From: utzoo!decvax!harpo!ihnss!ihuxv!lew Newsgroups: net.suicide Title: afterlife and vitalism Article-I.D.: ihuxv.158 Posted: Fri Jun 18 12:23:56 1982 Received: Tue Jun 22 01:10:41 1982 In "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire", Gibbon comments that the early Christians held their beliefs with an intensity that we cannot fully appreciate in our modern age. They eagerly sought martyrdom, leaping ecstatically into the flames. Gibbons manner of description is very wry, with his sympathies seemingly much more with the Romans than with the Christians. It seems to me that any form of afterlife requires a vitalistic view of life. That is, an extra-physical factor of some kind. This would seem to be inconsistent with the view that life, including man, evolved continuously from inanimate matter. At what point does the vitalistic spark enter the picture? This phylogenetic problem is recapitulated ontogenetically. Conception is a physical process; when and in what way does the vitalism occur? Francis Crick cited his anti-vitalistic sentiments as a prime motive in his choice of genetics as a field of endeavor. Since that time he has embraced the pansperma theory of life. This was a real surprise to me, I would think he would have more patience with evolution. Lew Mammel, Jr. - BTL Indian Hill