Immortality And Resurrection: The Dichotomy Between Thought and Physicality.

1870 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The body as distinct from the soul

In religion the concept of life after death is discussed in great detail. In monotheistic religions, in particular the Christian theology, death is a place where the soul, the eternal spirit that is part of you, transcends or descends to depending on if you go to heaven or hell. The argument calls for a form of immortality of the soul and a lack of immortality of the body—the soul lives forever, the body perishes. John Hick in his excerpt from “Immortality and Resurrection” refutes the ideology that the spirit and body are dichotomous, one being everlasting and the other limited. In his view on the immortality of the human psyche, he claims that the spirit and body are connected; they are not too distinct entities. With this proclamation he attempts to prove the existence of life after death by analyzing resurrection from a psychological perspective and through thought experiments.

Hick deconstructs the Platonic notion of the duality between the soul and the body. Plato, one of the most influential Greek philosophers who has affected the realm of philosophy and religion, argues that the spirit is eternal and the body a vessel. For him the spirit and the body belong to different worlds: the spirit to the “unchanging realities…or universals or eternal ideas.” and the body to the sensible world. In turn, the soul being related to a world of higher calling and truths exists the body after death and leaves the sensible world behind, proving the existence of the immortality of the soul. Also, Plato argues for the immortality of the soul by claiming that only composite things can be destroyed. The soul is not composite because it is simple—a concept that cannot be further broken down and examined. Hick shows how Plato's logic is flawed...

... middle of paper ...

...the body affect the way we interpret the world, but this does not stand in conflict with the existence of the indivisible notion of the soul. If the soul and body are two distinct entities, where the soul inhabits the physical shell, the body; then it is possible the body is just a device used to interpret the “sensible world”. Therefore, a complexity in the device interpreting the world does not correlate to the entity controlling the device being complex as well.

Hick’s argument attempts to provoke a new understanding of a psychophysical person, rather than a person of two separate entities, the body and the soul. His work fails to provide convincing evidence of the proof of a psychophysical person; instead, it provides a basis for the belief in a divide between soul and body.

Works Cited

Hick, John. Immortality and Resurrection. Pearson Education, Inc. 1990.

Show More
Related

  • Folk Psychology in Churchland’s Eliminative Materialism

    2169 Words  | 5 Pages

    The mind-body problem has kept philosophers busy ever since Descartes proposed it in the sixteenth century. The central question posed by the mind-body problem is the relationship between what we call the body and what we call the mind—one private, abstract, and the origin of all thoughts; the other public, concrete, and the executor of the mind’s commands. Paul Churchland, a proponent of the eliminative materialist view, believes that the solution to the mind-body problem lies in eliminating the single concept that allows this problem to perpetuate—the folk psychological concept of mental states. Churchland argues that the best theory of mind is a materialistic one, not a folk psychological one. Unlike other materialist views such as identity theory, Churchland wants to remove the idea of mental states from our ontology because mental states cannot be matched 1:1 with corresponding physical states. This is why Churchland’s view is called eliminative materialism—it is a materialistic account of the mind that eliminates the necessity for us to concern ourselves with mental events. At first this eliminative materialism appears to be a good solution to the mind-body problem because we need not concern ourselves with that problem if we adopt Churchland’s view. However, there is a basic flaw in his argument that raises the question of whether we should actually give up folk psychology. In this paper, we will first walk through the premises of Churchland’s argument, and then we will explore whether Churchland does a suitable job of justifying our adoption of eliminative materialism.

    Read More

  • The Soul Persists The Soul After Death In Plato's Phaedo

    701 Words  | 2 Pages

    This observation raises the awareness about how vicious the cycle of life and death is. Furthermore, how their relationship is ever occurring and seems unlikely to stop. This clarification that Socrates gives presents an even more realistic reason for believing that the soul persists. Because if the soul did not persist, then where would it go if not to replace its opposite? This line is based off of the thought of also assuming that all things in existence will stay in existence. In conclusion, Socrates opposites argument uses familiar examples and logic to justify why the soul persists

    Read More

  • Comparison of Plato's The Last Days of Socrates and Hesse's Siddhartha

    1703 Words  | 4 Pages

    ...th. By becoming aware of the separation of the soul and the body, the indestructible and immortal nature of the soul, and the impossibility of the soul understanding truth while bound to the body, one can begin to understand how this dichotomy has shaped Indian and ancient Greek philosophy.

    Read More

  • Plato's Arguments for Proving the Inmortality and Longevity of the Soul

    848 Words  | 2 Pages

    Plato argues for the immortality of the soul in the Phaedo. He provides 3 arguments for his theory, the arguments from opposites, recollection, and affinity. Each argument proposes an intriguing account for his claim that the soul must exist past death. His evidence and proposal for each account leave no room for counterarguments. Fellow philosophers like Simmias and Cebes provide two different counters for Plato’s claim, however he accurately disproves them by using his 3 arguments as rebuttal. Plato’s three arguments for the proving of the immortality and longevity of a soul provide clear and concise reasons to agree with his approach.

    Read More

  • Life after Death, Reincarnation, Resurrection and Immortality of the Soul

    1730 Words  | 4 Pages

    Life after Death, Reincarnation, Resurrection and Immortality of the Soul Belief in life after death has taken many forms, some which are unique in particular religious belief systems, though; others can be found in more than one religion. ' For most religions, life after death is an article of faith. In Western religions, the belief is founded in scriptural evidence, but for all religions the belief in life after death is the same: life after death has been promised to humans by an all powerful'[1] There are many views of life after death in particular which have been much adhered to and much discussed by philosophers. This essay will attempt to put forward some of the key ideas and arguments for and against life after death. One view of life after death does have a venerable philosophical history.

    Read More

  • Descartes Goals Mediation Six

    700 Words  | 2 Pages

    One of Descartes’ goals Mediation Six was to establish the mind and body as two distinct substances, mind-body dualism. This paper reconstructs part of Descartes’ argument, evaluates an objection, and concludes that one is truly distinct from one’s body.

    Read More

  • The Divided Line

    2723 Words  | 6 Pages

    Thus: There are two subdivisions, in the lower of which the soul uses the figures given by thw former division as images; the enquiry can only be hypothetic...

    Read More

  • Aristotle's Theory of the Soul in the De Anima

    645 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...of the body, and no problem arises of how soul and body can be united into a substantial whole: ‘there is no need to investigate whether the soul and the body are one, any more than the wax and the shape, or in general the matter of each thing and that of which it is the matter; for while “one” and “being” are said in many ways, the primary [sense] is actuality’ (De anima 2.1, 12B6–9).Many twentieth-century philosophers have been looking for just such a via media between materialism and dualism, at least for the case of the human mind; and much scholarly attention has gone into asking whether Aristotle’s view can be aligned with one of the modern alternatives, or whether it offers something preferable to any of the modern alternatives, or whether it is so bound up with a falsified Aristotelian science that it must regretfully be dismissed as no longer a live option.

    Read More

  • Descartes Conceivability Argument Analysis

    1476 Words  | 3 Pages

    Two of the most fundamental parts within the Cartesian dualism argument are both the conceivability argument, and also the divisibility argument. Both arguments aim to show that the mind (thinking things) and body (extensions) are separate substances, both of which arguments can be found within Meditation VI. Within this essay, I shall introduce both arguments, and critically assess the credibility of both, discovering whether they can be seen as sound arguments, or flawed due to incorrect premises or logical fallacies.

    Read More

  • A Philosophical Criticism of Augustine and Aquinas

    1533 Words  | 4 Pages

    The relationship of the human soul and physical body is a topic that has mystified philosophers, scholars, scientists, and mankind as a whole for centuries. Human beings, who are always concerned about their place as individuals in this world, have attempted to determine the precise nature or state of the physical form. They are concerned for their well-being in this earthly environment, as well as their spiritual well-being; and most have been perturbed by the suggestion that they cannot escape the wrongs they have committed while in their physical bodies.

    Read More

  • Four Arguments For The World Of Life In Plato's Phaedo

    1217 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the book Plato 's Phaedo, Socrates argues that the soul will continue to exist, and that it will go on to a better place. The argument begins on the day of Socrates execution with the question of whether it is good or bad to die. In other words, he is arguing that the soul is immortal and indestructible. This argument is contrary to Cebes and Simmias beliefs who argue that even the soul is long lasting, it is not immortal and it is destroyed when the body dies. This paper is going to focus on Socrates four arguments for the soul 's immortality. The four arguments are the Opposite argument, the theory of recollection, the affinity argument, and the argument from form of life. As the body is mortal and is subject to physical death, the soul

    Read More

  • The Belief of Immortality

    965 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...eath is prescribed in the law of nature. Mankind seeks survival and thus death becomes a threat for them. This explains why humans will tend to believe there is such thing as an eternal life, that death is the ending of the worldly life and the beginning of a promising life given by God. However, if someone wants to believe of an after-life, then this state of belief will always surpass everything else along with the law of nature.

    Read More

  • Plato's Argument For The Immortality Of The Body And The Soul

    1047 Words  | 3 Pages

    Plato believed that the body and the soul were two separate entities, the body being mortal and the soul being immortal. In Plato’s phaedo, this is further explained by Socrates. He claims that by living a philosophical life, we are able to eventually free the soul from the body and its needs. If we have not yield to our bodily needs, we should not fear death, since it can than permanently detach the soul from the body. The most convincing argument for the immortality of the body is the theory of recollection, which shows that we are already born with knowledge of forms and that learning is thus recalling these ideas. If we are already born with knowledge this implies that are soul is immortal, since it would otherwise be a blank page.

    Read More

  • The Soul According to Plato, Aristotle, and Augustine

    1196 Words  | 3 Pages

    The soul can be defined as a perennial enigma that one may never understand. But many people rose to the challenge of effectively explaining just what the soul is about, along with outlining its desires. Three of these people are Plato, Aristotle, and Augustine. Even though all three had distinctive views, the similarities between their views are strikingly vivid. The soul indeed is an enigma to mankind and the only rational explanation of its being is yet to come and may never arrive.

    Read More

  • A.I. Film Analysis

    1587 Words  | 4 Pages

    But, “human persons have an ‘inner’ dimension that is just as important as the ‘outer’ embodiment” (Cortez, 71). The “inner” element cannot be wholly explained by the “outer” embodiment, but it does give rise to inimitable facets of the human life, such as human dignity and personal identity. The mind-body problem entails two theories, dualism and physicalism. Dualism contends that distinct mental and physical realms exist, and they both must be taken into account. Its counterpart (weak) physicalism views the human as being completely bodily and physical, encompassing no non-physical, or spiritual, substances.

    Read More

More about Immortality And Resurrection: The Dichotomy Between Thought and Physicality.

Open Document