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Originally Posted by mysterygal  Why do people believe in an afterlife? How could our consciousness survive after death? Our brain is what makes up our personality. For example, if a person suffers brain damage they will become a different person. They may not be able to talk, they may become delayed. So, which version of the person goes to heaven? The person prior to the accident, or the person after? You see we never stay they same person. We are constantly changing. There is NO possible way human beings so called "souls" could move on to the after life. No brain = no person. Once our brain dies, what is their to sustain our personalities? We are the sum of our personality. Once our personalities die, so do we. So, how could you go to the afterlife if you are no long you anymore. Exactly you can't. What makes me "me" is my personality. If you get rid of my personality what is left? Nothing. Can someone explain to me how they can believe they go on to the after life if their brains die. |
It's quite simple. One would deny that the self is equivalent to ones personality. It's the materialist, or those who subscribe to a materialist based metaphysic (mental states follow brain states), who asserts that ones personality is ones self. So assuming this at the outset certainly rules out the survival hypothesis ("life after death")
by definition. That is to say you are effectively begging the question.
And of course not only must one literally be a different self from, say, when you were 10 compared to now as an adult, but since our personality can change from one hour to the next (you might get in a bad mood for example) this will mean you are now literally a different self to what you were an hour ago. But if is so why plan for the future at all? Indeed why look forward to going out tonight since it won't literally be you experiencing the night out?