(Hindi) Philosophy of Religion: UPSC

Arguments for immortality 1- Near-death experience: NDEs are common patterns of events associated with impending death. They include sensations like- fear, serenity, presence of light, traveling through a tunnel, heightened spiritual awareness, leaving the body & meeting other persons or supernatural beings Virtually everyone who has had an NDE has concluded that there is life after death

based on what they saw or felt. They could be illusions/ delusions /hallucinations, but following elements of the experiences support it: experienced by persons from diverse backgrounds and belief systems - there are common characteristics to the experiences - experiences are sometimes quite specific with info unavailable to them 2- Resurrection: Some religions- eg. Judaism, Christianity- believe that our physical bodies will be resurrected from the dead. Eg. Jesus' resurrection Nature of God: For most theist like- Aquinas, Madhva, God is infinitely good, loving & just. As such, God won't create humans with the longing we all have, such as life after death, & let them stay eternally unsatisfied. Furthermore, if you love someone, you would not want them to cease to exist Since God loves us perfectly, he would not want us to cease existing. So God will ensure our eternal existence. Nature of soul: Philosophers have argued for immortality based on the indestructible nature of soul. Plato: If we practice philosophy in the right way, we can be cheerful in the face of death. The soul of the one who rightly practices philosophy is immortal since it is pure and simple (has no parts) & cannot be destroyed 3- 4- Arguments against immortality: 1- Dependence of consciousness on brain: -For a human self to be conscious, he or she needs a live, physical brain. -But physical brain dies when physical body dies. Therefore, self dies when body dies. -Hence, human cannot be immortal. 2- Personal identity: If souls continued to exist disembodied after the death of body, what made them unique, individual entities? 3- Eternal miserv: Even given the existence of a loving & gracious God, post-mortem existence may not be desirable; it may be boring/ tedious or even horrifying Eternal life might be boring, pointless & unfulfilling. Heaven could be hell. What could a never-ending life be like such that it would be eternally enjoyable? Perhaps there's no answer, it could be miserable.