[An edited version of this essay was originally published in Vol. 5 No. 2 of Skeptic Magazine in 1997. For subscription information contact: PO Box 338, Altadena, CA 91001; (626)794-3119; skepticmag@aol.com or www.skeptic.com. I have modified the text provided here since its publication by expanding my discussion of the implausibility of bodily resurrection, adding a discussion of experimental tests of mediumship, responding to attempts to make room for disembodied conscious existence while acknowledging the force of the evidence for mind-brain dependence, and including a postscript where I consider a potential challenge to my scientific case and discuss just what my case attempts to establish about survival of bodily death.]
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The Case Against Immortality
by Keith Augustine
But in the present state of psychology and physiology, belief in immortality can, at any rate, claim no support from science, and such arguments as are possible on the subject point to the probable extinction of personality at death.-- Bertrand Russell, "Religion and Science"
Defining the Problem
Is there life after death? This question has been asked since the dawn of civilization. It is arguably the most important and most personal question that can be asked in light of the realization of one's own mortality. Immortality is a complex issue dependent on several other philosophical questions which need to be addressed. A fundamental prerequisite for addressing the issue of immortality is to set the problem within its proper context.
More:
http://www.infidels....mmortality.html
