PHILOSOPHY ON BASE

Bertrand Russell says, “It is not rational arguments but emotions that cause belief in a future life.” This implies that a truly rational person would not believe in a life beyond death. Yet, Plato and Radhakrishnan are both very rational philosophers who believed in life after death, specifically, reincarnation. In this DQ put forth your best arguments for or against life after death based on rational reasons alone. Put aside religious beliefs unless you can gather reasons and evidence to back them up. Your initial or main post needs to be about 200 words long and consider both pro and con arguments. You may state which arguments you think are the strongest and emphasize those, but, if you are completely undecided, then state that. Further recommended web sites are listed in Unit 1 to help you formulate the arguments. This discussion, as well as DQ 1, closes six days from the beginning of the course (Sat 6/17). 

Putting aside religious beliefs and refuting the B. Russell argument that it is pure emotion that requires people to believe that there is life after death is propositional in context. Death and life are both verbs and a pernicious prepositional is placed before a substantive indicting its relationship to the action (Sartre). The act of dying is substantial and seemingly permanent fixed residence, at least to Russell. The action word of eternal life after death is a prepositional phrase. The act of being or going to someplace after death. Can an action take place if the object stays fixed? The transition must physically move from location to location, from life to death. Dying is the process of in rout to a place.  

Being several places at once is only possible from an omnipotent point of view.  An object with physical mass must by definition is either here or there. The Christians teach that god is omnipotent and can be everywhere simultaneously, but that the devil is only capable of being in one place at a time.  Russell points out that the death of the body is a transformation of the matter of the physical being.  He indicates that there is a physical atomic structure in place which is part of an irrefutable law of dynamics; I think that the Stoics also came up with the atomic theory of sub-particles. The philosophy of constant change is quite old and was pre Socrates’. 

Russell statement concerning ‘nutriment, waste and atomic change fall in line with scientific and materialistic thinking.  His essay speaks of the appearance and behavior of habit and the fact that memory has no a prior existence of which I do not agree as the autonomic system in the human body require constant functionality.  

Life after death gives Russell a bad time because he bases his belief system on scientific evidence.  Russell is a mathematical calculator; he likes to equate matter in a numerical models.  Memory and habit are in constant flux in Russell thinking therefore he concludes that matter is transformed into waste after death.  The brain is bound in a structure of habit and memory and he likens this to a river which flows through a fixed course until some physical change occurs and alters the course of the river. He is in tune with what the
Darwin evolutionist believe that humans evolve in respose to their environment. So as creatures of habit or habitat we live and die with the physical world and that the brain is only there to use as a tool for survival.  The fear of death is the most prevalent emotion humans have according to Russell. The Christians have used this fear to manipulate people into a social order.  He cites that Mohammad reinforce this theory in a pugnacious
Paradise where his military use this as a lever to fight on the battle field.  

Russell said that the Bishop is governed by intelligent purpose and believes that the universe has been composed and governed by intelligence with a purpose, as a circle is a perfect geometric curve so is the intelligence which governs people. 

Russell purports that the natural forces are indifferent to people and that the universe has a different purpose than that of the human.  The idealist thinking is erroneous and far fetched. The Nietzsche argument of right and wrong has no validity in Russell’s universe.  The church doctrine of good and evil does not exist.  Therefore it permits gross acts to get the wealth and power nationalism is seeking; he cites Hitler and Mussolini as examples of this action. 

Russell see life as a struggle with the natural forces and that it is being played out in a physical universe and that the battle field is where decisions are made of lasting consequence.  The geographical boundaries are drawn on maps as a result of battle field victories or defeats, and people live within those boundaries. 

Russell has a strong position as a philosopher who believes that life end at death but his position is open for argument on the issues of spiritualism and belief powers such as reincarnation.  The Gnostic Christians were radical ascetic and believed that a person should set their mind on that are above, not on things that are on earth.