Philosophy and the Belief in a Life after Death

Philosophy and the Belief in a Life after Death PDF Author: R. Paterson
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 0230389880
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 225

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Book Description
This book critically examines the case for and against the belief in personal survival of bodily death. It discusses key philosophical questions. How could a discarnate individual be identified as a person who was once alive? What is the relationship between minds and their brains? Is a 'next world' conceivable? The book also examines classic arguments for the immortality of the soul, and focuses on types of prima facie evidence of survival: near-death experiences, apparitions, mediumistic communications, and ostensible reincarnation cases.

Philosophy and the Belief in a Life after Death

Philosophy and the Belief in a Life after Death PDF Author: R. Paterson
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 0230389880
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 225

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book critically examines the case for and against the belief in personal survival of bodily death. It discusses key philosophical questions. How could a discarnate individual be identified as a person who was once alive? What is the relationship between minds and their brains? Is a 'next world' conceivable? The book also examines classic arguments for the immortality of the soul, and focuses on types of prima facie evidence of survival: near-death experiences, apparitions, mediumistic communications, and ostensible reincarnation cases.

The Myth of an Afterlife

The Myth of an Afterlife PDF Author: Michael Martin
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 0810886782
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 709

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Book Description
Because every single one of us will die, most of us would like to know what—if anything—awaits us afterward, not to mention the fate of lost loved ones. Given the nearly universal vested interest in deciding this question in favor of an afterlife, it is no surprise that the vast majority of books on the topic affirm the reality of life after death without a backward glance. But the evidence of our senses and the ever-gaining strength of scientific evidence strongly suggest otherwise. In The Myth of an Afterlife: The Case against Life after Death, Michael Martin and Keith Augustine collect a series of contributions that redress this imbalance in the literature by providing a strong, comprehensive, and up-to-date casebook of the chief arguments against an afterlife. Divided into four separate sections, this collection opens with a broad overview of the issues, as contributors consider the strongest evidence of whether or not we survive death—in particular the biological basis of all mental states and their grounding in brain activity that ceases to function at death. Next, contributors consider a host of conceptual and empirical difficulties that confront the various ways of “surviving” death—from bodiless minds to bodily resurrection to any form of posthumous survival. Then essayists turn to internal inconsistencies between traditional theological conceptions of an afterlife—heaven, hell, karmic rebirth—and widely held ethical principles central to the belief systems supporting those notions. In the final section, authors offer critical evaluations of the main types of evidence for an afterlife. Fully interdisciplinary, The Myth of an Afterlife: The Case against Life after Death brings together a variety of fields of research to make that case, including cognitiveneuroscience, philosophy of mind, personal identity, philosophy of religion, moralphilosophy, psychical research, and anomalistic psychology. As the definitive casebookof arguments against life after death, this collection is required reading for anyinstructor, researcher, and student of philosophy, religious studies, or theology. It issure to raise provocative issues new to readers, regardless of background, from thosewho believe fervently in the reality of an afterlife to those who do not or are undecidedon the matter.

Death and the Afterlife

Death and the Afterlife PDF Author: Samuel Scheffler
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 019998252X
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 221

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Book Description
Suppose you knew that, though you yourself would live your life to its natural end, the earth and all its inhabitants would be destroyed thirty days after your death. To what extent would you remain committed to your current projects and plans? Would scientists still search for a cure for cancer? Would couples still want children? In Death and the Afterlife, philosopher Samuel Scheffler poses this thought experiment in order to show that the continued life of the human race after our deaths--the "afterlife" of the title--matters to us to an astonishing and previously neglected degree. Indeed, Scheffler shows that, in certain important respects, the future existence of people who are as yet unborn matters more to us than our own continued existence and the continued existence of those we love. Without the expectation that humanity has a future, many of the things that now matter to us would cease to do so. By contrast, the prospect of our own deaths does little to undermine our confidence in the value of our activities. Despite the terror we may feel when contemplating our deaths, the prospect of humanity's imminent extinction would pose a far greater threat to our ability to lead lives of wholehearted engagement. Scheffler further demonstrates that, although we are not unreasonable to fear death, personal immortality, like the imminent extinction of humanity, would also undermine our confidence in the values we hold dear. His arresting conclusion is that, in order for us to lead value-laden lives, what is necessary is that we ourselves should die and that others should live. Death and the Afterlife concludes with commentary by four distinguished philosophers--Harry Frankfurt, Niko Kolodny, Seana Shiffrin, and Susan Wolf--who discuss Scheffler's ideas with insight and imagination. Scheffler adds a final reply.

Philosophy of Religion

Philosophy of Religion PDF Author: Tim Bayne
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0198754965
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 161

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Book Description
Philosophy of religion contains some of our most burning questions about the role of religion in the world, and the relationship between believers and God. Tim Bayne considers the core debates surrounding the concept of God; the relationship between faith and reason; and the problem of evil, before looking at reincarnation and the afterlife.

Christian Beliefs about Life after Death

Christian Beliefs about Life after Death PDF Author: Paul Badham
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1349030139
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 178

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Book Description


Life After Death

Life After Death PDF Author: Dinesh D'Souza
Publisher: Regnery Publishing
ISBN: 1596980990
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 290

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Book Description
Drawing on some of the most powerful theories and trends in physics, biology, philosophy, and psychology, D'Souza concludes that belief in life after deathoffers depth and significance to this life.

Life After Death

Life After Death PDF Author: Deepak Chopra
Publisher: Harmony
ISBN: 0307345785
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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Book Description
Deepak Chopra turns to the most profound mystery confronting humankind: What happens after we die? By marrying science and wisdom, Chopra builds his case for afterlife, in which one's most essential self uses the end of life to "pass over" into the next lifetime.

Eternal Life?

Eternal Life? PDF Author: Hans Kung
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1592442099
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description
The fact cannot be overlooked that we are in the midst of a sociological crisis of orientation on the grand scale. New problems and needs have become insistent, new fears and longings have come to light. Many are looking for a new foothold, a fundamental certainty, a compass for their life and the life of other human beings. The inconsistencies and ambivalence of the phenomena cannot conceal the fact that religion is attracting greater attention: the old religion and many new ones, the Christian religion as well as the Islamic, Hindu, and Buddhist religions. In East and West anyway the God Progress seems to have lost rapidly something of its credibility; belief in a continually better life with the aid of science and technology and also through revolution and socialism has been shaken by serious doubts. And, while the elderly have not been able - with all the aids of psychology - to come to terms with the meaning of death, younger people - supposedly a Òno futureÓ generation, apathetic, noncommittal, nervous, and self-destructive - are asking afresh about the missing sense of life. Meanwhile, though science did the most in the last century to destroy belief in immortality and made stupendous efforts to prolong life, it is medicine today that has broken through the taboos in regard to death and with its research into dying has given new life to the question of death and survival. But has medicine - or perhaps parapsychology - proved that there is life after death?

Life After Faith

Life After Faith PDF Author: Philip Kitcher
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300210345
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 194

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Book Description
Although there is no shortage of recent books arguing against religion, few offer a positive alternative—how anyone might live a fulfilling life without the support of religious beliefs. This enlightening book fills the gap. Philip Kitcher constructs an original and persuasive secular perspective, one that answers human needs, recognizes the objectivity of values, and provides for the universal desire for meaningfulness. Kitcher thoughtfully and sensitively considers how secularism can respond to the worries and challenges that all people confront, including the issue of mortality. He investigates how secular lives compare with those of people who adopt religious doctrines as literal truth, as well as those who embrace less literalistic versions of religion. Whereas religious belief has been important in past times, Kitcher concludes that evolution away from religion is now essential. He envisions the successors to religious life, when the senses of identity and community traditionally fostered by religion will instead draw on a broader range of cultural items—those provided by poets, filmmakers, musicians, artists, scientists, and others. With clarity and deep insight, Kitcher reveals the power of secular humanism to encourage fulfilling human lives built on ethical truth.

A Critical Examination of the Belief in a Life After Death

A Critical Examination of the Belief in a Life After Death PDF Author: C. J. Ducasse
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781258828769
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 336

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Book Description
This is a new release of the original 1961 edition.