The idea of immortality has been addressed by many different philosophers either testing the evidence or speculating on the meaning of immortality, with some determining that there is life after death, some deciding that there is not, and some finding the question itself to be meaningless. Interesting as many of the arguments may be, in the final analysis this is a question that is answered by faith rather than reason. It is something that is believed rather than proven one way or the other. It is also the subject of Ashley Montagu's book Immortality, Religion, and Morals. A portion of this book was delivered as a series of lectures before the Ebenezer Butterick Foundation at the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences in New York in 1951. The subject of these lectures was "immortality," and they have been augmented with essays on religion and morals for this volume.
Much of religion is concerned with the notion of the afterlife and with the behavior in this life that leads to a certain kind of afterlife. Many ancient peoples showed their belief in immortality through burial customs that sent the departed individual to the afterlife with many of his or her possessions, presumably so they could be used there as well. Immortality as a concept is seductive, since we do not want the short span of our lives on earth to be all that there is and since we also want to feel that our life on earth has some deeper meaning and purpose.
The question of human immortality is an ancient one, showing the concern people have as to what happens after death and the hope that there is more to life than the span of years one spends in this world. Probably from the very beginning of the human race, men and women have wondered if there is something beyond death. Ashley Montagu writes, "Man, we reasonably assume, is the only living creature who entertains the idea of immortality" (Montagu 1).
The question of immortality is examined fir...