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THE PROBLEM OF HEAVEN
Article first published online: 9 FEB 2011
DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9329.2010.00482.x
© 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd
Additional Information
How to Cite
Ribeiro, B. (2011), THE PROBLEM OF HEAVEN. Ratio, 24: 46–64. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9329.2010.00482.x
Publication History
- Issue published online: 9 FEB 2011
- Article first published online: 9 FEB 2011
Abstract
An argument against the rationality of desiring to go to heaven might be put in the form of a trilemma: (1) any state of being that both lasts eternally and preserves me as the person I am would be hellish and therefore would not be a state of being that I could have any reason to desire; (2) any state of being that lasts eternally and yet fails to preserve my personhood by turning me into a non-person would not be a state of being that I (qua person that I am) could have any reason to desire; and (3) any state of being that lasts eternally and yet fails to preserve my personhood by turning me into some other person would not be a state of being that I (qua person that I am) could have any reason to desire. This paper offers defenses of each of the three horns of this trilemma and concludes that there is no rationally compelling reason for any human being to desire to go to heaven.