Title:
Arguments for the existence of the soul, Part III: Free
Speaker:
Shelly Kagan
Subject:
Death, Free will and near-death experiences
Area:
Philosophy
Type of school:
university
School name:
yale
Country:
United States
Course language:
English (United States)
Course media:
Video
Course duration:
Contributor:
jakob sandvad
Comments:
PHIL 176: Death (Spring, 2007)Lecture 5 - Arguments for the existence of the soul, Part III: Free
will and near-death experiences
Overview:
Professor Kagan discusses in detail the argument of free will as proof for the existence of an immaterial soul. The argument consists of three premises: 1) We have free will. 2) Nothing subject to determinism has free will. 3) All purely physical systems are subject to determinism. The conclusion drawn from this is that humans are not a purely physical system; but Professor Kagan explains why this argument is not truly compelling. In addition, near-death experiences and the Cartesian argument are discussed at length.
Reading assignment:
How to Write a Philosophy Paper [text]
Schick, Theodore and Lewis Vaughn. "Near-Death Experiences." In How to Think About Weird Things. New York: McGraw Hill, 2005. pp 307-323