
An Afterlife Gives Meaning
42. Beyond Godric’s Hollow: Life after Death and the Search for Meaning (Harry Potter)
By Jonathan L. Walls and Jerry L. Walls
Pop Culture Resources:
-What is Godric’s Hollow?
-Harry Potter Basics
Philosophical Resources:
-Simon Critchley, Part 6 of his series on Heidegger “Death.” (The Guardian)
-Diane Zorn, “Heidegger’s Philosophy of Death”
-Stanford Encyclopedia Section on Heidegger’s views about Death
-Plato’s Phaedo (full text)

An Afterlife Wouldn’t Give Meaning
43. Why It Wouldn’t Be Rational to Believe You’re in The Good Place (and Why You Wouldn’t Want to Be Anyway)
By David Kyle Johnson
Pop Culture Resources:
-The Good Place: Premise and Synopsis
-Linda Holmes (NPR) on the Finale: “Goodbye to ‘The Good Place’.”
Philosophical Resources:
-Quick Explanation of Descartes’ Evil Demon argument
-Richard Fumerson, “Skepticism and Reasoning to the Best Explanation”
-Jonathan Vogel, “Cartesian Skepticism and Inference to the Best Explanation”
-David Kyle Johnson, “Do Souls Exist?”
-Bernard Williams, “The Makropulos Case: Reflections on the Tedium of Immortality”
-Handout/summary on Williams, boredom, and the philosophy of death
-Eric T. Olson, “The Epicurean View of Death”