The Department of Philosophy and Religion invited the UTC community and
general public to our first lecture in our department series to be held
tomorrow, Wednesday, October 15th.

"I Don't Want to Go to Heaven (or Hell)"

Presented by Dr. Brian Ribeiro
Department of Philosophy & Religion
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
3:00 p.m. in Holt Hall 204

Should we human beings want to go to Heaven?  While many have regarded the
answer to this question as very obvious (namely, "Yes!"), Dr. Ribeiro will
argue that there is actually nothing about Heaven that would make it
attractive for any human being.  Dr. Ribeiro's 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.  In his presentation Dr. Ribeiro will offer defenses of
each of the three horns of this trilemma (1, 2, and 3, above) and will
therefore conclude that there is no rationally compelling reason for any
human being to desire to go to heaven.