possibility of existence after death of a conscious self

• there are 4 key thinkers around the possibility of existence after death of a conscious self:

  • Plato - natural immortality of the soul
  • Price - disembodied souls
  • Swinburne - light-bulb argument
  • Stevenson - reincarnation
• Plato was a dualist + argues for the natural immortality of the soul

  1. argument from opposites - everything comes to be from its opposite i.e. life and death
  2. argument from recollection - true knowledge is knowledge of the unchanging Forms

  these arguments suggest that after the death of the body, the soul goes to the world of Forms + is reborn
• evaluation of Plato's natural immortality:

  • his view rests on his theory of Forms
  • argument from opposites seems to simply be wrong + nonsensical
  • thus, his arguments are very speculative
• Price on disembodied souls - the modern view of Plato

  • afterlife is mind-based
  • uses the analogy of a dream as a state in which we perform physical actions; similarly the environment of the souls disembodied after death would be a reflection of their desires + memories
  • the disembodied souls would communicate through telepathy
• Swinburne was a dualist + came up with the lightbulb argument

  • the soul (lightbulb) and the brain (electric light socket) - if the socket is damaged, the light will not shine - the soul will function if it is plugged into a functioning brain; without a functioning brain, the soul will cease to function
  • HOWEVER, the soul can be revived by repairing the brain - just like repairing the socket

  summarily: souls can survive death, retaining the same identity - all they need is something to replace the function provided by the brain
• reincarnation of the soul

  • belief founded in Hinduism - at death, karma decides whether the soul can be liberated from the cycle of birth/death/reincarnation
• evidence to support reincarnation

  • past life regression - technique used in hypnotherapy, where an individual may recall a supposed past life
  • direct past-life recall - mostly occurs in children
  • key thinker Stevenson: published a report in 1974 of 20 cases which he concluded reincarnation was strongly indicated as an explanation
• evaluating reincarnation:

  • weak research procedures - a frequent criticism of Stevenson
  • reincarnation is an accepted belief in most of the cases studied by Stevenson - there is perhaps a tendency for people to encourage each other to produce testimony to support their beliefs
  • phenomenon of cryptomnesia - shows people can believe they remember events, whereas in reality they are forgotten memories that have resurfaced