Self after Death: A Thought Experiment

If you live on in some form after your physical body dies, how will you know you are you?

The idea of an afterlife brings up an interesting philosophical topic, the nature of personal identity. We do not need to affirm belief in an afterlife to consider the topic; instead, we can look on it as a thought experiment. All this is speculative, of course, but apparently the transition from one form of existence, the physical, to another, whatever that may be, involves shedding layers of what we might call our self. The more that are shed, the closer the remainder would be to the essence of selfhood.

In this seminar we will look at the three aspects to the self defined by William James: the material, the social and what he calls the "spiritual," which nowadays we should rather call the mental or psychological. If we still exist after the physical self goes away, what will be left? I'll present my ideas and then we'll have an open discussion.

Note -- this is not a discussion of whether or not there is an afterlife. It's just a thought experiment using that idea.

If you want a preview of the ideas I'll present, see my essay "Self after Death" at https://www.bmeacham.com/blog/?p=1978.