1. A2 Philosophy of Religion What do religious believers mean by ‘God’? Is it meaningful to talk about ‘God’? Religious Language Does religious experience show that God exists? What else might it indicate? Religious Experience Does God interact with humanity? What do miracles imply about God? Miracle Philosophical problems Boethius’ view that God rewards and punishes justly Attributes of God Body and soul Philosophical and religious beliefs Implications for the Problem of Evil Life and Death

3. Who am I? I am suffering from an incurable physical illness. I am informed that a technique exists to transplant my brain into the body of someone who has died from a brain tumour. I agree and my brain is transplanted into this new body. The body works perfectly and I have all my memories intact, but I look totally different. My friends and family no longer recognise me, but the friends and family of the other person greet me in the street  Is this new person ‘me’ or not?

4. Life and Death What is the ‘soul’? How might we ‘live on’ after death?

5. Life and Death You have been given a card containing a question and its answer Pair up with someone else who has a different question from you Ask your partner your question and tell them the answer Swap cards and then find new partners to question / answer Eventually you should know the answers to all the questions without being told

6. Life and Death What is monism? What is dualism? What is materialism? In what ways did Descartes doubt the physical world? Why can’t a materialist be a dualist? What did Plato mean when he said that the soul is a charioteer? What does Richard Dawkins say about life after death?

7. This week’s aims To explain and analyse dualism (with particular reference to Descartes) To explain and analyse eastern religious beliefs concerning reincarnation and rebirth

8. What you need to know: Ideas about body and soul:  Plato  Aristotle  John Hick  Richard Dawkins  (Rene Descartes – disembodied existence) Different views about life after death:  Resurrection  Reincarnation The relationship between the afterlife and the problem of evil

9. Life and death: key questions Is a ‘person’ a body or a soul/mind? Is there such a thing as a soul/mind? Personal identity How are body and soul/mind connected? Mind/body problem Which part of a person survives death? Is there any evidence of life after death? Life after death

10. Life and Death, p.73 What is monism? What is dualism? What is materialism?

11. Key philosophers, p.74 The soul is the real person: ‘The body is the source of endless trouble to us’ The soul gives the body life but it cannot survive death The mind could exist without the body: ‘I think therefore I am’ Resurrection of the body is logically possible: Three scenarios about disappearance / reappearance The feeling of being conscious is produced by processes in the brain

12. Task – use booklets, p.74-78 Explain the key differences between Plato and Aristotle’s views on body and soul Four options:  Create a visual answer to the question using only a few words if necessary  Select five key differences and then summarise / explain them  Create a mind map to answer the question  Script a debate in which Plato and Aristotle argue about body and soul

13. Plato Dualist Soul = charioteer Cycle of opposites Knowledge of the Knowledge of the Forms Forms

14. Plato Reincarnation The cycle of death and rebirth involves intermediate stages where things change = the act of dying and revival Things are generated from their opposites

15. Criticism of Plato Peter Geach rejects Plato’s views:  How can the disembodied soul see the world of the Forms? Surely seeing is linked to the body?  Is existence without a body really human existence? Other philosophers have rejected Plato’s argument from the cycle of opposites. Many things in the universe have opposites but this doesn’t necessarily mean that death and life are the opposite of each other, or that the soul exists

16. Evaluation of Plato Arguments for Plato / dualism Arguments against Plato / dualism

17. Descartes Dualist Doubts the body ‘I think therefore I am’ Mind can survive death

18. Dualism Read Vardy & Arliss, The Thinker’s Guide to God, p.132-133. Summarise Ryle’s criticisms of Descartes’ dualism

19. Ryle’s critique of Dualism Gilbert Ryle  Dualism incorrectly believes in the ‘ghost in the machine’  ‘Category mistake’

20. Evaluation of Descartes Arguments for Descartes / dualism Arguments against Descartes / dualism

21. Reincarnation and Rebirth

22. Reincarnation Hindu belief Hindus discuss their beliefs Death in Hinduism Becoming a Sadhu Hindu Aghori

23. Reincarnation: three interpretations Reincarnation – a fixed essence goes from life to life Rebirth – a process continues from life to life Metaphorical view of rebirth – rebirth is a mental happening within life Booklets, p.91

24. Hindu View – p.91 Hindus believe that the soul is eternal. Karma (actions) in one life determines the type of reincarnation experienced in the next life. Actions create impressions on the soul which in turn influence the type of birth one experiences in a future life. Good actions lead to fortunate reincarnations, whereas bad actions lead to unfortunate reincarnations. It is possible for humans to be reincarnated as animals. The process of reincarnation is seen as something to be escaped from. In Hinduism, the ultimate goal of earthly existence is called moksha or mahasamadhi.

25. Key Terms - Hinduism Karma – the law of cause and effect Atman – ‘self.’ It can refer to body, mind or soul, depending on context Samsara – the cycle of birth, death and rebirth The jiva (the real self, or soul) is reincarnated as a human or other life form depending on the conduct of its last reincarnation

26. Hick’s Critique Most people do not remember previous lives (but great yogis are said to be to do this). Many of the key things that allow us to call someone the same person are missing in reincarnation (bodily continuity, physical resemblance, memory, etc). Reincarnation often relies on the idea of common psychological dispositions to link one life with a next. To Hick, this criterion is too broad and permissive. p.91

27. Challenges to Reincarnation – p.92 Remembering a previous life could be explained in other ways or could be a hoax Swinburne rejects reincarnation because there is no continuity between the brain of the new baby and the person who died Geach rejects belief in reincarnation because a link with the person who has died cannot be established

28. What is the problem of identity? Does the problem of identity suggest that reincarnation is incoherent? Reincarnation

29. Is there any persuasive evidence to suggest that souls are reincarnated? How else might we account for claims about past life experiences?

30. Reincarnation Claims about past life experiences

31. Discussion How would a belief in reincarnation affect one’s ethical behaviour (both positively and negatively)?

32. Buddhist View The term rebirth is preferred to reincarnation. This is because ‘reincarnation’ implies that there is an unchanging entity that is reborn. This contradicts the Buddhist teaching of not-self (anatta) – the idea that there is no fixed core within us that remains unchanged. Booklets, p.92

33. Buddhist View Despite this, Buddhism holds that there is some continuity from life to life. The person who is reborn is neither exactly the same nor completely different to the one who died. This is explained using the metaphor of a flame passing from one candle to another. The flame is neither the same or different. There is a causal relationship between the two.

34. Buddhist View Different Buddhist traditions have different view on rebirth. Theravadin Buddhists hold that rebirth happened as soon as the person dies. Tibetan Buddhists, on the other hand, posit an intermediate state called a ‘bardo’. Tibetan Buddhists Some Buddhists take a more metaphorical view of teachings on rebirth. For instance, Ajahn Buddhadasa argues that ‘rebirth’ happens every time the illusory sense of self arises. It is this that causes suffering, not physical birth.

35. Past question Evaluate the claim that the soul is distinct from the body (35)

36. Homework Log into Moodle and click on A2 Ethics and Philosophy – Homework and Assignments. Look at the tenth block that says 10: Dualism. Look at / read at least three links. Read p.74-86 in your booklet. These pages summarise the views of the five key philosophers. Fill in the evaluation grids on these pages.