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7 - Life after Death

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 March 2020

Clifford Williams
Affiliation:
Trinity International University, Illinois
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Summary

Chapter 7 continues unpacking the enhancement thesis with a focus on life after death: believing in life beyond death can enhance the meaning of life. It can do so because with life after death there is a larger context, there is an additional virtue, namely, hope, the urge to “transcend” oneself can be satisfied better, and existential boredom can be cured. This chapter, too, ends with an “existential move”: those who do not believe in life beyond death should be distressed by the thought that there is no life after death. The chapter responds to Bernard Williams’s claim that an eternal afterlife would be boring, and it discusses the existential harm of death with extinction.

Type
Chapter
Information
Religion and the Meaning of Life
An Existential Approach
, pp. 112 - 134
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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  • Life after Death
  • Clifford Williams, Trinity International University, Illinois
  • Book: Religion and the Meaning of Life
  • Online publication: 23 March 2020
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108377317.008
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  • Life after Death
  • Clifford Williams, Trinity International University, Illinois
  • Book: Religion and the Meaning of Life
  • Online publication: 23 March 2020
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108377317.008
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Life after Death
  • Clifford Williams, Trinity International University, Illinois
  • Book: Religion and the Meaning of Life
  • Online publication: 23 March 2020
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108377317.008
Available formats
×