What does it take to believe in death... Part 3

Part of "What does it take to believe in death" series...
by Spiros Kakos

1. What does it take to believe in death... Part 1
2. What does it take to believe in death... Part 2
3. What does it take to believe in death... Part 3

4. What does it take to believe in death... Part 4

Part 3...

II. The concept of Identity

Besides the belief in the notion of Change we analyzed in the 2nd Part, believing in the notion of death (in a way that means the complete extinction of our body and spirit from the world) also requires someone to believe in the notion of "Identity" as well. To believe that someone is dead means that you believe you can actually tell when this someone is himself and when he has seized being himself, i.e. when he has "died". When someone dies we understand he has changed and he is not who we knew he was: he does not talk, he does play, he does not interact the way he did (the false belief in the notion of Time will be analyzed in the next part, so we can still use past and present tense here).

When we think we "know" someone we attribute to him certain characteristics. We know a friend of us is who he is because he talks in a specific way. But what if he changes the way he talks? Will he not be the same? We know he is the same because he thinks in a certain way - in "his" way. But what if he changes his way of thinking? Will he not be the same? We know he is the same because he has a specific birth mark on is arm. But that if he removes that? Will he not be the same? We know the is the same because he has specific hair. But what if he changes them? Will he not be the same? We know he is the same because he has a specific set of cells in his organism as all individuals do. But human cells are continuously replaced (even the cells in our brain), about six (6) times during our whole lifetime. Are we not the same after the changes in our cells? We know someone is the same because he lives. But what if he stops living? Is he not the same anymore? Dying is part of who we are and "knowing" someone means knowing his death as well. The point is, that we do not have a specific way to know when someone is someone and not someone else! We cannot tell the identity of someone (or something) and we certainly do not have specific ways to tell when someone has stopped being! The limits we set with respect to the "identity" of a person are not based on something solid. The simple phrase "he has died" implies that we know those limits, while in reality those limits do not even exist...

III. The concept of Time

But what about Time itself? Our belief for death is based on our belief in the existence of time per se. There can be no death, i.e. discontinuation of existence from a point in time onwards, without time itself existing and transcending our world. But time is a very elusive notion, that is even questioned by scientists (let alone philosophers, who have the tendency to question everything). Einstein is famous for saying "People like us who believe in physics know that the distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion"... And death can only exist in a world where people still believe in this stubborn illusion...