Unit 3 June 2010 Paper Developments

Examine the main evidence given by believers who claim there is life after death (18 marks) The immortality of the soul is the view that a human being has two aspects, a moral physical body and a immortal spiritual soul which is the real person and contains all the important factors that make a persona unique individual. There are many concepts, which aim to explore the controversial issue of life after death. Each takes a unique view about what happens when we die, and there are several. Reincarnation is a common belief held by many in the East by Hindus and Buddhists alike. As stated above, reincarnation is a belief held by Hindus and Buddhists, although their understanding of this topic varies slightly. Reincarnation is the idea that the soul is reborn in to another body after death. According to Hinduism, each person has an atman, an essential self. It is seeking unity with God all the time throughout life and when this is eventually achieved, the rebirth cycle (aka samsara cycle) ends. The law of Karma, which goes according to how well you live your life, controls this process of rebirth. If you are a bad person, it will take you longer to achieve the union with God. Logically, it should not take a good person to pass through the cycle too much before they meet God, it should happen relatively quickly. Buddhists do not believe there is an atman (they think it is an illusion), but they believe in the anatta, which means 'soulessness'. However, they still believe in a form of reincarnation and Karma. An analogy of a candle lighting another candle has been used to reflect this process; the flames are neither the same nor different. Also, it can also be explained using the analogy of a mango plant, as new mangoes grow from the original plant, and so forth... Plato, a dualist and well-known philosophical Greek thinker argued that life beyond death must exist. Plato said that the body was composite, and therefore capable of perishing, whereas the mind was simple and therefore imperishable. He believed that the soul belonged to a higher state of existence, known as the World of Forms. Plato therefore concluded that it is seemingly natural for the soul to carry on after the physical body has perished. Swinburne's argument contributed to a similar idea. His philosophy centred around the idea that the soul can exist without the body; he talked about how when the body is divided, our soul and self is not. There is little evidence for how we can actually exist i``````n a disembodied state, but there is some scientific evidence, which aims to prove this. A study known as the 'Brain Transplant' thought experimented examined the possibility of living without our own physical body. Swinburne attempts to defeat materialistic views by asking what happens to the self if the body is divided. In response to this, Hugh Meller said that his brain transplant theory proves 'nothing' and it is just as unable to prove the situation as a materialistic one is. Aquinas also took a similar view and developed the idea that the soul is what makes the body live; he referred to this as the anima. Aquinas understands the soul to be a 'life force', and it is what keeps our physical bodies alive. At death, the anima departs the body and continues to live on, taking our personal identity with it. Another philosopher/mathematician concerned with the topic is Descartes; he developed the idea of empirical scepticism, doubting one's own physical existence. His point was that he could doubt he had a body, but not doubt that he exists. This lead him to the assumption that simply because we can doubt something, it does not necessitate it's non -existence. However, John Hick, a materialist, is another who also studied life after death, in particular, bodily resurrection. This is the idea that we are reincarnated. He devised his 'replica theory', which said that once we die, our soul inhibits another body. He said that it is exactly

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