Persons, Souls and Death

David H. Lund is professor emeritus of philosophy at Bemidji State University in Bemidji, Minnesota. He is enjoying his retirement on his farm in northern Minnesota.

• Table of ContentsPreface      INTRODUCTION      The Perennial Question      A Philosophical Approach      The Influence and Scope of Science      The Coherence of the Idea of Post-Mortem Existence      The Relevance of the Case for Theism      The Nature of Persons and the Laws of Nature      Part I: Persons, Bodies, and the Possibility of Post-Mortem ExistenceTHE CASE AGAINST POST-MORTEM EXISTENCE      Antecedent Probability of Extinction      Empirically-Grounded Support of Extinction      Theory-Based Arguments for Extinction      MINDS, SOULS AND PERSONS      Materialist-Reductionist Accounts of the Mental      Materialist Theories of Personal Identity      The Immateriality of the Mental      Psychological Theories of the Person      The Person as Subject of Conscious States      MENTAL-PHYSICAL RELATIONS      The Causality Problem      Mind-Brain Interaction      Causation Conceived as Reducible      Causation Conceived as Irreducible      Deep Causation      The Directionality of Causation      Intentional Causation      Dualistic Causation and the Causal Closure Hypothesis      Mental-Mental Causation      Paranormal Causation      The Causal Independence of the Conscious Self      GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS SUPPORTIVE OF POST-MORTEM EXISTENCE      Theism and Revelation Accounts      The Deep Unity of the Self      Non-Intentional Consciousness and the Self      Part II. Ostensible Evidence of Post-Mortem ExistenceOUR INVESTIGATION SO FAR      NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCES      Death-Bed Visions      Non-Terminal Near-Death Experiences      Naturalistic Explanation of NDEs      Paranormal Theories: ESP and Super-ESP      APPARITIONS      Reciprocal Apparitions      The Naturalistic Interpretation      Paranormal Interpretations of Apparitions of the Dead      Collective and Iterative Apparitional Experiences      The Super-Psi Hypothesis      The Telepathic Theory      The Objectivist Theory      The Survivalist Explanation      REINCARNATION      Reincarnation vs. Possession Interpretations      Cases of Responsive Xenoglossy      Spontaneous Recall of Ostensible Former Lives      The Shanti Devi Case      The Case of Jasbir Jat      The Case of Swarnlata Mishra      Naturalistic Explanations      The Fraud Hypothesis      Cryptomnesia      Paramnesia      Inherited Memory      Paranormal Explanations      The Psi Hypothesis      ESP Plus Impersonation      Reincarnation and Survival      Reincarnation and the Subject of Conscious States      MENTAL MEDIUMSHIP      The Mediumship of Mrs. Piper      Mrs. Willett’s Mediumship      Proxy Sittings      “Drop-In” Communicators      The Cross-Correspondences      CONCLUSION: ASSESSMENT OF THE CASE FOR POST-MORTEM EXISTENCE      Overview of Our Investigation into the Essence of Persons      Dispositions and the Self      Sensory Experience in an Afterworld      Discarnate Communication      The Significance of the Ostensible Evidence of Survival      Super-Psi or Survival?      The Balance of Probabilities      Chapter Notes      Bibliography      Index