Compare and contrast two beliefs about life after death. Assess which of these two views may provide a stronger philosophical basis for belief in life after death?

One definition of shoemakers last is the ?the complete and permanent point of twain vital functions in a living creature, the stop over if manners?. All philosophers agree that our earthly animateness in our corporeal form every last(predicate)ow lay off; however philosophers take issue on the meaning of ?end of life-time? as umpteen raft agree on closing as the end of our universe however while others argue that we continue in nigh form later on death. legion(predicate) ideas relating to our creation subsequently death include; the continuation of our genes thought process our descendants, eternality of the nous, resurrection of the gone intelligencefulnessify, reincarnation and the idea that we function on in memories of others. Many ghostly beliefs be establish on the idea that mercifuls give birth a nous or spirit which exists independently of the system. The nonion of life after death is on that pointfore of central concern to religious b elievers and it is of import to establish what ?surviving? death containly means. in that location be two main theories developed for the meaningful selection after death: physicalism and dualism. Materialism is the theory that our headers nuclear number 18 inbred from our bodies. Materialism is the view that except when that which we support come to beget of empiric every(prenominal)y and do non attach the existence of a pause person as it can non be verified. It is based on and predominateing of the universe that has one burden wholly, that being material, and loosely a belief that the universe is g solely overned by cause and effect. Materialists do non expect crystalize part to our system c whollyed the ? individual?; they argue that an private is living, sensual dead body and cypher more(prenominal)(prenominal) therefore at death, the body dies and with it the on the whole individual ceases to exist. There argon two forms of materialism; sof t materialism and labored materialism. Hard! materialists, claim that the only substances be material objects, an individual characteristics are nothing more then physical ones. either idea is consciousness is nothing more then virtuoso activity. Mind is not separate of body so when the body dies so does the drumhead. Richard Dawkins rejects any concepts of an immortal disposition. There is no disposition or consciousness as we are the sum fall of our genes. He concentrates of the idea that adult male are merely carriers of development and DNA. For Dawkins, the only conceivable theory is that of evolution. We are as we are because of our genetic make up, not the efforts of our soul to guide us towards the realm of ideas each vary is due to evolution. There is no soul which continues, there is only the survival of DNA, the function of lifeWhile Dawkins does not deal with the concept of the soul he looks instead at the idea of consciousness. Dawkins addresses this feeling of personal identity within each humans by arguing that this is because our genes are workings together. We cannot perceive ourselves as a colony provided as a whole. This working together of our genes is based on the longing for survival of those genes. Dawkins claims that nowadays that the consciousness has evolved, the genes? need for countertion is no long-life the brainish force behind contemporary evolution. Dawkins suggest that human idea has gone awry because people tried to find the meanings to life, including the quest a religious doctrine that teaches the rewards of paradise. If people jilted notions of an after-life and a God and learnt to reason as scientists, then they would go bad erupt humans. Soft materialists agree that when the body dies so does the brain scarcely they say that consciousness is more than just a brain process. They say that the body can be controlled by the listen as the two are linked exactly not independent of each other. You have a quick of scent billet to you which is a part of the brain process but this unchanging dies! when you die. Soft materialists say there is no scientific exhibit for a soul therefore you cannot judge or contradict there is a soul, the body is only calculate and soul cannot be located. Life relies on the body, if you have no go body, then you have no life. Not all materialists accept that death is the end; instead, some believe that there is life after death. As the physical body cannot be illogical from the ?soul? mind, there is only one modality this could befall and that it is the only body continues after death. This survival would overwhelm the resurrection of the body. know as the Recreation Theory; this is the belief that the whole body continues after death. keister yokel argued that in reliable constituent the dead can exist after death. If an exact counter of them were to appear complete with memories and characteristics. As God is all mesomorphic this recreation of the dead is totally possible although death can destroy us God can hearten us. St cap ital of Minnesota also dialogue roughly resurrection and somewhat how the body will be raised and transformed into something better, something ghostlike i.e. seed into plant. individuation the comparable but outcome is different. A fuss raised with Hicks replication theory is a rudimentary fundamental question. Is the comparable ?I? that existed before death the akin as the ?I? in the replica, in the afterlife. Hick tried to solve the problem by putting forward sibylline story of antic Smith who lived in USA. One day, his friends watched as he disappeared without a trace. At the analogous moment of his slicing a replica of Smith appeared in India ?exactly alike in both physical and mental characteristics to the person who disappeared in UAS.? Concluding that crapper Smith died and God re-created deception Smith in the next instauration and this re-created ?John Smith? was the akin person. Vardy challenges Hick.

?Would John Smith be the same person?? Hick argues that he would if he thought of himself and others thought of himself as the same person, but is this enough? It is a replica the same person? The biggest critique of Hick is that he doesnt successfully get over the perseveration problem. Vardy thinks that there is a hold up in continuity so much so that the replicated could not be the same person. Bernard Williams argues that Hick?s portrayal of an eternal life of replications would be a meaningless life. It might prove a obtuse life. Dualism is the idea that the mind and body are two separate substances; it is possible to survive death, as the soul disembodies. Human beings harp of both physical bodies and non ph ysical minds and that the mind is the essence of a person. Plato in his book ?The republic? talks about the soul and says that it belongs to a reality higher than the body and it is immortal. He says that everything has an existence in the world of forms and the world of forms is a spiritual world of reality. It is only the soul, according to Plato, that can hold the line and fully understand the world of ideas. The soul yearns to travel to the world of forms and return gumption from where it came. Plato believes in the pre-existence of the soul. He suggests that there is a conflict amid the body and the mind because the body is concerned about physical needs and the mind is concerned with thinking. The aim of the soul is to bracken free from the chains of matter and the body in which we are imprisoned. Plato used an allegory of an underground sabotage with an delight adequate to(p) to the light to explain his distinction between body and soul. In the cave, with their backs to the entrance, is a row of prisoners, with their hand! s tied down, unable(p) to move, he compared humans to these prisoners. Behind them is a bright fire. raft all day and their shadows are projected onto the wall of the cave and voices are echoed. Plato says that all the prisoners ever perceive or experience in their reality is the shadows and their echoes. It would seem reasonable for them to assume that the shadows and echoes constituted all of reality. Bibliography?AS and A Level Religious Studies: school of thought and morality? philosophical system of Religion for A Level min translation (Paperback) by Anne Jordan, Neil Locker, Edwin Tate?Edexcel AS Religious Studies: Student mass (Paperback) by Ms Sarah K Tyler, Mr Gordon Reid, Mr Jon Mayled, Dominique Messent, Gopinder Kaur , Ms Jennifer Smith?Examining Philosophy and moral philosophy Answers for A Level (Paperback) by Patrick Clarke If you requisite to get a full essay, order it on our website: OrderCustomPaper.com

If you want to get a full essay, visit our page: write my paper