more from this thinker
|
more from this text
Single Idea 5722
[filed under theme 29. Religion / D. Religious Issues / 2. Immortality / a. Immortality
]
Full Idea
If spirit is immortal and can remain sentient when divorced from our body, we must credit it with possession of five senses; but eyes or nostrils or hand or tongue or ears cannot be attached to a disembodied spirit.
Gist of Idea
For a separated spirit to remain sentient it would need sense organs attached to it
Source
Lucretius (On the Nature of the Universe [c.60 BCE], III.624)
Book Ref
Lucretius: 'On the Nature of the Universe', ed/tr. Latham,Ronald [Penguin 1951], p.115
A Reaction
This is a powerful argument against immortality. If you are going to see, you must interact with photons; to hear you must respond to compression waves; to smell you must react to certain molecules. Immortality without those would be a bit dull.
The
36 ideas
with the same theme
[survival of the human soul after death]:
5883
|
Pherecydes was the first to say that the soul is eternal
[Pherecydes, by Cicero]
|
7469
|
There is no hereafter in the Book of Job
[Anon (Job), by Watson]
|
7467
|
The modern idea of an immortal soul was largely created by Pythagoras
[Pythagoras, by Watson]
|
8233
|
Imagine fire burning up your whole body, but not you
[Anon (Cent)]
|
1513
|
The Egyptians were the first to say the soul is immortal and reincarnated
[Herodotus]
|
20915
|
The soul is destroyed with the body
[Democritus, by Ps-Plutarch]
|
363
|
Whether the soul pre-exists our body depends on whether it contains the ultimate standard of reality
[Plato]
|
146
|
Soul is always in motion, so it must be self-moving and immortal
[Plato]
|
24037
|
We all assume immortality is impossible
[Aristotle]
|
20829
|
Virtuous souls endure till the end, foolish souls for a short time, animal souls not at all
[Stoic school, by Eusebius]
|
6039
|
Stoics say virtuous souls last till everything ends in fire, but foolish ones fade away
[Stoic school, by ]
|
7482
|
Resurrection developed in Judaism as a response to martyrdoms, in about 160 BCE
[Anon (Dan), by Watson]
|
5888
|
Souls are born, since they are sensitive and inherited, so they must perish
[Panaetius, by Cicero]
|
5720
|
Spirit is mortal
[Lucretius]
|
5722
|
For a separated spirit to remain sentient it would need sense organs attached to it
[Lucretius]
|
5725
|
An immortal mind couldn't work harmoniously with a mortal body
[Lucretius]
|
23360
|
Each of the four elements in you is entirely scattered after death
[Epictetus]
|
5765
|
The reward of the good is to become gods
[Boethius]
|
1863
|
If the soul achieves well-being in another life, it doesn't follow that I do
[Aquinas]
|
23306
|
Humans have a non-physical faculty of reason, so they can be immortal
[Aquinas, by Sorabji]
|
2378
|
Belief in an afterlife is based on poorly founded gossip
[Hobbes]
|
7831
|
Spinoza's theory of mind implies that there is no immortality
[Spinoza, by Stewart,M]
|
21876
|
After death, something eternal remains of the mind
[Spinoza]
|
12912
|
Immortality without memory is useless
[Leibniz]
|
21296
|
If all of my perceptions were removed by death, nothing more is needed for total annihilation
[Hume]
|
21797
|
Immortality does not come at a later time, but when pure knowing Spirit fully grasps the universal
[Hegel]
|
2916
|
The great lie of immortality destroys rationality and natural instinct
[Nietzsche]
|
24180
|
We just see immortality as prolongation of life, making death meaningless
[Weil]
|
23902
|
I attach little importance to immortality, which is an undecidable fact, and irrelevant to us
[Weil]
|
7354
|
The main doctrine of the Pharisees was belief in resurrection and the afterlife
[Johnson,P]
|
7349
|
Immortality based on judgement of merit was developed by the Egyptians (not the Jews)
[Johnson,P]
|
6709
|
Western religion saves us from death; Eastern religion saves us from immortality
[Graham]
|
7818
|
In Greek mythology only heroes can go to heaven
[Grayling]
|
7817
|
To make an afterlife appealing, this life has to be denigrated
[Grayling]
|
5505
|
For Aristotle the psyche perishes with the body (except possibly 'nous')
[Martin/Barresi]
|
7468
|
In ancient Athens the souls of the dead are received by the 'upper air'
[Watson]
|