Concept of the Afterlife

Therefore, even though both Divorce and Dreams express different concepts of the afterlife, they clearly agree in their beliefs that one does in fact exist. This is not uncommon given, as C.J. Ducasse notes in "Survival as Transmigration," the wide popular acceptance of the notion of an afterlife (Chapter 19). I believe in the concept of "substance dualism," a theory that argues for the separation of the mind and body into two different classes of objects. I believe that we continue in some form even after our deaths and that our physical bodies are merely one manifestation of our existence, but a form of manifestation that is unnecessary for existence in the afterlife.

Plato was essentially a substance dualist. He argued for the immortality of our intellectual and rational souls as a separate entity that survived the destruction of our physical bodies (Hicks 235). Thus, he did not believe that our souls required physical bodies to exist. John Hicks, however, demonstrates how this Platonic ideal of immortality transformed into the Judeo-Christian belief in resurrection as people became increasingly concerned with personal identities and individualism (Hicks 237-238). The act of survival after death then became a divine act and the idea of Heaven as a divine reward gave purpose to our mortal existence (Hicks 238-240). At the same time, however, the idea that the afterlife was demonstrated through reincarnation raised the issue of the need for a physical embodiment of

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Category: Philosophy - C