What Is It Like To Be Immortal?

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Published: Dec 30, 2019
DOI: https://doi.org/10.33392/diam.1264
Keywords:
metaphysics, death, immortality, phenomenology, consciousness

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Joseph Ulatowski
University of Waikato
http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3019-1269

Abstract

The idea of an eternal and immortal life like the one we lead now seems quite appealing because (i) it will be sufficiently like our own earth-bound life and (ii) we will have the same kinds of desires we have now to want to live an eternal life.  This paper will challenge the view that we have a conception of what the conscious experience of an immortal is like, regardless of whether we might want to live it. Given that for us to conceive of an immortal life we must project onto it our own view of what it is like to live our own life and given that an immortal life may not be anything like the life we live, we cannot conceive of what it is like to be immortal.

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How to Cite
Ulatowski, Joseph. 2019. “What Is It Like To Be Immortal?”. Diametros 16 (62), 65-77. https://doi.org/10.33392/diam.1264.
Issue
Vol. 16 No. 62 (2019)
Section
Articles
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Author Biography

Joseph Ulatowski, University of Waikato

Joseph is Senior Lecturer and Convenor of Philosophy, and Director of the Experimental Philosophy Research Group, at the University of Waikato, New Zealand.
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