What value has an idea of immortality that includes the certainty of personal death?

This essay hasn't yet been marked by one of our teachers

You can view 5 essays on Philosophy and Theology that have been Marked by Teachers

The first 200 words of this essay...

What value has an idea of immortality that includes the certainty of personal death?

D.Z. Phillips

Immortality as an existence after death. Is the existence afterward physical or non-physical? Immortality of the soul in connection with divine interception and providence. Answers to these questions are reasons (proposed by Phillips) why our society conforms itself the way it does. "a reason why we should be good" (Phillips 1970:41). Phillips suggests that the notion of immortality is the product of mistakes; "Mistakes about the grammar of concepts such as 'self', 'I', 'existence', 'death', personal identity', etc., and mistakes about the characteristic roles of moral considerations." (Phillips 1970:41). However are these conclusions mistaken? Belief in immortality of the soul linked with moral considerations and beliefs. Belief in the immortality of the soul does not necessarily mean a belief in (bodily) survival after death. Phillips believes that to truly understand immortality one must understand the language surrounding it. "The experience, indeed, which takes place through expression." (Phillips quoting D.M. MacKinnon 1970:42). Links to Wittgenstein. He also proposes that the terms used when arguing for the immortality of the soul and the belief in it, are too narrow. Christian belief and its eternal