The Argument Of Death And The Afterlife

Improved Essays
Death and the afterlife has long been a debate in history and philosophy. In his book “What does it all mean?”, Nagel focused a chapter on discussing whether the afterlife might or might not exist. Famous philosopher Socrates also explained his belief in the afterlife in Plato’s “Phaedo”. While sharing some of the ideas, the two thinkers have different arguments and stances on the issue. This paper aims to compare the two philosopher’s argument, and provide an argument towards the question of whether the afterlife exists.
In his book, Nagel did not specifically argue for whether the afterlife exists or not. Instead, he thought the answer depends on whether dualism of mind and body is true or not. If dualism is true, then the soul exists, and
…show more content…
He offered mainly three arguments supporting his view. He argued since life is cyclical, and the living comes from the dead, and since the soul is the bringer of life, it has to come from the realm of the dead in order to harbor life. When life ends, the soul should return to the realm of death. This cycle means the soul must persist through life and death, thus the existence of the afterlife. He then strengthened this argument with his theory of recollection – since true knowledge cannot be found in the physical world, it can only come from another realm. When we learn, he argued, we were recollecting knowledge from beyond this world and even the past lives, ergo the soul must persist through death for knowledge to be obtained. The third argument he offered was the Forms – the absolute, true concept of the thing in discussion. He claimed everything living partakes in the Form of Soul, similar to beautiful items partaking in the Form of Beauty. Since the Soul is life, and life cannot be death, Soul cannot be death, thus soul cannot …show more content…
Socrates’ argument for immortality assumes the existence of the other world and that life must be brought upon by something. It did not explain why life has to come from the dead, why life is cyclical, why must knowledge only be obtainable outside of this world, how the soul obtains such knowledge, and why do Forms exist. For instance, Aristotle would disagree on the argument of the Forms, in that he argues the Form would not be able to account for changes. As Nagel suggested, the existence of the afterlife depends on whether the soul exists or not. While, even with modern science, we cannot explain the phenomenon of the consciousness or free will, properties a soul exhibits, but we have not yet seen any prove of the existence of the soul either. Nagel suggested the existence of the afterlife hinges on the existence of the soul, however Socrates has assumed the existence of the soul prior to his arguments. Given, Socrates’ soul means the life force of an object, unlike our understanding of the soul as a ghostly driver of the mind, but the same objection can still be applied. Why must the life force be the active participant in bringing upon life, then returning to the unknown as the living dies? As Socrates himself would said, our senses cannot be trusted. Perhaps our sense of consciousness and living is instead the passive consequence of the physical world. Like Simmias and Nagel’s

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    It describes the final conversations between Socrates and his close friends before he is put to death. The entire dialogue focuses on the matter of death and what happens to our souls after we die. Socrates presents four arguments to prove the immortality of the soul, one of which is the “Argument from Opposites,” in which he conveys that all things come to be in existence from their opposites. This is Socrates’ first argument that he presents, and although it is supported with great detail, it lacks the support that is necessary to prove that the soul is immortal. Socrates uses an extensive amount of contradictory opposites to support his claim such as sleeping and waking up, and faster and slower, however these do not properly compare to being alive and being dead because they are contrary opposites.…

    • 1169 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Abdulkabir Adejumo Professor Escalante PHILO 1301 11/2/2017 Response Paper 1 “Do We Survive Death?” In this interesting chapter, James Rachels starts by uncovering the philosophy of Socrates about the immortal soul. At that point, he utilizes the scientific argument to conflict with Socrates' conclusion about the presence of the soul as a piece of the human body.…

    • 925 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Firstly, my spiritual belief is one of the cultural lenses that I believe has majorly affected my view on the dispute of life after death. When I was sixteen years old, I made the biggest and dare I say, the greatest decision in my life, which was: receiving my Lord Jesus Christ. Because of my faith, I believe that once you die, you either go to heaven or you go to hell. Secondly, one of the cultural lenses that I believe has molded the attitude I have towards work ethic is my race.…

    • 267 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Epicurus Argument Analysis

    • 1802 Words
    • 8 Pages

    In Nagel’s Death, he states, “Death, no matter when it occurs, can be said to deprive its victim of what is in the relevant sense a possible continuation of life.” (Nagel 80) Nagel then gives the example of man who, despite the common agreement that a person’s lifespan is around 100 years, only takes his life into account and can see an open-ended possible future. “Viewed in this way, death, no matter how inevitable, is an abrupt cancellation of indefinitely extensive possible goods.” (Nagel 80) This means that any person will perceive their death as bad, no matter what age it hits them at and what society deems as normal, because it would be better to have lived…

    • 1802 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Socrates Soul Analysis

    • 731 Words
    • 3 Pages

    However, Socrates is still unsure; he still believes that the soul could be one entity rather than split into three. So to prove it he states that each part of the soul…

    • 731 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    In this journal entry, I will try to summarize the entire article and then start again from the beginning to describe each important point. I will also share my thoughts and personal opinion on each important topic. I have chosen the article with the title "Life After Death" written by William L. Rowe and taken from the publication Philosophy of Religion. As a whole, I would say that this article is a balanced and informative piece on the arguments for and against an after- life. The article even goes on to show the arguments on what, if there is an afterlife, that might be like.…

    • 1409 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In the two texts that we read in class, Plato, Phaedo, and Lucretius, Nature of Things, both Socrates and Lucretius try to reassure us that we should not be afraid of death. In Plato, Phaedo, Phaedo is telling the story of Socrates’s final hours from being their first hand. In Lucretius, Nature of Things, Lucretius’s telling his view on religious issues and how he got to his view, poetic skills, and study on scientific phenomena. Both Socrates and Lucretius have different arguments on why we should not be afraid of death. Socrates and Lucretius would have their own responses to each other 's argument if they were to reply to each other.…

    • 1540 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Socrates’s Argument on Death The topic of death frightens human beings for several reasons because of the speculation and the anxiety that surround death. Even though most people fear death, philosophers such as Socrates argue that there is no valid reason to fear death (Ahrensdorf 1995). According to 5Socrates, death is a blessing in the context of the relocation of the soul. Socrates avers that death is something that people should not fear and provide several arguments to validate his argument.…

    • 1190 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The “cyclical argument” of the Phaedo imparts the ideology Socrates had in regard to the immortality of the soul and his views about death, which he was about to face himself. Among a gathering of his most faithful followers, his friends are astonished that Socrates is not desolate about his ill fate, but rather, he is delighted with it. Socrates proclaims that the life of a philosopher is merely a preparation for death since the mind is most pure when the pressures of the body is felt least. He even informs them that he believes in the soul and the afterlife. After his friends vocalized their skepticism of his beliefs, he begins a discourse in which he attempts to prove the immortality of the soul.…

    • 1048 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    I believe that, by using Socrates’ own arguments, we can see that the soul cannot, in fact, be deathless. Socrates says that the soul is what gives the body life: “what is it that, present in a body, makes it living? – A soul” (Plato, Phaedo, 105d). So, it seems that, without the soul, the body itself would be lifeless. If the soul is the only thing that gives the body life, then how is it possible for us to die?…

    • 1675 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In my opinion Thomas Nagel offers a more convincing argument on death and it is something that I believe in that death is bad for us, because of the reason that our lives are taken from us. Nagel’s examples regarding the 99 year old person dying and the 14 year old kid dying, and his coma assumption are both very persuasive. The question of “Where do we go after we die?” will forever be an unknown question because it will never be possible to fully know what will happen until you actually…

    • 912 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The Argument for the Immortality of the Soul When Socrates and Meno are halted in their argument by a paradox, Socrates proposes a new idea that will solve the paradox and continue their conversation. He states that the soul is immortal and it has learned everything in past lives. Thus, what men call learning is actually a process of recollection. I will first be giving context as to how this idea came into the dialogue with Meno. Next, I will explain how he puts the same idea forward in Phaedo and then noting the differences between the two dialogues.…

    • 1885 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    For in Plato’s Phaedo, the soul is understood to merely be harbored in the body for a brief period. According to the Argument from the Form of Life, the soul, as being what gives life to a body, is the form of life thereby and cannot admit the opposite form, which is death (Plato 105D). Hence, the soul is indeed deathless (Plato 105E). We can see that the establishment of a kind of dualism motivates this argument. The soul is successful characterized as completely distinct and separate from the body.…

    • 1885 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Great Essays

    In this argument, Plato suggests good things come from bad, and that souls are therefore born from the dead (Plato 11). Plato’s fourth argument deals with how we gain our knowledge. Plato believes each person already has knowledge, but at birth we forget all the information we have learned in our previous life (Plato 16,17). Through new experiences and the right triggers, individuals recall the information from the past life. Since the sense experience for one to recall this information had to be within us before birth, Plato argues that this is why the soul is continuous (Plato 17).…

    • 1561 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The meaning of life is a highly controversial topic among humans; one that has been debated for centuries. A particular philosopher, Thomas Nagel, has a certain idea about what the meaning of life. However, I do not agree with his position. Essentially, he believed that life has no meaning and that there is no rationale that could be given to it in order to make it meaningful. Nevertheless, even if everything we do in life will be forgotten, that does not mean humans cannot find meaning in their everyday life.…

    • 908 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays