Can someone not believe in an Immaterial Soul yet also believe in a form of Consciousness after Death or Survival?
I know that it was told here a few years ago that whether an afterlife or consciousness surviving death usually depends on the viewpoint of what consciousness is or how it comes to be, that said despite PhilPaper survey showing a slim majority are physicalism, it seems from books and interviews and papers, there are still some who find the ideas compatible even in physicalism.
My question is that is it possible that one can make a strong case that there isn't an immaterial soul but also believe our consciousness may survive death in some way? When checking interviews from famous philosophers involve in consciousness, from Goff to Kastrup it seems many have pretty variety of views despite not thinking consciousness isn't physical, to some claiming it doesn't compatible but the evidence isn't complete, to some say it is a non-personal one where the person is gone but pure consciousness remains.
Even Chalmer's talk about how we can't say, while he would love to find one since it seems it would make things more interesting, ultimately it must come down to what we find in our studies because apparently any idea can be compatible with any view like physicalism to panpsychism.
I want to know because looking around and reading about it, many seem to lean towards agnosticism of the topic with different new views popping and being spread especially recently, but same time I'm not sure.
Posted Jul 18, 2026, 3:21 AM UTC