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 Contents



Preface     

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 Existence



THE 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 Existence



OUR 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