Life and Death: Philosophical Reflections

This book examines a number of philosophical questions connected to the nature of life and death, including the origin of life, whether death harms, the possibility and evidence for afterlife, whether immortality is desirable, and the mind-body problem as it relates to many of these. The approach taken is intentionally broad, pointing out where naturalistic and theistic worldviews part company on ,hese issues. I take the view that the job of philosophy is to set out the "costs" and commitments of taking various positions, and I try to do that fairly, although I also try to show where I stand on some of them. The book was written for college undergraduates, but I believe it has something to offer to the interested general reader too. It presupposes no prior knowledge of contemporary philosophy and presents many arguments and counterarguments in a simplified, schematized form.