Surviving Death

Nonfiction, Religion & Spirituality, Theology
Cover of the book Surviving Death by Mark Johnston, Princeton University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Mark Johnston ISBN: 9781400834600
Publisher: Princeton University Press Publication: January 4, 2010
Imprint: Princeton University Press Language: English
Author: Mark Johnston
ISBN: 9781400834600
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Publication: January 4, 2010
Imprint: Princeton University Press
Language: English

In this extraordinary book, Mark Johnston sets out a new understanding of personal identity and the self, thereby providing a purely naturalistic account of surviving death.

Death threatens our sense of the importance of goodness. The threat can be met if there is, as Socrates said, "something in death that is better for the good than for the bad." Yet, as Johnston shows, all existing theological conceptions of the afterlife are either incoherent or at odds with the workings of nature. These supernaturalist pictures of the rewards for goodness also obscure a striking consilience between the philosophical study of the self and an account of goodness common to Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism, and Buddhism: the good person is one who has undergone a kind of death of the self and who lives a life transformed by entering imaginatively into the lives of others, anticipating their needs and true interests. As a caretaker of humanity who finds his or her own death comparatively unimportant, the good person can see through death.

But this is not all. Johnston's closely argued claims that there is no persisting self and that our identities are in a particular way "Protean" imply that the good survive death. Given the future-directed concern that defines true goodness, the good quite literally live on in the onward rush of humankind. Every time a baby is born a good person acquires a new face.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

In this extraordinary book, Mark Johnston sets out a new understanding of personal identity and the self, thereby providing a purely naturalistic account of surviving death.

Death threatens our sense of the importance of goodness. The threat can be met if there is, as Socrates said, "something in death that is better for the good than for the bad." Yet, as Johnston shows, all existing theological conceptions of the afterlife are either incoherent or at odds with the workings of nature. These supernaturalist pictures of the rewards for goodness also obscure a striking consilience between the philosophical study of the self and an account of goodness common to Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism, and Buddhism: the good person is one who has undergone a kind of death of the self and who lives a life transformed by entering imaginatively into the lives of others, anticipating their needs and true interests. As a caretaker of humanity who finds his or her own death comparatively unimportant, the good person can see through death.

But this is not all. Johnston's closely argued claims that there is no persisting self and that our identities are in a particular way "Protean" imply that the good survive death. Given the future-directed concern that defines true goodness, the good quite literally live on in the onward rush of humankind. Every time a baby is born a good person acquires a new face.

More books from Princeton University Press

Cover of the book Following the Wild Bees by Mark Johnston
Cover of the book Noir Urbanisms by Mark Johnston
Cover of the book The Ladder of Jacob by Mark Johnston
Cover of the book Creating Symmetry by Mark Johnston
Cover of the book A Lot of People Are Saying by Mark Johnston
Cover of the book What Is the Present? by Mark Johnston
Cover of the book Marking Time by Mark Johnston
Cover of the book Birds of New Guinea by Mark Johnston
Cover of the book On Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations by Mark Johnston
Cover of the book The Monotheists: Jews, Christians, and Muslims in Conflict and Competition, Volume II by Mark Johnston
Cover of the book A Confucian Constitutional Order by Mark Johnston
Cover of the book The Origin Then and Now by Mark Johnston
Cover of the book Balancing the Banks by Mark Johnston
Cover of the book Climate Change Justice by Mark Johnston
Cover of the book Mimesis by Mark Johnston
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy