mind, body, and soul

You wake up every morning continuing to live your life. Your body ages, until it’s time for you to ultimately die. So what happens? Is there an after-life, or does your body just decompose, and rot away? As read in John Perry’s A Dialogue on Personal Identity and Immortality an argument arises between two characters being Gretchen Weirob, and Sam Miller. Ultimately the argument consists of the battle between your identity and your soul, probability and possibility, and what happens after death. Your identity is supposed to be a definition of a certain person, but then again what’s the definition of your soul. In this dialogue the character Gretchen Weirob, a teacher of philosophy is on her death bed, seeks comfort from a longtime friend Sam Miller.
The first argument arises when Sam walks in Gretchen’s room and bluntly says that “I guess there’s not much point in beating around the bush, Gretchen; the medics tell me you’re a goner. Is there anything I can do to help?” (1) Gretchen immediately snaps back questioning Sam’s sympathy being they’ve been friends for a decent amount of time. Sam quickly counters. He believes that after all the years of being friends he thought that “most people I deal with are believers like I am… But you and I have talked about religious and philosophical issues for years. I have never been able to find in you the least inclination to believe in god…”(2) Gretchen answers by saying she wasn’t necessarily seeking an answer in what would happen, though she knew it was inevitable, but she was seeking comfort in which she would be informed “something quite improbable can be comforting, in certain situations. She merely was seeking hope which provides comfort, but doesn’t always require probability.” (2) As they spit rebuttal after rebuttal anew argument arose. It consisted of the difference between surviving, and an afterlife. Sam seemed to have a more spiritual approach to his argument rendering him an optimistic person. Gretchen on the other hand seem to be more of a realist, cold hard fact only intrigued her. We notice that Sam uses multiply examples of different religions that believe in afterlives comparing survival in a sense to immortality. A question arises when Gretchen asks Sam to elaborate on his definitions of survival, and after life. She says “survival means surviving, no more no less… survival offers comfort of a different sort, the comforts of anticipation.” (2) She believes that regardless of what happens her body will inevitably be buried and “rot away”. In which Sam attempts to reassure her that the possibility of her soul escaping her body and taking a new form would be the same as surviving which creates the last and final question. What is the difference between someone’s soul and someone’s identity? Sam infers that someone’s identity reflects their soul, but their soul is something that can’t be heard felt smelt or tasted. Gretchen believes how is possible to judge something that can’t be seen touched smelt of tasted, how would you even be able to know which “soul” your taking too if you haven’t ever contacted it? Is it possible for a soul to change over years? Would that automatically change your identity? Gretchen believes there’s a vast difference between something being identical, and something being exactly similar. We are left to believe that there’s no true explanation with each question brings another question, and proof whether it being optimistic or realistic isn’t concrete enough. Gretchen had a rebuttal for every explanation Sam had in attempt to comfort her for her final days. No one can tell you the difference between your soul, and you identity, no one can tell you what happens after you die, and there’s a mere difference between possibility and probability, it all depends on your “mind, body, and soul.”