Death with Shelly Kagan

5. Arguments for the existence of the soul, Part III: Free will and near-death experiences

Death (PHIL 176)

Professor Kagan discusses in detail the argument of free will as proof for the existence of an immaterial soul. The argument consists of three premises: 1) We have free will. 2) Nothing subject to determinism has free will. 3) All purely physical systems are subject to determinism. The conclusion drawn from this is that humans are not a purely physical system; but Professor Kagan explains why this argument is not truly compelling. In addition, near-death experiences and the Cartesian argument are discussed at length.

00:00 – Chapter 1. The Dualist’s Stance on Free Will and the Soul’s Existence
04:57 – Chapter 2. Determinism and Free Will Cannot Coexist — Inspecting Incompatibility
15:22 – Chapter 3. Positing the Soul’s Existence for Near-Death Experiences
28:14 – Chapter 4. Does a Physical Understanding of Supernatural Phenomena Exist?
36:33 – Chapter 5. Introduction to Descartes’s Cartesian Argument: The Mind and the Body Are Not the Same
45:34 – Chapter 6. Conclusion

Complete course materials are available at the Yale Online website: online.yale.edu

This course was recorded in Spring 2007.