Life After Death - Dualism, Monism and Materialism

Many of us have some view or idea of the afterlife – whether it is some kind of utopia or even if there is one at all. Research conducted by Douglas Davies found that around 29% of us believe that nothing happens after death, 8% think that our bodies awaits resurrection and 12% believe that we will come back as someone else. Of course there are some more religious people, 22%, who just think that we should trust in God, the remaining 34% of us believe that our souls passes on to another world. These views can all be classed into the traditional divide used when discussing the soul and life after death. There is the Monist view – the idea that the body and the soul exists as a single unity, the souls existence is dependent on the body,†¦show more content†¦Dawkins taught that we survive death both memetically and genetically. We pass our genes onto the next generation; the body is merely a survival machine for our genes. Through the minds of others we are able t o survive death through their memories of us. Ennius wrote ‘for I shall live, as I pass to and fro through the mouths of men’. Hick developed the ‘Alternative Materialistic’ view. This provides an alternative interpretation of resurrection. Hick put forward the idea of ‘psycho-somatic unity’, the body and soul are one but we are made of matter and it cannot be separated. Resurrection occurs ‘in another space of an exact psycho-physical replica of the deceased person’. This is the idea that a physical you as an individual being can continue to exist after death. Hick uses the example of a person travelling from London to New York, for the person to be recognisable, their physical appearance and character must be recognisable for the person greeting them in New York. There are many different views regarding the soul and its existence. Many of these views are conflicting and have manyShow MoreRelatedRealism : Reality And Dualism1340 Words   |  6 PagesReality is Dualism There are currently four major theories about the nature of reality and substance— materialism/physicalism, idealism, transcendental idealism, and dualism. Materialism is the theory that there is only the physical and material world. Idealism takes the position that reality is made up of ideas and immaterial. Transcendental idealism holds the idea that our experience of things are shaped by how they appear to us and not by what they are in and of themselves. Both materialism and idealismRead MoreEco-Buddhism7194 Words   |  29 Pages  [  On a physical level too, cancer, cardiovascular disease, inflammatory and auto-immune disease as well as diverse ‘functional illnesses’ have become epidemic.  [  What will our governments, corporations and politicians now do with the power of life or death over the biosphere from which our species evolved? Do politicians even understand the scientific facts? Are they as attentive to their citizens and future human generations as they are to the most profitable corporate special interest in commercial