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