Open AccessComfort in Annihilation: Three Studies in Materialism and Mortality
Author(s) -
Liam P. Dempsey,
Byron J. Stoyles
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
forum philosophicum
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2353-7043
pISSN - 1426-1898
DOI - 10.35765/forphil.2010.1501.08
Subject(s) - materialism , immortality , relation (database) , philosophy , cultural materialism (cultural studies) , historical materialism , annihilation , epistemology , theology , law , political science , linguistics , physics , quantum mechanics , database , politics , computer science , new historicism , marxist philosophy
This paper considers three accounts of the relationship between personal immortality and materialism. In particular, the pagan mortalism of the Epicureans is compared with the Christian mortalism of Thomas Hobbes and John Locke. It is argued 1) that there are significant similarities between these views, 2) that Locke and Hobbes were, to some extent, influenced by the Epicureans, and 3) that the relation between (im)mortality and (im)materialism is not as straightforward as is commonly supposed.