Outliving Death
This essay makes references to the book of which it is a part. This essay is a preview of what one might expect from my upcoming book “Reflections on Death, and Philosophy of Mind.”
As an eliminativist, or rather (what I call) the conceptual dualist (There are only the material, and concepts, which aren’t “real”), is it possible to outlive our death? One would say, and in a sense I agree, that if I don’t even exist, then of course not, as I don’t even exist now. However, I am living right now. Regardless of whether I exist. I am still animated, as we have previously looked at (in other essays/reflections of this book). So is it possible to outlive my death? My main argument is that (1) My mind is a concept. (2) Concepts outlive the material that makes them. So that therefore, (3) my mind outlives the material that creates it.
Let us start by looking at (1) My mind is a concept. I have previously written that my mind is not even really real. I don’t particularly exist, so to speak. I say this primarily because even though I give that what I consider myself as “my mind” this mind is illusory. My mind is more a number of things that culminate into what “I” (as even the “I” I use here is illusory) perceive as a mind. The mix of my senses and reasoning and memory et cetera. These combine to create a cohesive experience that I consider as my mind, and thus “me.” I call this illusion a concept because they related to other concepts in this way. Other things aren’t really “real” such as justice or love. There are characteristics that we recognize as implicative of justice or love, but they are more concepts generated by these characteristics rather than a thing in and of itself. Just as we see justice served or two people in love, but never pure justice or love itself. I wish not to fall into Plato's’ forms as I do not wish to appeal to a realm that is at best an inference to best solution because we don’t have any better means. I am utilizing Occam’s razor here in that I think my theory of concepts is the simpler answer than appealing to a perfect justice in a realm of forms.
My second premise is that (2) concepts outlive the material that makes them. As you might recall, I do consider my mind as what I actually care about as far as “me-ness” goes when we are in reference to outliving death. If I am what I think, and I write down my thoughts, then I am preserving my thoughts. If I preserve my thoughts, then the concept of me is immortalized (which is all I am really anyways.) So therefore, (4) if I am what I think, and I write down my thoughts, then the concept of me is immortalized. Me, or rather, the part of me that I care about, my thoughts, can be saved indefinitely. So long as the concept of me survives, I survive. I am just this concept in the first place, which can survive in the minds of others and so thus, I must be able to outlive my death.
The real time one dies, however, is when the memory of them, or the concept of them, fades. This is why I find it imperative to write and preserve our thoughts. I don’t exist, as I keep mentioning, but I do have a desire to keep what I care about as “me” (which is not me, “I” don’t exist) alive for as long as possible. Which is my thoughts, and I can preserve those pretty simply by means of the written word.
There is a primary rebuttal that can be made however. The one that immediately comes across is that if I don’t exist, why do I care about preserving my thoughts? My answer to this is that yes, I don’t exist, that does not mean I am not fond of the illusion. I think it comes down to a basic compulsion to preserve the “me” that I care about. In essence, one can possibly think of my idea surrounding identity as a sort of “dual identity”. There is the identity I keep in the Locke’s kind of way (of a string of psychological situations) and this self is illusory (the non self is my “true” self or nature, since there is no self). In one way, one can see the illusory self, moreso, the Sartrean way, “I” am building a self in a means of becoming. Through a series of choices and my thoughts. However, this self is illusory. I can, in other words, care about preserving my thoughts, I just also understand that “I” don’t really exist.
Another major rebuttal is one that Kagan had made previously. That outliving death is contradictory. If you are dead, that defeats the very purpose of outliving it. Outliving it would, in other words, mean that I didn’t in fact die. My response is that we do mean death of the body, for one. However, this is a low level response to a low level rebuttal, I think. This is because, simply, I don’t exist right now as it is. The “me” I care about can, in fact, survive my death. Because I am my thoughts and I can preserve those thoughts, which survive my death. Regardless of that being contradictory or not. It may require us to redefine death moreso than outliving it.
The last major rebuttal has to do with me referencing an “I.” I have been trying very hard to come across as to what I mean here, but it is a misunderstanding. Essentially, many will agree with me up until I start referencing myself. They ask “who is the ‘I’ that is observing the non-existent self?” To which I reply it is just part of the illusion. There is no observer I. This I is a reflection of the same illusory self, whenever I use the term “I” like I just did and continue to do, note that it is still illusory. The illusion is convincing, however, because it is all we have to go off of. “I” cannot explain what “I” mean without using terms such as “I” and “myself.”
So, where this leaves us is a means of outliving death. Acknowledging first a few axioms that I am my mind, as well as (1) my mind is a concept and lastly that concepts aren’t actually real. These few axioms have helped me build arguments surrounding the problem of outliving death. Primarily that concepts outlive the material that makes them. However, also that the me I care about, my mind, can be preserved. The argument is that (1) my mind is a concept. (2) Concepts outlive the material that makes them. Therefore, (3) my mind outlives the material that creates it. This has allowed me to have an understanding that “I” or rather the “I” that I care about, will outlive my death.
Want More?
This essay is one that is going to be in my new book “Reflections on Death and Philosophy of Mind” along with a few revisions for clarity. If you aren’t following me already, that would be great! I also run a facebook page five minute philosophy and you can find my first book, “The Essays: Volume 1” on Amazon. Be on the lookout for this next piece as well!
