Open AccessA note on Huemer’s Claim to immortality
Author(s) -
IngeBert Täljedal
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
principia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.176
H-Index - 4
eISSN - 1808-1525
pISSN - 1414-4247
DOI - 10.5007/1808-1711.2020v24n3p657
Subject(s) - immortality , incarnation , argument (complex analysis) , philosophy , infinitesimal , contradiction , epistemology , limit (mathematics) , equating , mathematics , infinity , theology , mathematical analysis , chemistry , reading (process) , biochemistry , linguistics
According to Huemer (2019), existence is evidence of immortality, provided past time is infinite. The argument is based on, inter alia, an alleged contradiction between the fact of one’s existence now and its improbability. I suggest that Huemer’s argument is flawed in equating the infinitesimally small with its limit value, and in assuming a philosophically significant difference between the a priori probability of the occurrence of a unique incarnation and that of anyone among an infinite number.