the possibility of physical existence after death

• what do those who adopt a purely physicalist/ materialist understanding of the nature of a persons believe?

  that there is no continuing personal existence after death
• why?

  since it is evident that the body and brain decay after death and no longer exist in any recognisable form
• for example, what does Bertrand Russell see the self as?


  bound up with what happens in the brain
• so what can Russell not entertain the idea of?

  an existence that outlives its dissolution
• as an alternative, what may allow us to survive our death?

  science and technology
• for example, what does the developing science of cryonics deal with?


  the low temperature preservation of people whose lives cannot be saved by conventional medicine
• for example...?

  their heads can be preserved at -196 degrees, waiting for resuscitation and reattachment to a body as and when science permits
• Daniel Dennett provides another physicalist suggestion which is...?

  that the information presently stored in the brain could be uploaded onto a different platform
• what is the difficulty with bodily resurrection?

  bodies decay after death
• what does Christian belief in resurrection lead to?

  more questions than answers
• what is John Hick's theory?

  the replica theory
• what does Hick want to do?

  give a philosophical defence of the Christian concept of bodily resurrection
• Hick's view of God is what?

  "in principle verifiable"
• how?

  because its verified eschatologically
• what is Hick?

  a monist
• what does Hick consider?

  the there is one substance, a "body-soul" in which the body and soul are unified
• what does Hick believe happens when the body-soul dies?

  all of it dies and is then raised by God
• since the body decays, what isn't possible?

  for the individual to resurrected with bodily identity
• so, Hick argues that what is resurrected is a...?

  perfect replica
• what does this replica retain?

  the individuals identity as a mind-body unit
• Hicks argument is given through how many scenarios?

  3, concerning "Mr X"
• explain scenario 1:

  Mr X disappears from a meeting in NYC, but immediately reappears at a similar meeting in Australia - he phones his colleagues and they eventually accept that he is the "same person"
• explain scenario 2:

  Mr X dies in his meeting in NYC - colleagues see his corpse, Mr X feels unwell then finds himself in the meeting in Australia - Mr X phones his colleagues and however odd the situation, they accept that he's the same person because he passes all tests of his identity
• explain scenario 3:

  Mr X dies - Mr X replica is complete with a set of memories that Mr X had at the last moment before his death then

  comes into existence in a "resurrection world"
• what is his new body composed of?

  material other than physical matter, although it looks exactly like his old body
• it is obvious to him that...?

  he is in a spatio-temporal world
• what does Hick therefore conclude?

  that resurrection into a post-mortem world is at least possible and that the person who was resurrected would indeed be the "same person" as the one who had died
• why do some disagree with Hick's replica theory?

  by definition, a replica cannot be the original, so cannot be the "same person"
• God could, in principle, create any number of replicas...?

  each believing itself to be the original, whereas in fact each one would have different consciousness
• if a replica can be copied, even in principle then...?

  the copy of the replica would have a different consciousness and would occupy a different spatio-temporal location