His dissertation, published in a 2002 issue of the "Journal of Cognition and Culture," showed how hard it is for people to escape some type of belief in an afterlife. In his research, Bering asked people questions about a man who had been killed in an automobile accident: Can he experience lust? Can he smell? Does he know he's dead?
Bering found that even professed atheists, after answering "no" to other questions about the dead man's abilities, would say that "of course" the man knows he is dead.
"It comes into conflict," Bering said. "We try to put ourselves into the shoes of the people who are dead, and make attributions to them. … We really can't conceive of what it's like to not be here, to not exist, to not know whether we exist or not."
People seem predisposed to ask about their purpose for living and seek reasons for things to happen.
"A natural belief in souls leads us to assume there's a maker behind it all, that there's a reason for everything," Bering said. "The self becomes a supernatural product by design. But if the self is instead created merely by sexual reproduction, then things happen just because they happen. Is this so bad?"
This article was originally posted to Newswise. Newswise maintains a comprehensive database of news releases from top institutions engaged in scientific, medical, liberal arts and business research. The friendly interface allows you to search, browse or download any article or abstract.
