back it up

Least i hope that's right coz it's what i've done :s-smilie:

lol

Hope i've helped a little!!!

xXxXxXx

Reply 17

x_TicTac_x

P.s The stuff Becca posted at the top helps alot :smile:

Reply 18

Larlypop

thanky you sooooooo much tic - tac thats soo helpful, i alos have the problem that i am arguing in support of an embodied existence, getting my own perspective forward is the part that i am finding super hard lemme no if u can help
lv larly x

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