Life After Death Analysis

2112 Words5 Pages

Life After Death Analysis

To what extent does it make sense to talk about life after death?

Nobody likes the idea that we are going to die. It’s one of those

things that pop into your head whenever you get comfortable, possibly

as a subconscious motivational tool. Just in case you ever get really,

truly at ease with your life it strikes you that it will all come to

an end (possibly quite horribly) without your say-so or even prior

notification. Many people find this not only rude but also decidedly

inconvenient, and refuse to accept that their lovely lives could ever

end. Others are content to allow existence is occasional bout of poor

manners and go quietly. This essay is about the main ways people

accept their demise, or rather (as it is in most cases) do not.

With science fast becoming the adopted mechanism for explaining our

existence, you would think more people would be zealous advocates of

materialism, but this is not the case. You would think that the belief

that you are nothing more than a soulless (although organic) piece of

machinery, rambling aimlessly with only the purpose of reproducing and

a brain minutely to advanced to accept this would have most people

jumping at the chance to support it. Perhaps this is because

materialism falls under the umbrella of reductionism, and as Richard

Dawkins says, “in some circles, admitting to being a reductionist is

comparable to admitting to eating babies”. Conveniently for this paper

however, there has been a long and steadfast tradition of Materialism,

the primus inter pares of which is a Mr Gilbert Ryle. In 1949 when

psychology was a young and nubile science, seen (as all new ...

... middle of paper ...

...lly comes down to how you view the world: 1. The world is a closed

system, where nothing exists outside of the realm of current

scientific understanding. 2. The scientific view is one of many ways

to perceive the universe, and has huge limits to what it allows us to

see. So To what extent does it make sense to talk about life after

death? Materialism will say the only way we can live on is via the

spreading of our genetic material down the lines of time in our

children. As for individual survival after death, it is a fallacy of

mental creation. Dualists/Christians will say you are to be

recreated/your soul will migrate for a life with the almighty in a

better dimension. Most of the eastern world would argue that this

might happen, but that we have a lot more traversing of the

terrestrial plane of existence to do first.

    More about Life After Death Analysis

      Open Document