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Volume 10: Number 4: Article 4
Recent Responses to Survival Research
Robert Almeder, Department of Philosophy, Georgia State University,
Atlanta, GA, 30303
I examine and reject some recent objections to the evidence for belief
in personal post mortem survival, and especially a few objections to
the evidence for belief in reincarnation. The first objection we may
call the ET Hypothesis; it seeks to provide a plausible anti-survivalist
explanation to the reincarnation data in the 'richer' cases. The second
is the Psi Hypothesis also offered as an alternative explanation
for the reincarnation evidence (and other survival data). Unlike the
ET Hypothesis, however, a discussion of this second objection does appear
in my Death and Personal Survival. But it needs refurbishing. The third
objection also proposes an anti-survivalist interpretation of reincarnation
data, appears in Wheatley's recent review of my book, and derives from
some comments made by A. J. Ayer. I examine this third alternative hypothesis
for the reincarnation data in the course of offering a general reply
to a number of Wheatley's comments in his recent review. Finally, I
discuss again the objection that nobody should take seriously any of
the so-called data for survival because so much of it has been a matter
of simple delusion, error, fraud or hoax.
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