John Hick1922 – 1912, Birmingham, Christian Philosopher

Hick’s rejection of substance dualism

• Christian theologian John Hick (Born in Yorkshire 1922) rejects the traditional belief in body-soul dualism by essentially adopting a materialist position and arguing that this does not weaken the possibility of life after death!

Double trouble …

QUESTIONS:

• How would you feel if you had a double? • If it was possible for you to die, and to then create an exact replica of yourself, would that person still be you?

Hick’s replica theory

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Replica theory and life after death

• In Death and Eternal Life, Hick argues that God can recreate the whole person in another realm after death.

• ‘The concept of mind or soul is thus not that of a ‘ghost’ in a machine but of the more flexible and sophisticated ways in which human beings behave and have it in them to behave’

Replica theory and life after death

• In Death and Eternal Life, Hick argues that God can recreate the whole person in another realm after death.

• ‘I wish to suggest that we can think of it as the divine creation in another space of an exact psycho-physical ‘replica’ of the deceased person’.

Discuss

• What questions does Hick’s replica theory give us?

• Read through the information sheet on Hick.

• Stop and answer the questions.

• Discuss strengths and weaknesses

Plenary

• Write down three things you know now that you didn’t know at the beginning of the lesson