Category: Death and Immortality
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Boethius and the Second Death of Oblivion
Substack latest
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No Exit
Vita mutatur non tollitur.
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On the Death of a Neighbor
My neighbor Ted across the street, 85 years old, died the other day. Last I spoke with him, two weeks ago, he seemed as hale and hearty as ever. Ted and I enjoyed 26 trouble-free years of neighborly, if superficial, acquaintanceship. In this world of surfaces, relationships kept conventional and superficial are often best. Not…
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It’s Later than You Think
Decay is inherent in all component things. Work out your salvation with diligence! This was the last word of the Tathagata. Mahāparinibbāna Sutta Substack latest.
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Jeffrey Long, M. D. on Near-Death Experiences (NDEs)
Here (under 5 minutes). 'Coded' as used by Dr. Long in this video clip is medical jargon. For a patient to 'code' is for the patient to suffer cardiac arrest. It is a mistake to think that if an episode of experiencing is real, then the intentional object of that episode of experiencing is also…
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A Problem for Hylomorphic Dualism in the Philosophy of Mind
Edward Feser's Immortal Souls: A Treatise on Human Nature may well be the best compendium of Thomist philosophical anthropology presently available. I strongly recommend it. I wish I could accept its central claims. This entry discusses one of several problems I have. The problem I want to discuss in this installment is whether an Aristotelian-Thomistic…
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Kierkegaard on Immortality
Substack latest.
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On Death: Subjective and Objective Views
Substack latest. Is death an evil?
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Mortalism
Does the soul die with the body? Top o' the Stack.
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Near-Death Experiences
Do they prove anything? The case of Richard Neuhaus. Substack latest.
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Fragility and Mortality
A piece of glass is fragile in that it is disposed to shatter if suitably struck. But there is no inevitability in any fragile object's ever breaking. There is no necessity that the disposition be realized. A chocolate bar is disposed to melt in certain circumstances. It has this disposition at every time at which…
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Closer to the Grave, Farther from Birth
Top o' the Stack. Wherein I ruminate upon the curious modality, necessitas per accidens.
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A Final Word to Brother Jackass
You've served me well, old friend, borne many a burden, and conducted me over many a pons asinorum. Your exuberance and animal spirits have caused me trouble, but they have also broadened and deepened my soul's experience. I too have served you well with my counsels and warnings. More than once have I saved your…
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Love and Death
A curious conjunction this February 14th: St. Valentine's Day and Ash Wednesday coincide datewise. The folly of romantic love calendrically chastened by memento mori: "Remember, man, thou art dust and unto dust thou shalt return." Memento, homo, quia pulvis es et in pulverem reverteris. This warning, from the Catholic liturgy for Ash Wednesday, is based on Genesis 3, 19: In…
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Vitals or Mortals?
At the doctor's office the sawbones' assistant takes your 'vitals.' She checks whether your blood pressure, pulse, temperature, and O2 uptake are 'within range.' None of this would be necessary if you were not a mortal man on the way to death. But the young assistant is not interested in trading witticisms with an old…