2. This week’s aims
To explain and evaluate Dawkins’ views on life after death
To discuss whether belief in life after death helps to solve the problem of evil
To review the module content in preparation for a mock exam in January

3. What you need to know: Ideas about body and soul:
Plato
Aristotle
John Hick
Richard Dawkins
(Rene Descartes – disembodied existence)
Different views about life after death:
Resurrection
Reincarnation
The relationship between the afterlife and the problem of evil

4. Life and death: key questions
Is a ‘person’ a body or a soul/mind?
Is there such a thing as a soul/mind?
Personal identity
How are body and soul/mind connected?
Mind/body problem
Which part of a person survives death?
Is there any evidence of life after death?
Life after death

5. Life and Death, p.73 What is monism? What is dualism?
What is materialism?

6. Key philosophers, p.74 The soul is the real person:
‘The body is the source of endless trouble to us’
The mind could exist without the body:
‘I think therefore I am’
The soul gives the body life
but it cannot survive death
Resurrection of the body is logically possible:
Three scenarios about disappearance / reappearance
The feeling of being conscious is produced
by processes in the brain

7. Dawkins https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pR7e0fmfXGw Materialist
DNA survival
Humans are physical
The mind is the brain

8. Criticisms of Dawkins Is Dawkins criticising a ‘straw man’?
Dawkins compares belief in God to the belief that there is teapot orbiting the planet Pluto

9. Are Dawkins’ views coherent?
Yes No
Booklets, p.82-84

10. Life After Death
The Problem of Evil

11. Past exam question
‘Theories of life after death do not provide a solution to the problem of evil.’ Discuss [35]
What is the problem of evil?
How might belief in life after death help to solve the problem?
Resurrection:
Reincarnation:
Summum Bonum:

12. Life after death and the Problem of Evil
The theodicies use free will to explain the existence of evil
But many people question this idea and ask why good people suffer if God is just
The solution could be life after death
Perhaps we could justify innocent suffering in this life if we have faith in another life where people will be judged and then punished or rewarded
Luke 16:19 – 31

13. Specialist Subject: Life and Death
Begin
Specialist Subject: Life and Death

14. Name two famous dualists1

15. What is materialism? 2

16. According to monism, what happens to our souls when our body dies?3

17. What is the problem of personal identity?4

18. Explain Plato’s argument from knowledge5

19. According to Aristotle, what is the soul?6

20. Why did Descartes doubt the physical world?7

21. What is disembodied existence?8

22. 9 Hick’s replica theory describes three
strange scenarios, but what is his point
concerning the problem of personal
identity? 9

23. To what strange belief does Dawkins
compare religious belief? 10

24. To which religious belief is Hick’s theory
similar? 11

25. Explain Ryle’s criticism of dualism
(the cricket team example) 12

26. Group Presentations – 30 minutes to prepare
In twos / threes:
Use the textbooks and booklets to research your topic
Produce a wonderful poster / drama and then present it to the rest of the class
Everyone in the group must be involved in the presentation

27. Group Presentations
Explain and evaluate Plato’s argument from the cycle of opposites and his argument from knowledge
Critically evaluate Aristotle’s views concerning body and soul
Explain and evaluate Descartes’ dualism
Explain and evaluate Hick’s replica theory, focusing on criticisms from Penelhum and Williams
Explain and evaluate Dawkins’ biological materialism
Critically compare reincarnation and resurrection – which view makes more sense?

28. Group 1: Plato Explain and evaluate: Dualism The Theory of the Forms
The soul as a charioteer
The argument from the cycle of opposites
The argument from knowledge
Peter Geach’s criticisms of Plato

29. Group 2: Aristotle Explain and evaluate: Monism
The relationship between form and matter
The four causes
Different types of souls
Criticisms of Aristotle’s view
Is monism more convincing than dualism? Why?

30. Group 3: Descartes Explain and evaluate:
Descartes’ three waves of doubt
‘I think therefore I am’
Ryle’s critique of dualism (the ghost in the machine / a category mistake)
Points in favour and against dualism

31. Group 4: Hick Explain and evaluate: Hick’s materialism
Three scenarios to show that resurrection of the body is logically possible
The Replica Theory
Resurrection
The Problem of Identity
Criticisms from Penelhum and Williams

32. Group 5: Dawkins Explain and evaluate: Biological Materialism
The Selfish Gene
The dangers of religion
The challenge of Darwinism to traditional religious belief
Criticisms of Dawkins – does he misrepresent / misunderstand religious belief?

33. Review questions
Critically compare Aristotle's and Richard Dawkins' views on body soul identity.
Critically assess the views of John Hick and Plato on the distinction between body and soul.
‘Philosophical beliefs about life after death are incoherent.’ Discuss.

34. Past question
Evaluate the claim that the soul is distinct from the body (35 marks)
Explain dualism (Plato, Descartes)
Argue for dualism (problem of identity, Plato’s arguments, reincarnation, Descartes’ doubts)
Argue against dualism (Geach, Ryle, Dawkins)
Things to discuss:
Is the soul the real person?
Is knowledge just about remembering?
Is there any persuasive evidence of past life experiences?
Do doubts about the physical world show that the soul is more ‘real’ than the body?
Could we exist without our bodies?

35. Homework
Log into Moodle and click on A2 Ethics and Philosophy – Homework and Assignments. Look at the twelfth block that says 12: Atheism. Look at / read at least three links.
Answer the question on p.94:
How convincing is the argument that life after death helps to solve the problem of evil?
Make a glossary of key terms for the life after death topic
Revise for the mock exam in January