Life After Death

[Lestat]

Even if God does exist it certainly doesn't follow there must be life after death. In fact, if the chance for God is one in a million, then life after death has to be some number considerably higher than that (albeit somewhat lower if there IS a God).

After 3 months of reading this forum I have an idea of the logic people use to conlude the existence of God (bible notwithstanding). But can anyone please explain the logic used to conclude there must be life after death? (again, bible notwithstanding). If the idea of God is ludricous to some, then life after death is sheer preposterousness!

[Peter666]

Humans are rational animals capable of realizing abstract thoughts. Thus there is a spiritual component within us that will continue to exist after death because abstract thoughts are non-material in nature.

Because we won't have our bodies, we do not know how this spiritual component will be realized, but it will be there in the same sense that abstract thoughts are there.

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Humans are rational animals capable of realizing abstract thoughts. Thus there is a spiritual component ...

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I don't see why an epiphenomenon of abstract thought, in turn an epihenomenon of physicality, should be spiritual (whatever that is).


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... life after death is sheer preposterousness!

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For me, yes.

[Lestat]

I don't understand.

Thoughts (abstract or otherwise), require a functioning brain. Or are you saying that thoughts are possible without a brain and live on after the body dies?

[A_C_Slater]

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I don't understand.

Thoughts (abstract or otherwise), require a functioning brain. Or are you saying that thoughts are possible without a brain and live on after the body dies?

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Is the brain merely a conduit for the electrical imupulses that pass between it's synapses? Or does the brain generate these impulses?

[Lestat]

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I don't understand.

Thoughts (abstract or otherwise), require a functioning brain. Or are you saying that thoughts are possible without a brain and live on after the body dies?

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Is the brain merely a conduit for the electrical imupulses that pass between it's synapses? Or does the brain generate these impulses?

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I'm not a neurologist, but my guess is that it the brain generates these impulses. Either way.. Are you implying these electeical impulses (or thoughts) are generated from a source outside the body?

[Peter666]

"Or are you saying that thoughts are possible without a brain and live on after the body dies?"

Yes, but after a procedure. First we need to have our senses to bring data into our brain. The brain processes the data and gives us our thoughts. Now that we have thoughts, our brains are able to extract information from them to form abstract thoughts. Once we have several abstract thoughts we can derive more abstract thoughts. These new thoughts have no basis in nature for being created. They are created by the powers of a rational human being.

What separates us from the animal is free will. The will cannot be derived from nature like instinct because we can deny our natural desires if we want. It is these immaterial powers and rational thoughts that can continue to exist in a non-material dimension.

[jthegreat]

Some of you REALLY need to learn some biology.

I'd suggest reading "How The Mind Works" by Steven Pinker.

[Lestat]

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Some of you REALLY need to learn some biology.

I'd suggest reading "How The Mind Works" by Steven Pinker.

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That is one amazing book! However, it is not a light read by any means. Pinker is super intelligent and even though he tries to dumb down for us non-clinical psychologists I found it very hard to comprehend some of his analogies. But I'm not that smart. [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

Yes... Many on here would derive much benefit from this book.

[DougShrapnel]

Personally I think that Life after death is more likely than there being a god.