Swinburne

• what is Swinburne's argument?

  the light-bulb argument
• in his book, what does Swinburne say?

  that the conscious self can continue to exist after the death of its body
• how can the conscious self continue to exist after the death of its body?


  because all it needs is something to replace the function that the brain has in its present life
• what is Swinburne?

  a substance dualist
• what is a direct quote from Swinburne?

  "if a man does survive death, he will take his most central desires and beliefs with him"
• what does Swinburne say the soul is like?

  a light bulb
• what does he say the brain is like?

  an electric light socket
• if you plug the bubble into the socket and turn the current on, the light will shine and vice versa if you turn the current off so...?

  the soul will too function if its plugged into a functioning brain
• if you destroy the brain/ cut off the "current" (supplied by the blood), what will happen?

  the soul will cease to exist, remaining inert
• at death, what happens?

  the body is disconnected from the soul
• in heaven, what happens?

  the soul is able to live/ experience again
• therefore, what is the afterlife like?

  plugging back in a lightbulb that has been out of a socket
• what does Swinburne believe mental states are?

  soul states
• given this opinion, whether embodied or disembodied a soul could...?

  in both instances retain its memories and desires, and would be the "same person" as the one who died
• what is the alternative view to this?

  God could connect the soul to its old body or to a new body
• for some Christian theists (e.g. Swinburne), the argument that an omnipotent God could cause souls to exist after death in either an embodied or disembodied state will...?


  make sense