Life, Death, and Meaning

3 Credits · Level: Undergraduate

What does it mean to say we are conscious, and how is consciousness related to our brains and bodies? Could we exist even if we were not conscious? What are we anyway? Are we identical to our bodies or brains? Are we identical to a certain stream of consciousness? Do we have souls? What is a soul? Is death our annihilation, or is there some prospect of immortality? Can death harm the one who dies – and if so, how? How does knowledge of our eventual death affect our lives? How should it? Is it right to bring people into existence, knowing the conditions into which we would bring them? Does life have a meaning? If so, what is it? Is there something absurd about the human condition? Would an immortal life be more or less meaningful than a finite life? These are some of the questions we will address in this course.