John Hospers explored the notion of whether we can truly separate into distinct parts the mind and the body ... such that, following death, the mind (soul) continues.
In order to dissect this line of thought, try to imagine yourself without a body. Your sensory organs are intrinsic to the notion of sensation ... sight, smell, sound, touch, taste ... these are all functions of the physical body transmitted to the brain ... and each of them can easily be disrupted even while we are alive.
So then how do we sense without them in death? Does this notion seem to imply that, as St. Thomas Aquinas argued, "the body is necessary for the action of the intellect, not as its organ of action, but on the part of the object" (Summa Theologica, Burns and Oates of Welwood, Tunbridge Wells). St. Thomas' assertion implies the necessity of a reformation of the physical form in the afterlife ... be it Heaven, Hell, or some other location.
2006-07-23
15:12:25
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6 answers
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asked by
Arkangyle
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