Gerda Lier
Das Unsterblichkeitsproblem
Grundannahmen und Voraussetzungen (Teil I / Teil II)
1. Edition 2010
1457 pages
ISBN 978-3-89971-764-8
V&R unipress
plus S&H
Book
The validity of five basic assumptions has been investigated, which are usually employed to reject the immortality hypothesis. These principles state that
(1) there is only the physical world, and there is no evidence for the existence of other realms of being or dimensions;
(2) it can be concluded from the facticity of the evolutionary process that life came into being without purpose or design, exclusively through mechanistic-materialistic processes;
(3) there are no rational arguments for the existence of a transcendental true reality and transcendental entities;
(4) consciousness is nothing but a product of the complexity of the nervous system, and there is no evidence for the transmission hypothesis, according to which the brain functions as a transmitter for an independent consciousness or mind, and
(5) that in the Age of Enlightenment it has been demonstrated that the notion of an immortal soul is irrational.
It is shown in detail that none of these five assumptions hold true, and that there is a good deal of evidence, albeit no compelling proof, for the independence and separability of consciousness or mind from the physical body, the post-mortem continuity of consciousness or mind, and the immortality hypothesis.