Notions Of Afterlife Concept In Modern Philosophical Worldview

Abstract

This paper aims at developing and introducing an onto-epistemological concept of afterlife in a modern philosophical worldview. In particular, it leads to expanding the scientific instrumentation in knowledge of being. The authors define three relational models, which form the concept of afterlife in accordance with axiological social communities’ constants: the mortal, the future, and the middle models. Social-worldview models are based on philosophical notions “purpose of life” and “purpose of death”. The main aspect of the mortal model of the afterlife concept is ignorance of religious sense, confirmation of creature comforts and death inevitability. The future model has the priority of spiritual values and the total denying of material ones. The middle model comprises the spiritual and material balance of values. The authors construct the Afterlife worldviews (ALW) concept and classify it into anthropocentric ALW, theocentric ALW and anthropotheocentric ALW. These notions give the possibility to see the historical Afterlife worldviews development as dialectic conformity of ALW opposite’s abrogation in the diachronic structure of the social-historic process. The paper uncovers theoretical categories such as a category of binarity and a category of ternarity in an evolution of the notions of afterlife. Furthermore, evidences of dialectic change of these three models are studied from the perspective of ontology and epistemology.

Keywords: Afterlife conceptthe mortal modelthe future modelthe middle modelbinarityternarity

Introduction

The post-mortem existence is an important component of any religious and philosophical teachings. Since prehistoric times, people began to create and explore the areas of the region beyond the grave. One of the objective reasons for this was an attempt to explain the world around them, and the organization of human being. The phenomenon of death is the starting point of religious and philosophical discussions concerning the notions of afterlife. Development of these notions is carried out gradually - from simple forms to more complex systems. Afterlife worldviews (ALW) were created on the basis of modelling. The primitive man modelled the future life according to mortal life. The man of the Middle Ages and the man of the early modern period complicated the already existing systems of afterworld realms. The man of the twentieth century had destroyed these systems, but returned to it again in the new century. The evolution of ideas about the post-mortem existence intervened under the influence of philosophical and religious thoughts, which led to a complication of already existing ontological components of the afterworld (Antonenko, 1986; Hick, 1994).

At first sight, a philosophical worldview differentiates the being of the mortal life completely and gives consideration to the social realm as a stable system of essential elements in its interconnection with the person. However, only the mortal life is determined in an ontological perspective, while the problem of post-mortem existence does not have necessary scientific reviewing. As a result, the modern philosophical worldview seems incomplete.

ALW is a central and important element of the philosophical worldview, which is inseparable from human existence. The individual models of the afterworld are consciously (not accidentally) as a reflection of mortal life in particular variations. The practical result of such activities is regulation (and in some cases, self-regulation) of human moral standards; his capacity for collective life and inner reflection of reality. Since the person is in strictly defined boundaries of mortal existence, cognizability of the being is possible on a tract between two diametric poles: the pole of life and the pole of death. Understanding life is impossible without understanding death, and vice versa. They are dialectically interdependent. Thus, the ALW defining elements and, consequently, a philosophical worldview are the terms of “the meaning of life” and “the meaning of death”. These terms throughout a history have not formally changed, but their basic and substantial constituent is varying evolutionarily. This process is reflected in the diversity of the ALW models, their types and kinds. To identify these changes means to trace the dynamics of the development of the philosophical worldview.

In the modern era of falling axiological imperatives, an understanding of life is one of the most significant problems in scientific, philosophical and religious perspectives. Human life as the highest value is most fully concentrated in the philosophical and religious worldviews. In a non-religious worldview, life as an axiological substrate has value by selfhood. Outside the correlation with the post-mortem existence, life is considered within the strict boundaries of mortal existence, thus, it appears only in a narrow range of lifetime events and phenomena - life ceases existing with death coming. The philosophical (as of religious) worldview defines life by its objective existence in a dialectical connection with the death. The latter is not a prerequisite for the breakdown of existence of life . Its existence is determined by the existence of free boundaries. The notion of "the meaning of life" is the formative unit of the philosophical worldview. To create an ontologically full and meaningful model of the world, it is necessary to examine not only the existence of a man on earth, but afterlife existence simulated by him/her, which, in turn, is a reflection of the mortal life. Most scientific philosophical papers are considering the concept of “death” as an opposition to the concept of “life”. The aforementioned linking element of notions is lost under this approach and it leads to the problem of introduction of “life” and “death” concepts into the modern philosophical worldview. Mortal life must be seen in connection with the future life (Moltmann, 1993; Rose, 2010).

Problem Statement

Currently, a philosophical worldview is pluralistic. It has some elements and concepts. ALW is an essential concept of the modern philosophical worldview. ALW is not represented in science and, therefore, it requires a theoretical elaboration and implementation. There are such notions as the meaning of life and the meaning of death which form ALW. In this meaning, the philosophical worldview appears as a unity of three composite notions (the meaning of life, the meaning of death and ALW). ALW should be integrated into the modern philosophical worldview as a necessary concept of ontology. The implementation of the concept will allow us to trace human thought cyclicality from binarity to ternarity, from ternarity to binarity, etc., based on the ontology of existence after death.

The aim of the paper is to determine the onto-epistemological patterns of development of ALW models in the process of dialectical evolution.

Research Questions

Purpose of the Study

The problem of the post-mortem existence is interdisciplinary; it is philosophical in its base. This issue can be studied from different points of view: religious studies, phenomenology, anthropology, history, sociology, culturology, theology etc. From philosophical point of view, the issue of the post-mortem existence is considered to be in common categories and notions, while some other sciences use highly tailored terminology for study of one or another side of an object or a subject of research. In the network of ontology and epistemology, the post-mortem existence is actually important for the definition of the being structure and its cognition in categorical forms. Research promotes the enrichment of theoretical means for the philosophical worldview study, in particular, the human being. From the practical viewpoint, it promotes spiritual and moral development of an individual and society.

The aim of the paper is theoretical development of the ALW models in the dialectical field of categories “binarity” and “ternarity” and analysis of essential elements (purpose of life and purpose of death) inside the onto-epistemological category of ALW.

Research Methods

General scientific methods of analysis and synthesis were widely used in this paper as well as the comparative method. The dialectical method was also used, which was expressed in the law of unity and a struggle of opposites, the law of double negation. The modelling method was also applied for creation and theoretical definition of the ALW models; the method of the historical analogy was used for finding common features in different historical eras. The evolutionistic approach was also used. According to it, all phenomena including notion of the post-mortem existence develop from the simple to the complex. To achieve the objectives of the scientific research, system and structure-functional approaches were applied.

Findings

Terminological analysis of the notion “worldview” allows one to determine the existing problematic fields of ontology. The category “philosophical worldview” is defined as incomplete and demanding scientific improvement. Non-inclusion of the scientific category “Afterlife worldviews” (ALW) into the modern onto-epistemological framework is considered as a starting point of this statement. The ALW category substantially supplements the category “philosophical worldview” and completes it. As one of the most important onto-epistemological elements, ALW expands philosophical instrumentality of complete definition and cognition of being.

Philosophical notions “purpose of life” and “purpose of death” are determinative elements of ALW. They are associated with each other coherently and they are considered not in opposition, but dialectically, in the unity of opposites. “Purpose of life” and “purpose of death” are integrated into the purpose of life social-worldview models. These models are in dialectic opposition (the mortal model is denied by the future model) and interacts with each other simultaneously (synthesis of two models leads to origin of the third one, the middle model). They are integrated into ALW as meaning making functional units that allow one to study ontological bases of afterlife, as well as individual’s mortem existence, in greater detail.

Philosophical categories “binarity” and “ternarity”, which are the basic elements of afterlife being cosmology, determine an evolutionary trend of human reflection development. Reflection evolution is a constant change of binary thinking with ternary, ternary thinking with binary and vice versa. The rate of thinking types change depends on social, religious, cultural, political and other factors that touch on the human being.

Conclusion

The afterlife worldviews concept is a part of the philosophical worldview. At present the philosophical worldview considers being from the perspective of individual’s mortem existence without his afterlife being. The analysis of sources (philosophical, mythological, apocryphal, Talmudic, gnostic and other views) allows maintaining the inconsistency of this thesis. In the evolutional profile, an ancient man and a modern man determine the spirit afterlife differently, but both of them note the influence of dead on existence of living. For example, ancient Slavs believed in necessity to soften their ancestor, otherwise misfortune could happen (the similar views can be found by other ancient folks). In the Middle Ages, a Christian prayed for dead on certain days and performed funeral rites in their honour. The modern man dismythologizes death, but continues performing funeral rites or rites of protection etc. Death cannot be considered as non-existing as it directly affects human mortem existence and regulates his life. In this meaning, death is otherness, an included element of ontological categories. The dialectical bond of life and death is reflected in synthesis of mortem and afterlife existence. As a result, afterlife being integrates into mortem existence. These two ontological systems are in the constant mutual correlation process. The philosophical worldview is the result of infinite correlation of the mortem and afterlife ontology.

ALW is a key category of afterlife ontology in particular and of the philosophical worldview in the whole. Structure-substantial keys of ALW are social-worldview models based on philosophical notions “purpose of life” and “purpose of death”. Dialectical correlation of these categories leads to orgin of social-worldview models variability of the purpose of life. Similar to mutual negation, there are the mortal and the future afterlife concepts. As a result of the synthesis of two opposite models, the middle model of afterlife concept arises. These models are involved into ALW as meaning making functional units that allow one to research ontological bases and structure changes of afterlife being through the direct bound with individual’s mortem existence. The ALW models are divided into three kinds according to concepts: mortal, future and middle. Similar to individual’s afterlife concepts, ALW models are divided into: anthropocentric, theocentric and anthropotheocentric. The mortal (anthropocentric) ALW model is formed by an individual as complete (or partial) equivalence to the mortem existence. According to this model, a man continues his life in the next world keeping all his mortem needs. His existence modus, deeply personal, is out of god. The future model of the afterlife concept is formed by an individual as negation of mortal life, as a new form of otherness. Personal modus of existence changes in co-existence with god. The middle model of ALW combines anthropocentrism of the mortal model and theocentrism of the future model in it. Depending on individual’s mortem life, anthropocentrism of the middle model assumes both existence with god and existence out of divine modus.

Models change under the principle of dialectic evolution, dialectic struggle of two opposite types of thinking: binary and ternary. Evolution of thought is a constant change of binary types of thinking with ternary and vice versa. The change rate of these types depends on social, religious, cultural, political and other factors that directly touch on human existence. Based on the types of thinking, categories “binarity” and “ternarity” define social ontology and make up types of the ALW models. The binary definition of social ontology forms the binary ALW model: social stratification is determined as two-partial and includes two categories “a saint” and “a sinner”. According to these categories, there are categories of developed afterlife ontology: “paradise” and “hell”. The ternary definition of social ontology makes up the ternary ALW model: social stratification is determined as a three-partial system of categories “a saint”, “a sinner” and “not-a-saint-nor-a-sinner”.

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