Self, Death, and the Afterlife
Random Notes
● Substance dualism is the same as cartesian dualism.
● Dualism - The soul’s existence is dependent on the body: the two are separate but they are connected - the
body carries the soul.
● Monism - We are made up of one substance; opposite of dualism.
● Physicalism - A version of Monism which states we are one physical substance.
● The mind-body problem - The problem of explaining how a non-physical mind and a physical body relate to
each other.
● Solipsism - one’s own mind is the only thing that can be known to exist. Descartes doubts the existence of
everything and everyone except his own mind.
● Chauvinistic theory - Placing superiority on a particular attitude/idea. Believe our (human) mind is unique,
more capable than others.
● Liberal theory - Believes the definition of the human mind is applicable to other processes.
● Eschatological verification (Hick) was a response to the verification principle (VP). Where the VP says that
every statement that is not factual is meaningless, and that statement must be factual either now or in the
future, Hick says speaking of any religious statements is not entirely meaningless (as the VP suggests)
because those statements can be verified after we die: after death, we will see whether there is an afterlife
or not, thereby verifying those statements. However, there are arguments against this.
● When discussing NDEs, refer to arguments about the nature of REs (strengths and weaknesses) and that
each RE (regardless of the content) contains specific alien qualities, i.e., PINT (William James).
● The Slave Boy Experiment in Plato's 'Meno' (thoughtco.com)
● Section on Descartes’ ontological argument in onto. arg. document might be useful on section about Plato
and the realms: Ontological Argument - Google Docs
● Dualism - Philosophy A-Level
Monism and Dualism
Monism is the belief that the body and the mind are one psycho-physical unity. There is no soul or mind that exists
distinct from the body: ‘Man does not have a body…he is a body’. (J.A. Robinson).
Gilbert Ryle talks of the ‘ghost in the machine’ and argues that the mind, soul and body are the same: all mental
events are really physical events that are interpreted in a mental way (philosophical behaviourism). To speak of ‘body
and soul’ is to make a category error – the two are not to be categorised as two distinct aspects. The activities of the
mind cannot be separated from the activities of the body (brain).
Monism means we can talk meaningfully about the soul and mind according to the VP and falsification principle (FP):
it acknowledges the importance of our bodies and the impact our bodies have on our psychological states (and the
empirical evidence this provides to certain statements (due to sense experience)).
Dualism is the belief that the mind and body are two distinct entities. Descartes argues that the body and mind are
separate but interact with each other (Cartesian dualism): “Our soul is of a nature entirely independent of the body,
and consequently…it is not bound to die with it”. He argues that since we cannot see any other cause that destroys
the soul, we are naturally led to conclude that it is immortal.
Nature and Existence of the Soul
Plato
Plato was a dualist and he formed the basis of dualism. He holds that a soul is separate from the body but animates
and directs it. He contrasted the flux and change of the empirical world of sense experience with the perfection of the
world of forms, the world of perfect ideas. Plato's theory of forms was the all things in the world of sense perception
are particular instances of universal forms, e.g., all tables are particular instances of the universal form of a table. The
forms are metaphysical/perfect ideas.
There are the two key realms that Plato outlines:
, 1. Physical realm - Finite and in a constant state of change (for Plato, because this world is in a constantly
changing physical state, it is imperfect).
2. Realm of the forms - Metaphysical/non-physical, unchanging, and perfect.
In the empirical world (physical realm), all things decay, but for all empirical objects, Plato reasoned that there exist
metaphysical counterparts that do not decay or change. While the physical body is part of the world of the senses,
the mind is related to the higher reality of the forms. Plato also argues that only composite things (things made up of
parts) can be destroyed or naturally disintegrate, but while bodies are composite, souls are non-material and simple
(without parts), and therefore cannot be destroyed. Once created, a soul is permanent and cannot die.
Because the body is a physical thing (a product and a part of the physical realm), it will decay and cease to exist.
However, the soul is metaphysical, and because of its non-physicality, it is infinite. But despite the soul being infinite,
it relies on the physical body to exist in this world. The soul is the real self which the body cannot live without. The
soul is that which can partake in the metaphysical realm (realm of the forms) where eternal truths like justice and
love exist in their purest forms.
This is the basis of dualism, the belief that reality has two aspects. For Plato, there is a world of ideal forms separate
from the world of sense perception.
Plato also believes that truth and knowledge can only be gained through the forms, i.e., the soul. It is the soul that
gives us access to both knowledge and the metaphysical aspects of existence.
Plato’s arguments for dualism can be found in the Meno (one of Plato’s most famous works), specifically during the
slave boy’s maths lesson (i.e., ‘Meno’ is a Socratic dialogue in which the two main speakers, Socrates and Meno,
discuss human virtue). Meno asks Socrates if he can prove the truth of his strange claim that "all learning is
recollection" (a claim Socrates connects to the idea of reincarnation). Socrates responds by calling over an enslaved
boy and, after establishing that he has had no mathematical training, gives him a geometry problem. For Plato, the
recollection of geometry (logic) in an unschooled slave proved the idea that our souls have an existence independent
of this particular physical body. The boy was able to solve the problem without having any prior schooling of
mathematics, proving that that knowledge must have come from elsewhere, i.e., from previous lives the soul has lived
through. With this analogy, Plato shows how the soul has access to the metaphysical world.
In his dialogue ‘The Phaedo’, Plato argues that ‘like gives rise to like’ so therefore, the physical matter within the
universe gives rise to our physical bodies, so a metaphysical reality must give rise to our spiritual nature (link this
concept to that of innate knowledge).
Plato’s basis of dualism was further developed by philosophers like Descartes (cartesian dualism): Descartes’ concept
of the ‘mal genie’ highlights that this physical world is one of change and potential corruptibility. The fact that we can
think, reason and know our own existence indicates that we have an unseen soul that is distinct from the physical
reality.
Plato presents a ‘dualism of immaterial substance’, i.e., the soul (psyche) and physical body. However, he later
decides the psyche is more complex than he first thought, and that it is divided into three parts:
1. The logical/thinking/reasoning part which seeks to learn the truth.
2. Thumos, the ‘spirited part of the psyche’, e.g., emotions, natural pugnacity, courage, righteous indignation or
righteous anger.
3. The appetitive part, i.e., the appetites for sex, food and drink.
Aristotle
Aristotle was the first serious biologist: the first to examine what allows us to live and what distinguishes us from the
rest of the animal world. He applied rational and logical thinking alongside evidence when putting forward theories.
His distinction of humans from other animals is all mainly based on biology (i.e., evidence).
For Aristotle, the soul and body are separate, but they work together. The soul ‘animates’ the body - it brings it to life,
and therefore, all life forms have a soul. The soul is what makes a thing what it is, and for humans, we have the
distinctive feature of rational thought. Aristotle distinguishes rational thought from sense perception, movement,
emotion and growth because rational thought is distinctively human, whereas all the other listed things are shared
with other animals.
, The soul in humans is that which helps us to make sense of the world. For Aristotle, the soul, because of its
metaphysical nature, grasps eternal truths and rationalises our sense experience (link this to our ability to find the
Golden Mean and how we are able (like Plato suggests) to grasp abstract and universal ideas such as goodness).
The soul is expressed through the body: the body and soul are locked together, the body being given its shape and
characteristics by the soul. The soul/mind is the essence/form of a human, an essence distinct from but inseparable
from the material body. Furthermore, what aided his conclusion in the mind/soul being separate from the body is the
following:
Aristotle proposed that there are ‘four causes’ that explain why things are as they are and do what they do:
1. What something is made from
2. The shape it takes
3. Its efficient cause (one’s parents), i.e., its direct cause
4. Its final cause (the reason why things exist)
Aristotle says that everything has a cause (cosmological argument), e.g., our efficient cause is our parents, but the
originator of all causes (or the cause of the soul) for Aristotle was the first efficient cause. This first efficient cause
must have been of soul/animator or metaphysical material to be able to cause physical things: something others call
‘God’ (but Aristotle does not call it this). From this, Aristotle was forced to concede that the rational element of the
soul can be separated from the body and can potentially survive death.
However, Aristotle does not believe in the world of the forms (unlike Plato), i.e., he does not believe that the soul
points to/connects to another world (metaphysical realm), but he does believe in abstract concepts such as justice
and goodness. He also believes that when the body dies, the animator (soul) dies, too. These beliefs of Aristotle are
useful to show how a dualistic belief does not necessarily mean a belief in an afterlife.
Plato vs. Aristotle
*Both are dualists*
Aristotle Plato
● The soul animates (gives life to) the body, so many ● Believes the body is distinct from the soul
see death as the body losing its animating principle but they are conjoined.
which made the person who they were (seen as by ● The soul will live on after death.
others). ● The soul has lived before.
● The soul and body are different things but come as a ● The soul belongs to the world of the forms,
package - they cannot be separated. not to this mundane world. It is trapped in a
● The soul/mind/psyche is the essence or form of a physical body, e.g., some look at a corpse
human being, an essence that is distinct from but also and think the soul has left, and only a shell
inseparable from the material body. remains.
● Aristotle gives a more medical view than Plato.
The difference between the two can be illustrated by an actor performing on stage. We engage with the role the actor
is playing, their actions, gestures, ambitions, etc - everything that brings out the specific ‘character’ in the pay. We
may have seen the play before, performed by different actors, but each time, the performance is distinct. The two
views would look at this differently:
● Aristotelian view - The person/soul is the character on stage. It is the mixture of words and actions that
makes us guess the character’s thoughts and anticipate their reactions. The actor is fully engaged in
performing their part, embodying the character whose lines they deliver.
○ The soul is the character an individual displays, not an actor behind the character. There is no secret
‘you’, distinct from all you do and say. Therefore, when one dies, the soul dies with them, i.e., for
Aristotle, there is no afterlife.
● Platonic view - This has a double focus: there is the part being played with the words and actions, and there is
the fact that this is not the character themself, but an actor simply playing the character.
○ The eternal soul is like the actor, with an eternal and therefore ongoing life, apart from the particular
incarnation/stage performance, i.e., for Plato, when the person dies, the soul lives on and goes to the
realm of forms because of its perfect, unchanging, and metaphysical nature.
