Is there life after death, what survives, and how do dualism, materialism and the resurrection of the body answer the question?
Life after death: the body and soul debate (dualism and materialism), the immortality of the soul and the resurrection of the body, reincarnation, and arguments for and against survival.
A CCEA A2 8 guide to life after death. Covers the body and soul debate (Plato's dualism, Aristotle and materialism), the immortality of the soul and the Christian resurrection of the body, reincarnation, and the main arguments for and against survival of death.
Reviewed by: AI editorial process; not yet individually human-reviewed
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What this dot point is asking
You need to explain views of life after death: the body and soul debate (dualism and materialism), the immortality of the soul and the Christian resurrection of the body, reincarnation, and the arguments for and against survival, and then evaluate them. This is a key theme of A2 8, asking whether anything survives death and, if so, what.
Dualism: Plato and Descartes
Materialism and Aristotle
Immortality of the soul and resurrection of the body
Reincarnation and the arguments
Evaluating resurrection and immortality
A model evaluation paragraph might run: "The claim that resurrection of the body is more coherent than immortality of the soul has real force: it preserves the biblical and arguably commonsense view that a person is a psychophysical unity rather than a ghost in a machine, and it avoids the notorious difficulty of explaining how an immaterial soul interacts with a physical body or retains personality without a brain. Yet resurrection faces its own coherence problem, the question of personal identity: if the original body has decayed, in what sense is the re-created person the same person rather than a perfect replica, a problem John Hick addressed with his 'replica' theory. Immortality of the soul, for its part, offers a clear continuity of the self but inherits all the difficulties of dualism, including the interaction problem and the evidence that mind depends on brain. The judgement, therefore, is that each belief faces a serious but different challenge, identity for resurrection and interaction for the soul, so neither is straightforwardly more coherent; the resurrection view fits the unity of the person better, while the soul view secures continuity more directly."
Try this
Q1. What is dualism? [2 marks]
- Cue. The view that a person is composed of a physical body and a distinct, non-physical soul or mind that can exist without the body.
Q2. Explain the difference between the immortality of the soul and the resurrection of the body. [6 marks]
- Cue. Immortality of the soul is the survival of a detached soul (dualist); resurrection of the body is God raising the whole person to new life, fitting the unity of the person.
Q3. "There is no good reason to believe in life after death." Discuss. [20 marks]
- Cue. Weigh arguments for survival (authority, near-death experiences, the demand for justice) against the dependence of mind on brain, the identity problem and the lack of evidence. Reach a judgement.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of CCEA exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
CCEA A2 8 201920 marksExamine the differences between dualist and materialist views of the soul.Show worked answer →
An A2 synoptic question, so explain both views and contrast them.
Dualism. Explain Plato's view that the soul is immortal, distinct from the
body, and survives death, and Descartes's view that mind and body are two
different substances.
Materialism. Explain that materialists (and Aristotle's hylomorphism, in a
qualified way) hold that the person is a unity, with no separable soul, so
Dawkins and others deny survival, while Christian materialists tie any
afterlife to the resurrection of the whole person.
A judgement that the views differ over whether the self can exist without
the body reaches the top bands.
CCEA A2 8 202220 marks'The resurrection of the body is a more coherent belief than the immortality of the soul.' Discuss.Show worked answer →
An A2 evaluation question, so argue both sides and judge.
Supporting the claim. Resurrection keeps the biblical unity of the person
and avoids the problems of an immaterial soul, with God re-creating the
whole person.
Challenging the claim. Resurrection faces the problem of identity (is the
re-created person the same person?), while soul-immortality offers
continuity of the self.
A judgement that each view faces a different coherence problem (identity for
resurrection, interaction for the soul) reaches the higher bands.
Related dot points
- The ontological argument: Anselm's two forms, Descartes's version, the a priori method, and the criticisms of Gaunilo and Kant that existence is not a predicate.
A CCEA A2 8 guide to the ontological argument. Covers Anselm's two forms of the argument, Descartes's version, the a priori method, and the criticisms of Gaunilo (the perfect island) and Kant (that existence is not a predicate), with modern restatements.
- Religious language: the verification and falsification challenges, the via negativa, analogy (Aquinas), symbol (Tillich), and language games (Wittgenstein), as responses to whether talk of God is meaningful.
A CCEA A2 8 guide to religious language. Covers the verification principle and the falsification challenge, and the main responses: the via negativa, analogy (Aquinas), symbol (Tillich) and language games (Wittgenstein), as ways of asking whether talk about God is meaningful.
- Miracles: definitions of miracle (Aquinas, Hume), Hume's arguments against miracles, the contradictory-claims objection, and responses defending miracles as evidence for God.
A CCEA A2 8 guide to miracles. Covers definitions of miracle (Aquinas and Hume), Hume's arguments against believing in miracles, the objection from contradictory religious claims, and responses that defend miracles and their value as evidence for God.
- The relationship between religion and morality: divine command theory, the Euthyphro dilemma, the autonomy and heteronomy of ethics, conscience, and whether morality depends on God.
A CCEA AS 7 guide to the relationship between religion and morality. Covers divine command theory, the Euthyphro dilemma, the autonomy and heteronomy of ethics, the role of conscience, and the debate over whether morality depends on God or can stand independently of religion.
Sources & how we know this
- CCEA GCE Religious Studies (2016) specification — CCEA (2016)