One of the thirteen chapters from "Problems from Philosophy" that I find interesting is Chapter 4. Do We Survive Death? The idea of the immortal soul poses an argument of morality that determines how we live our lives. Are we obligated to live morally and ethically based on what happens to our soul after death? Generally people behave based on their faith. If one believes in life after death they tend to be aware of and responsible for thier behaviors with the fear consequence. Some religions teach that a life lived with disregard to it's tenets will burn in a firey hell while others teach reincarnation over and over till a soul reaches enlightmenment. Some people who may not adhere to any particular faith may behave in a manner of total disregard for ethics and morality without any fear of consequence.
Chapter 6. Body And Mind also interests me for some of the same reasons. Are our bodies and minds seperate from one another? The separation of body and mind suggests that we have another level of consiousness to be responsible for. Is our mind the same as our soul? Or are we simply the result of all of our life experiences processed by a computer like mechanism, a brain. In order to live spiritually in nature we have to be able to think outside of concrete experience. If the two are separte what is our obligation to the soul/mind? Do we serve a higher purpose other than our simple daily existence? What actually makes a human being happy?
1 comment:
S,
Very interesting questions, I like how you connect Morality to your second chapter. Was last Thursday's discussion about chapter 2 what you thought it would be? That is, do the arguments in the chapters do justice to the topics?
:) Karla
P.S. Could you post a brief passage, in a separate post, about what you think Philosophy is? Then we can compare what you think it is now, to what you learn about it through the semester. Thanks. :)
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