1.0Sgwrs Tei Bowhttps://www.clarkeroberts.co.uk/cyClarke Robertshttps://www.clarkeroberts.co.uk/cy/author/clarke-roberts/rich600338<blockquote class="wp-embedded-content" data-secret="WK23LHFqVL"><a href="https://www.clarkeroberts.co.uk/cy/2010/08/01/philosophical-musings-life-after-death/">Philosophical musings: Life after death</a></blockquote><iframe sandbox="allow-scripts" security="restricted" src="https://www.clarkeroberts.co.uk/cy/2010/08/01/philosophical-musings-life-after-death/embed/#?secret=WK23LHFqVL" width="600" height="338" title="“Philosophical musings: Life after death” — Bow Tie Talks" data-secret="WK23LHFqVL" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" class="wp-embedded-content"></iframe><script> /*! This file is auto-generated */ !function(d,l){"use strict";l.querySelector&&d.addEventListener&&"undefined"!=typeof URL&&(d.wp=d.wp||{},d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage||(d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage=function(e){var t=e.data;if((t||t.secret||t.message||t.value)&&!/[^a-zA-Z0-9]/.test(t.secret)){for(var s,r,n,a=l.querySelectorAll('iframe[data-secret="'+t.secret+'"]'),o=l.querySelectorAll('blockquote[data-secret="'+t.secret+'"]'),c=new RegExp("^https?:$","i"),i=0;i<o.length;i++)o[i].style.display="none";for(i=0;i<a.length;i++)s=a[i],e.source===s.contentWindow&&(s.removeAttribute("style"),"height"===t.message?(1e3<(r=parseInt(t.value,10))?r=1e3:~~r<200&&(r=200),s.height=r):"link"===t.message&&(r=new URL(s.getAttribute("src")),n=new URL(t.value),c.test(n.protocol))&&n.host===r.host&&l.activeElement===s&&(d.top.location.href=t.value))}},d.addEventListener("message",d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage,!1),l.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded",function(){for(var e,t,s=l.querySelectorAll("iframe.wp-embedded-content"),r=0;r<s.length;r++)(t=(e=s[r]).getAttribute("data-secret"))||(t=Math.random().toString(36).substring(2,12),e.src+="#?secret="+t,e.setAttribute("data-secret",t)),e.contentWindow.postMessage({message:"ready",secret:t},"*")},!1)))}(window,document); //# sourceURL=https://www.clarkeroberts.co.uk/wp-includes/js/wp-embed.min.js </script>The following is an extended essay in response to the question “Only a belief in an embodied existence after death is philosophically justifiable. Discuss” for my A-level Philosophy coursework written between September ’08 and January ’09. The piece only attained a D grade, however, I believe this was due to the piece’s deterring from the original question. I feel that the essay raised some interesting points and I wanted to share it with you. Please feel free to leave your comments. An embodied existence may be defined as existence within a material body – we as humans have an embodied existence. A disembodied existence is without material form; some may call this ‘mind’. However, the mind-body problem dates back to Greek Philosophers Plato and Aristotle. Both are the starting point for the opposing views that modern philosophers still hold and upon which they base their theories today. Plato held that the mind and body were separate and that the mind (or, as he referred to it, the soul), spent its life yearning for a return back to the world of forms and merely used the body as a home in which to reside. When the body died, the soul finally returned to the world of forms from whence it originally came. The Aristotelians held that the soul (mind) and the body had a symbiotic relationship and that when the body died, the soul died with it. The belief in an embodied existence after death would not be justified using either of these philosophers, as Plato’s soul continued after the death of the body and Aristotle’s soul died with the body. They would maintain that even to hold a belief in an embodied existence after death would not be justifiable as neither philosopher’s theories concern any form of physical body after death. There are a host of problems with saying that any physical existence continues after death and philosophy has recognised this. Does the physical body decay or corrupt after death? Experience tells us that it does. If it lives incorruptibly, where does it live? The great religions claim a life after death, but evidence for this outside of the body of believers is slim. The Christian faith has a definite belief in a disembodied existence after death with Jesus rising from the dead three days after he died a physical death by crucifixion, “And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day…” (I Cor 15: 4-5) Christians believe that they too, take part in the resurrection of Jesus by being raised from the dead when ‘the last day’ arrives, “…and the dead shall be raised incorruptible…” (I Cor 15: 52-53) The Bible states that when the bodies of the dead are raised they are transformed into spiritual bodies, leading to a belief in a disembodied existence after death, despite the fact of a physical rising of the dead. Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that death is a state of non-existence with no consciousness and do not hold to […]