The myth of an afterlife : the case against life after death

著者

• Martin, Michael

書誌事項

The myth of an afterlife : the case against life after death

edited by Michael Martin and Keith Augustine

Rowman & Littlefield, c2015

• : cloth : alk.paper

注記

Includes bibliographical references and index

内容説明・目次

内容説明

Because every single one of us will die, most of us would like to know what-if anything-awaits us afterward, not to mention the fate of lost loved ones. Given the nearly universal vested interest in deciding this question in favor of an afterlife, it is no surprise that the vast majority of books on the topic affirm the reality of life after death without a backward glance. But the evidence of our senses and the ever-gaining strength of scientific evidence strongly suggest otherwise. In The Myth of an Afterlife: The Case against Life after Death, Michael Martin and Keith Augustine collect a series of contributions that redress this imbalance in the literature by providing a strong, comprehensive, and up-to-date casebook of the chief arguments against an afterlife. Divided into four separate sections, this collection opens with a broad overview of the issues, as contributors consider the strongest evidence of whether or not we survive death-in particular the biological basis of all mental states and their grounding in brain activity that ceases to function at death. Next, contributors consider a host of conceptual and empirical difficulties that confront the various ways of "surviving" death-from bodiless minds to bodily resurrection to any form of posthumous survival. Then essayists turn to internal inconsistencies between traditional theological conceptions of an afterlife-heaven, hell, karmic rebirth-and widely held ethical principles central to the belief systems supporting those notions. In the final section, authors offer critical evaluations of the main types of evidence for an afterlife. Fully interdisciplinary, The Myth of an Afterlife: The Case against Life after Death brings together a variety of fields of research to make that case, including cognitive neuroscience, philosophy of mind, personal identity, philosophy of religion, moral philosophy, psychical research, and anomalistic psychology. As the definitive casebook of arguments against life after death, this collection is required reading for any instructor, researcher, and student of philosophy, religious studies, or theology. It is sure to raise provocative issues new to readers, regardless of background, from those who believe fervently in the reality of an afterlife to those who do not or are undecided on the matter.

目次

Foreword by Steve Stewart-Williams Preface 1. Introduction Keith Augustine PART 1 EMPIRICAL ARGUMENTS FOR ANNIHILATION Introduction to Part 1 2. Dead as a Doornail: Souls, Brains, and Survival Matt McCormick 3. Explaining Personality: Soul Theory versus Behavior Genetics Jean Mercer 4. Dissolution into Death: The Mind's Last Symptoms Indicate Annihilation David Weisman 5. The Argument from Brain Damage Vindicated Rocco J. Gennaro and Yonatan I. Fishman 6. No Mental Life after Brain Death: The Argument from the Neural Localization of Mental Functions Gualtiero Piccinini and Sonya Bahar 7. The Neural Substrate of Emotions and Emotional Processing Carlos J. Alvarez 8. Brain, Language, and Survival after Death Terence Hines 9. The Brain that Doesn't Know Itself: Persons Oblivious to their Neurological Deficits Jamie Horder 10. The Dualist's Dilemma: The High Cost of Reconciling Neuroscience with a Soul Keith Augustine and Yonatan I. Fishman PART 2 CONCEPTUAL & EMPIRICAL DIFFICULTIES FOR SURVIVAL Introduction to Part 2 11. Why Survival is Metaphysically Impossible Raymond D. Bradley 12. Conceptual Problems Confronting a Totally Disembodied Afterlife Theodore M. Drange 13. What Could Pair a Nonphysical Soul to a Physical Body? Jaegwon Kim 14. Nonphysical Souls Would Violate Physical Laws David L. Wilson 15. There is No Trace of Any Soul Linked to the Body David Papineau 16. Since Physical Formulas are Not Violated, No Soul Controls the Body Leonard Angel 17. The Implausibility of Astral Bodies and Astral Worlds Susan Blackmore 18. The Pluralizability Objection to a New-Body Afterlife Theodore M. Drange 19. Life After Death and the Devastation of the Grave Eric T. Olson PART 3 PROBLEMATIC MODELS OF THE AFTERLIFE Introduction to Part 3 20. Problems with Heaven Michael Martin 21. Can God Condemn One to an Afterlife in Hell? Raymond D. Bradley 22. Objections to Karma and Rebirth: An Introduction Ingrid Hansen Smythe PART 4 DUBIOUS EVIDENCE FOR SURVIVAL Introduction to Part 4 23. Giving Up the Ghost to Psychology Rense Lange and James Houran 24. Out-of-Body Experiences are not Evidence for Survival Susan Blackmore 25. Near-Death Experiences are Hallucinations Keith Augustine 26. A Critique of Ian Stevenson's Rebirth Research Champe Ransom 27. Is There Adequate Empirical Evidence for Reincarnation? An Analysis of Ian Stevenson's Work Leonard Angel 28. Conjecturing Up Spirits in the Improvisations of Mediums Claus Flodin Larsen 29. Madness in the Method: Fatal Flaws in Recent Mediumship Experiments Christian Battista, Nicolas Gauvrit, and Etienne LeBel 30. Is There Life After Death? A Review of the Supporting Evidence David Lester Index About the Contributors

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詳細情報

• NII書誌ID(NCID): BB26825605
• ISBN:
  • 9780810886773
• LCCN: 2014039697
• 出版国コード: us
• タイトル言語コード: eng
• 本文言語コード: eng
• 出版地: Lanham
• ページ数/冊数: xxxi, 675 pages
• 大きさ: 24 cm
• 分類:
  • LCC : BL535
  • DC23 : 129
• 件名:
  • LCSH : Future life