DEATH59evolution and his assessment of a com-
mon mammalian ancestry for human and
nonhuman mammals, Darwin took leave
of Christianity. His stance near the end
of his life was agnosticism. His works
include The Origin of Species (1859), The
Variation of Animals and Plants Under
Domestication (1868), and The Descent of
Man (1871). The latter work contains
Darwin’s case for human evolution.
DARWINISM. Darwin influenced bio-
logy as well as philosophy as a whole and
even economics and politics. His work
has tended to support a secular, naturalis-
tic description and explanation of human
life as part of the natural world. The
issues of significance for philosophy of
religion that arise as part of the legacy of
Darwin’s work include: Is evolutionary
biology alone sufficient to account for
the emergence of consciousness, moral
and aesthetic values, and religion? Does
Darwinian evolutionary biology under-
mine an ethic of compassion and justice?
For example, would a human being have a
compelling moral reason to be compas-
sionate or act justly if such an act would
undermine his survival and / or the sur-
vival of all those in his genetic family?
Can naturalism or theism better explain
why there is a world in which evolution
takes place? While evolutionary biology
has been interpreted as undermining a
theistic argument from design, evolution
could not take place without the stable
laws of chemistry and physics. An argu-
ment from design can therefore take place
at a deeper level of explanation: How is
one best to account for the cosmos as a
whole, replete with evolution? See also
SCIENCE AND RELIGION.DEATH. The cessation of life. Philoso-
phical questions on death include, cen-
trally, the question of whether death is
final and irreversible. Can persons sur-
vive biological death? Different beliefs
about the surmounting of death include
belief in a resurrection of the body, sur-
vival of the soul as an immaterial reality,
reincarnation, or the complete re-creation
of a person after a period of nonexistence.
The latter is described as a gap-inclusive
life as it involves a person coming into
life, living, ceasing to be, and then coming
back into being. The criterion of death has
been controversial: Should it be marked
by irreversible loss of brain activity? Or
should it involve multiple conditions and
include other organs?
Arguments over whether death is
bad if it involves nonexistence go back to
ancient Greco-Roman philosophy. Argu-
ably, if something is bad, it must be bad
for someone or something. If you die, this
will be bad for those who mourn your
loss, but if you perish (so it is argued),
your state of death cannot be bad for you
because there is no you. Some philoso-
phers counter that absences, such as your
absence from life after your death, can