Immortality, in philosophy and religion, the indefinite continuation of the mental, spiritual, or physical existence of individual human beings. In many philosophical and religious traditions, immortality is specifically conceived as the continued existence of an immaterial soul or mind beyond the physical death of the body.
Read More on This Topic
Christianity: The immortality of the soul
Human beings seem always to have had some notion of a shadowy double that survives the death of the body. But the idea of the soul as a
The earlier anthropologists, such as Sir Edward Burnett Tylor and Sir James George Frazer, assembled convincing evidence that the belief in a future life was widespread in the regions of primitive culture. Among most peoples the belief has continued through the centuries. But the nature of future existence has been conceived in very different ways. As Tylor showed, in the earliest known times there was little, often no, ethical relation between conduct on earth and the life beyond. Morris Jastrow wrote of the almost complete absence of all ethical considerations in connection with the dead in ancient Babylonia and Assyria.
In some regions and early religious traditions, it came to be declared that warriors who died in battle went to a place of happiness. Later there was a general development of the ethical idea that the afterlife would be one of rewards and punishments for conduct on earth. So in ancient Egypt at death the individual was represented as coming before judges as to that conduct. The Persian followers of Zoroaster accepted the notion of Chinvat peretu, or the Bridge of the Requiter, which was to be crossed after death and which was broad for the righteous and narrow for the wicked, who fell from it into hell. In Indian philosophy and religion, the steps upwardor downwardin the series of future incarnated lives have been (and still are) regarded as consequences of conduct and attitudes in the present life (see karma). The idea of future rewards and punishments was pervasive among Christians in the Middle Ages and is held today by many Christians of all denominations. In contrast, many secular thinkers maintain that the morally good is to be sought for itself and evil shunned on its own account, irrespective of any belief in a future life.
That the belief in immortality has been widespread through history is no proof of its truth. It may be a superstition that arose from dreams or other natural experiences. Thus, the question of its validity has been raised philosophically from the earliest times that people began to engage in intelligent reflection. In the Hindu Katha Upanishad, Naciketas says: This doubt there is about a man departedsome say: He is; some: He does not exist. Of this would I know. The Upanishadsthe basis of most traditional philosophy in Indiaare predominantly a discussion of the nature of humanity and its ultimate destiny.
Immortality was also one of the chief problems of Platos thought. With the contention that reality, as such, is fundamentally spiritual, he tried to prove immortality, maintaining that nothing could destroy the soul. Aristotle conceived of reason as eternal but did not defend personal immortality, as he thought the soul could not exist in a disembodied state. The Epicureans, from a materialistic standpoint, held that there is no consciousness after death, and it is thus not to be feared. The Stoics believed that it is the rational universe as a whole that persists. Individual humans, as the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius wrote, simply have their allotted periods in the drama of existence. The Roman orator Cicero, however, finally accepted personal immortality. St. Augustine of Hippo, following Neoplatonism, regarded human beings souls as being in essence eternal.
The Islamic philosopher Avicenna declared the soul immortal, but his coreligionist Averros, keeping closer to Aristotle, accepted the eternity only of universal reason. St. Albertus Magnus defended immortality on the ground that the soul, in itself a cause, is an independent reality. John Scotus Erigena contended that personal immortality cannot be proved or disproved by reason. Benedict de Spinoza, taking God as ultimate reality, as a whole maintained his eternity but not the immortality of individual persons within him. The German philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz contended that reality is constituted of spiritual monads. Human beings, as finite monads, not capable of origination by composition, are created by God, who could also annihilate them. However, because God has planted in humans a striving for spiritual perfection, there may be faith that he will ensure their continued existence, thus giving them the possibility to achieve it.
The French mathematician and philosopher Blaise Pascal argued that belief in the God of Christianityand accordingly in the immortality of the soulis justified on practical grounds by the fact that one who believes has everything to gain if he is right and nothing to lose if he is wrong, while one who does not believe has everything to lose if he is wrong and nothing to gain if he is right. The German Enlightenment philosopher Immanuel Kant held that immortality cannot be demonstrated by pure reason but must be accepted as an essential condition of morality. Holiness, the perfect accordance of the will with the moral law, demands endless progress only possible on the supposition of an endless duration of the existence and personality of the same rational being (which is called the immortality of the soul). Considerably less-sophisticated arguments both before and after Kant attempted to demonstrate the reality of an immortal soul by asserting that human beings would have no motivation to behave morally unless they believed in an eternal afterlife in which the good are rewarded and the evil are punished. A related argument held that denying an eternal afterlife of reward and punishment would lead to the repugnant conclusion that the universe is unjust.
In the late 19th century, the concept of immortality waned as a philosophical preoccupation, in part because of the secularization of philosophy under the growing influence of science.
More:
Immortality | philosophy and religion | Britannica.com
- Messages of Hope from a 2,800 Year Old Man [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: April 4th, 2010]
- Kumbh Mela 2010 - the Festival of Immortals [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: April 18th, 2010]
- Census Finds 157 Year Old Woman in Indonesia [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: June 13th, 2010]
- Happy 130th Birthday Antisa Khvichava ! [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: July 9th, 2010]
- Anyone Have Any Samples of These Ancient Symbols / Letters? [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: July 21st, 2010]
- Is this a 2,500 Year Old Coin? [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: July 26th, 2010]
- Knights Templar Benediction [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: August 7th, 2010]
- My Interview on the Mysterious Universe has Been Posted. Where is the Evidence? [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: October 11th, 2010]
- Time Traveler in Charlie Chaplin Film [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: November 7th, 2010]
- Time Traveler in Charlie Chaplin Film - Last Update [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: November 28th, 2010]
- Remote Viewing - Remote Sending Update [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: December 11th, 2010]
- Eating Out vs Eating In [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: December 13th, 2010]
- Better Ways to Answer “How are You?” [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: December 13th, 2010]
- She’s in Fashion [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: December 13th, 2010]
- Major Book Status Update [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: September 18th, 2011]
- Celine Dion - Immortality [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: October 10th, 2011]
- Pearl Jam - Immortality [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: October 10th, 2011]
- Immortality [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: October 12th, 2011]
- DJ Fresh 'The Immortal' - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: October 13th, 2011]
- "Highlander (1986)" Theatrical Trailer #1 - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: October 14th, 2011]
- DJERV ~ IMMORTAL - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: October 14th, 2011]
- Solitary Experiments - Immortal (Single Edit) (Video) - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: October 14th, 2011]
- MyGrain - Of Immortal Aeons music video HD - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: October 15th, 2011]
- Pearl Jam - Immortality (London '09) HD - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: October 15th, 2011]
- Blade of the Immortal - Criminal - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: October 15th, 2011]
- My Immortal, a very dramatic reading of chapter 17. - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: October 15th, 2011]
- Can a blood test really tell you when you'll die? [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: October 16th, 2011]
- Seeking immortality - Doctor Who - BBC classic sci-fi - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: October 16th, 2011]
- Blade of the Immortal - Conquest - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: October 16th, 2011]
- Harry Potter -Immortal - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: October 16th, 2011]
- Michael Jackson THE IMMORTAL World Tour by Cirque du Soleil - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: October 17th, 2011]
- Immortal (2004) Part 1 - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: October 17th, 2011]
- [New]Thomas J. Bergersen - Immortal - Two Steps From Hell (2011) - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: October 19th, 2011]
- StarCraft 2 - Immortal Quotes - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: October 20th, 2011]
- Immortal (Adema) - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: October 21st, 2011]
- City Of The Fallen - Immortality (From Volume 2 - Exsilium) - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: October 27th, 2011]
- Freddy Krueger's Immortality - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: October 27th, 2011]
- Immortal Technique - the prophecy - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: November 5th, 2011]
- The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot - Official Trailer - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2011]
- Immortal Serpent - Morgana (2006) - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2011]
- ATMA - IMMORTAL BRILLIANCE - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: November 13th, 2011]
- Immortal - The Rise of Darkness - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: November 16th, 2011]
- 18. The badness of death, Part III; Immortality, Part I - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: November 16th, 2011]
- 7. Plato, Part II: Arguments for the immortality of the soul - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: November 16th, 2011]
- Immortal Technique - Death March *Lyrics - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: December 1st, 2011]
- My Immortal; The Series Part 1! - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: December 7th, 2011]
- DDM - Immortal - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: December 7th, 2011]
- Pearl Jam - Immortality (SBD) - 4.12.94 Orpheum Theater, Boston, MA - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: December 23rd, 2011]
- Happy Rhodes - Bee Gees' Immortality (New Haven house gig) - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: December 28th, 2011]
- Justin Beener COH vs Landa ARB @ Battles for Immortality 1 - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: January 9th, 2012]
- 'Immortality' by Coca Brew - High Risk [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: January 9th, 2012]
- Minecraft - "The Fountain of Immortality" Episode 1 - YU No Lever? - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: January 9th, 2012]
- Minecraft: The Fountain Of Immortality Part 1 - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: January 9th, 2012]
- jlhe's IMMORTALITY AND UTOPIA DELUSIONS - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: January 9th, 2012]
- Let's Play - Fountain of Immortality - Ep.1 - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: January 9th, 2012]
- My Immortal - Chapter Thirty Seven - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: January 9th, 2012]
- Immortal Antichrist - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: January 9th, 2012]
- The GUNN Shop - EpicMealHat | Immortal | Pool Sex | The Last of Us - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: January 9th, 2012]
- IMMORTALITY AND THE PROGRAM OF AGING - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: January 9th, 2012]
- Immortality - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: January 9th, 2012]
- Immortal HD Plays Facade - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: January 9th, 2012]
- Two Steps From Hell - Immortal Avenger (Nero) - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: January 9th, 2012]
- Two Steps From Hell - Immortal Avenger (Archangel) - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: January 9th, 2012]
- Physical immortality conquering death - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: January 9th, 2012]
- The (R)evolution of Immortal Technique (Trailer #1) [2011] Official Documentary - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: January 9th, 2012]
- Evanescence - My Immortal lyrics - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: January 9th, 2012]
- Alfredo EEK vs Juan HyE @ Battle for Immortality 1 - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: January 10th, 2012]
- Dannyy vs Alex @ Battle for Immortality 1 - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: January 10th, 2012]
- Oscar COH vs Vampiro @ Battle for Immortality 1 - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: January 10th, 2012]
- Troll Science IRL 1 - Immortality in 3 simple steps - Troll physics/logic/science - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: January 10th, 2012]
- Kurl-e LK vs Alexisz MTUSA @ Battle for Immortality 1 - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: January 10th, 2012]
- [Battlescape]Immortality | Saturday Trip 07/01/12 - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: January 10th, 2012]
- Lord Vadermort is Immortal - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: January 10th, 2012]
- [110709] Immortal Song 2 Hongki , Heechul ( no edit) - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: January 10th, 2012]
- The Spektrum - Diatharna Thoron (The Seeds of Immortality) - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: January 11th, 2012]
- Johnny EDU vs Rango @ Battle for Immortality 1 - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: January 11th, 2012]
- Lil Rex LK vs Pato @ Battle for Immortality 1 - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: January 11th, 2012]
- Troy - Achilles Speech - Video [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: January 14th, 2012]
- Djokovic closes in on sporting immortality [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: January 29th, 2012]
- Belichick and Brady playing for Super Bowl immortality [Last Updated On: August 17th, 2024] [Originally Added On: January 30th, 2012]