WVC Philosophy 21

World Philosophers on Death

Catalog Description
This course explores major philosophical questions about death and the meaning of life from a multicultural perspective. Major questions include: the possibility of disembodied existence, the nature of consciousness, the nature and significance of individuality and personal identity, concepts of reincarnation or transmigration of souls, the nature and significance of so-called "para-normal" experiences, and the meaning of salvation or liberation or transcendence (concepts of heaven, nirvana, moksha, satori, etc.). Required readings will be taken from classic texts of both Eastern and Western philosophy and religion, as well as feminist philosophy of religion, and studies of African, Australian aborigine, and native American sources. Contemporary American death rituals of various cultures will also be analyzed. This course fulfills the WVC graduation requirement in Cultural Diversity/Intercultural Studies (Area F).

Prerequisite
Recommend eligibility for English 1A

Text
No department requirement. The following have been used:

• Daniel Bonevac and Stephen Phillips, Understanding Non-Western Philosophy (good general introduction; cheap)
• Valentino Braitenberg, Vehicles (materialist conception of personhood)
• David Chidester, Patterns of Transcendence: Religion, Death, and Dying (used for a similar class at SJSU; multicultural emphasis)
• Ciraulo, Don, World Philosophers on Death
• Antony Flew, Body, Mind, and Death (classic Western sources, including Plato, Aristotle, Lucretius, Descartes, Hobbes, Locke, Hume, Ryle, Putnam)
• Stephen Levine, Who Dies? (Hindu-Buddhist emphasis)
• Terence Penelhum, Survival and Disembodied Existence
• John Perry, A Dialog Concerning Personal Identity and Immortality
• Leo Tolstoy, The Death of Ivan Illyich

Course Objectives

1. The student should be able to recognize and explicate the major themes of world thinking about death and salvation.
2. The student should be able to apply the techniques of logical analysis to these views, particularly philosophical problems associated with survival and disembodied existence.
3. The student should be able to explain how different religious, philosophical, and cultural perspectives on death and dying affect the general world-views of people of different cultures, and of different cultures within America.
4. The student should develop an appreciation and respect for diverse cultural perspectives on these issues.

Course Content

I. INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHICAL
 ISSUES ABOUT DEATH				2 weeks

Common views about death that constitute the 
"raw material" for philosophical reflection, such as: 
-- body dies, but soul continues to exist;
-- individual persons do not die, since the seat of 
    personal identity and individuality is soul, 
    which is immortal; 
-- the fate of the soul after death is determined 
    by the "law of the deed" (karma, or 
    "as you sow, so shall you reap");
-- the atheist or materialist view
Philosophical method
Why all common views about death pose 
    philosophical problems
Argument and counterargument
Writing essays in philosophy
Considering what some people call "empirical evidence" 
   for life after death: near-death experiences, 
   astral projection, spiritualism, channeling, ghosts, 
   and other so-called "para-normal" phenomena 
Alternative philosophical perspectives: faith 

II. MIND AND BODY				4 weeks

Different metaphysical systems construe death 
in different ways: 
-- Dualism (Plato, Descartes, Christianity, Islam, 
   many tribal religions) 
-- Idealistic monism (most Hinduism, especially 
    Vedanta, many tribal religions)
-- Materialist monism (Charvaka, Stoicism, 
    existentialism)
-- Questions that do not edify (Buddhism, 
    logical positivism)
The mind-body problem in Western philosophy
Feminism and the body
Native American views of the body

III.  CONSCIOUSNESS/SOUL - OPPOSING ARGUMENTS	2 weeks

Individual consciousness is something really 
   important: the Christian/Islamic/Jewish conception
Individual consciousness is not anything: Hume, 
    Vedanta, Buddhist doctrine of anatta, existentialism, 
    connectionism in cognitive science

IV.  INDIVIDUALITY AND PERSONAL IDENTITY	3 weeks

What exactly makes me me? 
Is body essential to personal identity?
Alternative conceptions of identity: 
-- African Akan  
-- Buddhist doctrine of "5 aggregates"
-- Hindu jiva vs Atman
-- Hume
-- Feminist perspectives; identity constituted by 
    connection (Gilligan)

V. ALTERNATIVE CONCEPTIONS OF SALVATION,
   LIBERATION, TRANSCENDENCE			3 weeks

Reincarnation (transmigration) of souls
-- Reincarnation and caste (class)
-- The relative insignificance of death in a 
    world-view that includes reincarnation 
Resurrection of the body
Christian fundamentalism: the rapture
Muslim paradise of sensual delight
Various conceptions of hell
Native American "happy hunting ground" or
    return to Mother Earth (eco-feminism)
No-soul, extinction of desire, freedom from re-birth
Liberation now (Zen, existentialism)
Ancestral transcendence 
    (Native American, African, Confucian)

VI. DYING AND DEATH RITUALS			3 weeks
Mormon baptism of the dead
Mardi Gras
Funerals and burial practices of various religious 
     and ethnic groups in America, including 
     practices associated with AIDS deaths
The Egyptian Book of the Dead
The Tibetan Book of the Dead

General Requirements
Completion of required reading and final exam. Other requirements are determined by instructor. These may include completion of one or more papers, oral reports, other written exams, journal assignments, participation in class discussion, etc.

Evaluation
In accordance with Title V regulations, there must be at least one substantial (greater than one paragraph) writing assignment. Generally evaluation is based primarily on written papers and essay examinations.

Suggested Instructional Methods and Materials
Primarily lecture and discussion. These can be supplemented by films, videos, guest speakers, class debates, etc., as deemed appropriate and desirable by the individual instructor.