dualism

dualism

mind and body = two separate substances

example of substance dualists

• descartes

• plato

dualism supporting continued personal existence

• HH PRICE’s dream world

• SWINBURNE’s lightbulb

• MOODY’s near death experiences

• STEVENSON’s past life memory

• PLATO’s phaedo

how does HH PRICE’s dream world support continued personal existence

• postmortem consciousness survival = analogous to dream world

  • feel alive

  • continued identity - thoughts, memories

how does SWINBURNE’s lightbulb analogy support continued personal existence

• lightbulb = soul

• electrical socket = brain

  • just need a replacement of brain for body to work

BUT contradictory

• SWINBURNE = soft materialist

• soul moving into another body sounds like reincarnation

how does MOODY’s near death experiences support continued personal existence

• common features

  • light at end of tunnel

• PAM REYNOLDS

  • clinically dead, but recalls watching surgery from above

  • soul existing outside material body?

undermining MOODY’s near death experiences

BLACKMORE

• common features of near-death experiences = features of the dying brain

• material consciousness we can’t yet measure medically

how does STEVENSON’s research into past life memory support continued personal existence

children remember past lives

• something continues!

undermining STEVENSON’s research into past life memory

• children overheard this from parents?

• cryptonesia - brain's ability to create information out of peripheral memories

biblical quote supporting continued personal existence

"flesh and blood alone cannot inherit the kingdom of God"

• body cannot enter the afterlife, so must be the soul

undermining continued personal existence in general

PARFITT’S bundle theory

• no ‘self’ to survive death

• ever changing combination of mental and physical energies continue to exist

PLATO’s phaedo supporting continued existence after death

argument from simplicity

• composite = destructible (body)

• incomposite = no parts = indestructible (soul)

so soul remains; body destroyed