Theo Todman's Web Page - Paper Abstracts

Author’s Abstract

1. Ontological dualism is energetically resisted by a range of Christian scholars including philosophers such as Baker and Corcoran who defend accounts of human persons based on material constitution.
2. Whilst Baker’s view fails to account for diachronic identity, Corcoran’s account of life after death¹ makes use of Zimmerman’s problematic “Falling Elevator Model.”
3. It is argued that Zimmerman’s recent reassessment of the model overestimates its value for materialists². In fact, the model generates either a fatal encounter with the nature of identity, or absurdity.
4. A lack of alternatives is illustrated by anti-criterialist proposals. Thus it seems materialism³ and resurrection belief remain incompatible.