Your argument seems to be that it is impossible to convince someone that they do not exist. It’s really just a restatement of I Think Therefore I Am. And persuading someone otherwise is indeed something that likely cannot be done, since even if you are dead, if you are considering these propositions, you still “exist” in some sense. The reason why this question is tricky is that we don’t exactly know what we mean when we say the word “exist”.
If I am understanding you correctly, then I think you picked a very bad example, since the whole basis of afterlife-ism beliefs is that your body can cease functioning, but you can still exist without your body. In which case, all he has to do is provide enough evidence that your body is now destroyed (which would probably be harder than it seems).
This is another possible response I considered, but could not decidee whether it actually stacks up. There are differences in the cases, but I don’t know whether they’re relevant.
Your argument seems to be that it is impossible to convince someone that they do not exist. It’s really just a restatement of I Think Therefore I Am. And persuading someone otherwise is indeed something that likely cannot be done, since even if you are dead, if you are considering these propositions, you still “exist” in some sense. The reason why this question is tricky is that we don’t exactly know what we mean when we say the word “exist”.
If I am understanding you correctly, then I think you picked a very bad example, since the whole basis of afterlife-ism beliefs is that your body can cease functioning, but you can still exist without your body. In which case, all he has to do is provide enough evidence that your body is now destroyed (which would probably be harder than it seems).
This is another possible response I considered, but could not decidee whether it actually stacks up. There are differences in the cases, but I don’t know whether they’re relevant.