Thanks for your question, Norman. Certainly it is true that not knowing something exists doesn't mean it doesn't exist. North America existed before Europeans discovered it even though they didn't know it existed. We don't know if God exists, but not knowing that doesn't mean God does not exist.

We can fantasize anything, as Ben Cain had suggested, but unless there is some evidence or rational/logical reason for believing something exists, we treat it as a fantasy or figment of our imagination. It seemed to me that was the point that Cain was making in appealing to rational thinking. He said the evidence for death as the end of our identities was all but indisputable. Pemberton and I disputed that, not based on fantasy or wishful thinking, but by appealing to a very large body of evidence--both scientific and philosophical. And historical for that matter.

That's why I don't believe the idea that mind, consciousness, soul or personal identity continuing after our body turns to dust is a fantasy. There is some fairly strong evidence that supports that, far from indisputable. But the evidence of our "finitude" as Cain puts it is also far from indisputable.