Transcript Life After Death: The Nature of Disembodied Existence

LIFE AFTER DEATH: THE
NATURE OF
DISEMBODIED
EXISTENCE
March 10 th ,
2014.
WHAT DOES DISEMBODIED MEAN?
 Disembodied Existence refers to life after death without a
physical form. Where Reincarnation and Resurrection involve
living in a “new” body, Disembodied Existence alludes to
survival after death without bodies.
 A disembodied existence shows a separation between the soul
and the body, treating them as two dif ferent things.
 Simply put, Disembodied Existence means living without
physical form.
ARE DISEMBODIED EXISTENCES
COHERENT?
 Richard Swinburne: We can imagine a situation where we
could exist without a body, and if we can imagine it, then it is
a coherent concept.
 We have an intuitive sense of being not the same as our
bodies
 We say that we have bodies, as opposed to we are bodies
 This suggests that we feel ourselves to be separate and distinct from
the purely physical
 Because there is a distinction between the consciousness and
the body, we can have mental processes and events which are
not translated into anything physical at all
 We might be thinking all kinds of things without any evidence of
them appearing on our face or in our body language
CONTINUED
 To some, it seems as if the consciousness and the body,
although linked, are distinct from one another
 Therefore, it could make sense to suggest that the consciousness
might be able to exist on its own, without the body, once the body has
died.
 Note: Careful when using Reincarnation as an example of
Disembodied existence. Technically, Reincarnation means that
you are reborn into a new body. It wouldn’t typically count for
an example or support to a disembodied existence.
EXAMPLES OF DISEMBODIED EXISTENCE
THEORIES
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Plato (Tripartite Theory, Soul exists before & after death)
Descartes (Mind/Body Problem)
Richard Swinburne (Uniqueness & Evolution of the Soul)
Keith Ward (The Soul as a form of Morality and Spirit)
Immanuel Kant
 Although he does not deny that the soul can exist apart from the
body, in 1755 Kant insists that disembodied souls cannot have
human cognition.
 Our souls cannot operate effectively if they do not interact with
healthy, well-trained bodies. Whatever existence our souls have after
the death of our body, they cannot have knowledge or experience of
the sort we possess in our lifetimes
 H.H Price (Dream World)
 Raymond Moody (Near Death Experiences)
EXAMPLES OF EMBODIED EXISTENCE
THEORIES
 “Embodied Existence” refers to the soul/mind and body being one.
If the body dies, the soul dies with it, but there is still potential for
Life after death in physical form.
Aristotle (The Wax Tablet with a Stamp)
Richard Dawkins (Humans = vehicles of genes, survival machines)
Hindus (Rebirth/Reincarnation; Body is a vehicle for the atman)
Buddhist (Reincarnation; Soullessness, no God, no essential
individual self)
 Judaism (Resurrection; bodies rising from the dead)
 Islam (Resurrection; earthly life is a test for LAD)
 Christianity (Resurrection; day of judgement)
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WHERE DOES JOHN HICK & REPLICA
THEORY FIT HERE?
 Hick believes that the body and soul are inseparable.
 Therefore, if there is LAD for the soul, the body has to be resurrected.
 Feels that it is logically possible for people to exist in
dif ferent worlds with the same identity
 They could be “replicated” on to the new world by God
 The world of the resurrected is not spatially related to our world, but
objects within it are spatially related to each other
 Traditionally, John Hick’s view could be classified as a
resurrection. However, when you argue that the “replica” is
not the same person, this can be classified as a reincarnation,
as the essence of the person is placed into another body.
 Still, his view is an embodied existence.