|
Our physical life is not
eternal. That's the statement on which all philosophers agree. What does the
"end of life" mean then? Some people consider the physical death to be the end
of life. However, there are many different hypotheses which others agree with.
There are two main
theories of human nature that have implications for meaningful survival after
death: Materialism is the theory that our minds are inseparable from our bodies.
Dualism is the theory that there exist both bodies and minds, distinct from one
another, but linked in some way.
Materialism
Materialism does not
accept that there is a separate part of the human body called the "soul". An
individual is a living, physical body and nothing more. Most materialists
believe that at death the body dies and therefore the whole body ceases to
exist.
Materialists also believe
that what we assume to be an emotional response, such as love or fear, is no
more than psychochemical reactions in our brain.
Dualism
A dualist approach to mind
and body argues that it is the mind that determines our personality and the body
is an outer shell for the real self. The body is contingent and therefore
destined for decay, but the mind, associated with the higher realities such as
truth, goodness and justice, is immortal. If a man life is spent in
contemplation of those higher realities, then his soul can enter eternity after
the death of the physical body.
One very popular and
important philosopher for the subject pf body, soul distinction was Plato, and
Plato was a dualist. He posited a theory of two worlds-the "unreal" world of the
senses and physical objects and the "real" world of ideal forms. For everything
in existence, Plato accepted that there was the perfect idea (form). For
example, for every man, there is an ideal man; for every dog there is an ideal
dog, and so on. He regarded the body and soul as separate entities and believed
that though the body dies and disintegrates, the soul continues to live forever.
Plato had a very low opinion of the body. As the body is part of the world of
appearance it is physical and the desire for sense pleasure frequently takes
priority in a persons life. Plato believed that after the death of the body, the
soul migrates to the realm of the forms. After a time the soul is implanted in
another body and returns to our world. However the reincarnated soul retains a
dim recollection of the forms and yearns to go back. It could be maintained that
this process of recollection is strong evidence for a distinction between body
and soul.
Another philosopher who
developed a concept of dualism was Descartes held that the body was spatial and
in no sense conscious and that the mind (or soul) is non-spatial and conscious.
The mind experiences emotions and desires. Descartes believed that these two
interacted with each other and that the body could affect the mind and the mind
could affect the body. The feelings in the mind could have physical affects for
example depression causing weight loss. Descartes postulated that the point of
this interaction between body and mind was the pineal gland, which is located in
the brain. Descartes explanation could provide us with reasonable evidence for a
distinction between body and soul in that we talk as if we are distinct from our
bodies for example if my bodily make up changed I would consider myself to be
the same person. This may offer comfort to think that we are still the same
person whatever our body looks like e.g. with age etc. Also we can think about
something without showing it through the behaviour of our bodies. However this
may be questioned as we also say "I have a soul". In this case what is "I" if
not the body or the soul alone?
Descartes reasoning may be
defended as what he is arguing for is fitting with the coherence theory of truth
i.e. it is logically possible for us to survive death without a body. However
this still does not mean that this is necessarily going to happen for example it
would be logically possible for me to survive after a car crash but this does
not mean its going to happen. Even if we could survive after death would we
still be the same person? Or even a person at all? We owe much of who we are to
our bodies as it is through our body that we interact with others. The body is
part of what makes me "me".
|
