Many in the Christian tradition accept three theological affirmations: (TA1) That bodily resurrection is not a superfluous hope of afterlife; (TA2) There is immediate post-mortem existence in Paradise; and (TA3) There is numerical identity between pre-mortem and post-resurrection human beings. Many of the same Christians also accept a robust doctrine of The Intermediate State, a paradisiacal disembodied state of existence following the biological death of a human person. I say The Intermediate State makes TAs 1 – 3 an inconsistent set. So, given these TAs, I say that there is no such thing as The Intermediate State and, therefore, it should be jettisoned from Christian theology. Chapter 1 aims to show that, if the TAs are true, Christian theology should jettison The Intermediate State. This is because The Intermediate State specifically undermines TA1. Along with The Intermediate State, Christian theologians should jettison the metaphysics of substance dualism. This is because substance dualism, a metaphysics that The Intermediate State requires, is either false or unmotivated. Substance dualism is false because, minimally, it conflicts with an argument St. Paul lays out in 1 Corinthians 15. And, even if it did not, it lacks motivation for Christian theology because there is no The Intermediate State. In Chapter 1, I advance theological arguments along these lines. If the arguments go through, Christian theology needs a way coherently to speak about afterlife that does not make use of these errant views. If TAs 1 – 3 are true, substance dualism is either false or unmotivated, and The Intermediate State does not obtain, Christian theology requires an amended metaphysics of human persons and an amended metaphysics of time. I attempt to offer such things in Chapters 2 – 5. Chapters 2 and 3 are given over to investigating physicalist and constitution metaphysics of human persons. I find the range of views wanting for a number of philosophical and theological reasons. Chapter 4 is an explication and defense of a hylemorphic metaphysics of human persons and a sustained argument against some leading hylemorphic conceptions that insist the soul of a biologically dead human person can survive the death of the body. Lastly, Chapter 5 offers a theory of time that completes the project’s goal: a coherent metaphysics within which a human person’s death is immediately followed by her eschatological (future) bodily resurrection so that the three TAs are an affirmed and consistent set.

A presente pesquisa tem o objetivo de estudar os princípios de investigação dos seres vivos tendo como parâmetro a concepção hilemórfica dos entes naturais em Aristóteles. Para tanto, em primeiro lugar, analisaremos o hilemorfismo tal como exposto no Livro II da Física, a fim de investigarmos a doutrina da matéria e forma, no contexto em que ela desempenha um papel fundamental para a elaboração de uma concepção que é capaz de mostrar os modos pelos quais os entes se constituem na natureza. Em segundo lugar, examinaremos os princípios de investigação dos seres vivos no Livro I das Partes dos Animais, de modo a identificar os fundamentos conceituais nos quais ele se sustenta. Assim, veremos em que medida a doutrina da matéria e forma desempenha uma função determinante na análise relativa aos organismos vivos. / The present research aims to study the principles of investigation of living beings, from hylemorphic conception as a parameter of explanation of natural beings in Aristotle. To do so, first, well analyze the hylemorphism as set out in Book II of Physics in order to investigate the doctrine of matter and form, in which it plays a key role in the development of a conception that is able to show the ways in which beings are formed in nature. Second, well examine the principles of living beings in Book I of the Part of Animals, in order to identify the conceptual foundations on which it holds. So we\'ll see how far the doctrine of matter and form plays a decisive role in the analysis relating to living organisms.

A presente pesquisa tem o objetivo de estudar os princípios de investigação dos seres vivos tendo como parâmetro a concepção hilemórfica dos entes naturais em Aristóteles. Para tanto, em primeiro lugar, analisaremos o hilemorfismo tal como exposto no Livro II da Física, a fim de investigarmos a doutrina da matéria e forma, no contexto em que ela desempenha um papel fundamental para a elaboração de uma concepção que é capaz de mostrar os modos pelos quais os entes se constituem na natureza. Em segundo lugar, examinaremos os princípios de investigação dos seres vivos no Livro I das Partes dos Animais, de modo a identificar os fundamentos conceituais nos quais ele se sustenta. Assim, veremos em que medida a doutrina da matéria e forma desempenha uma função determinante na análise relativa aos organismos vivos. / The present research aims to study the principles of investigation of living beings, from hylemorphic conception as a parameter of explanation of natural beings in Aristotle. To do so, first, well analyze the hylemorphism as set out in Book II of Physics in order to investigate the doctrine of matter and form, in which it plays a key role in the development of a conception that is able to show the ways in which beings are formed in nature. Second, well examine the principles of living beings in Book I of the Part of Animals, in order to identify the conceptual foundations on which it holds. So we\'ll see how far the doctrine of matter and form plays a decisive role in the analysis relating to living organisms.