Humanist Metaphysics: Humanism & The Afterlife
Friday May 9, 2008
Belief in an afterlife has been an important feature of many, albeit not all, religions in human history. There are many possible reasons for why such a belief might have developed, all hotly debated by scholars in different fields. What is not debated very much, however, is the fact that such a belief is certainly attractive - after all, who wants to die? The promise of being able to live on even after one's physical demise certainly has advantages.
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This also raises some interesting existentialist questions. Your statements about humanism imply that the humanist has located a worldly reason to keep on living… the questions raised by Camus’ wonderful essay about pushing a boulder up a hill come to mind.
That is, of course, one of the thorniest questions here, and one that the atheist might have to admit there is no good answer to. That doesn’t mean that the theist’s seemingly contrived reasons for living are any better! I just think it’s important to say out loud, that the questions about the afterlife and reasons for continuing to live go hand-in-hand.