A Philosophical Critique of Empirical Arguments for Postmortem Survival

by Michael Sudduth

Overview

Sudduth provides a critical exploration of classical empirical arguments for survival arguments that purport to show that data collected from ostensibly paranormal phenomena constitute good evidence for the survival of the self after death. Utilizing the conceptual tools of formal epistemology, he argues that classical arguments are unsuccessful.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781349552559
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan UK
Publication date:	01/26/2016
Series:	Palgrave Frontiers in Philosophy of Religion
Edition description:	1st ed. 2016
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	5.51(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

Dr. Michael Sudduth (D.Phil., University of Oxford) is a philosopher of religion at San Francisco State University, with previous appointments at Saint Michael's College and Calvin College. His previous book The Reformed Objection to Natural Theology explored the propriety and role of arguments for God's existence in the Protestant theological tradition.

Table of Contents

1 Introduction: The Classical Empirical Survival Debate
2 Exploring the Hypothesis of Personal Survival
3 Out-of-Body and Near-Death Experiences
4 Mediumistic Communications
5 Cases of the Reincarnation Type
6 Classical Explanatory Arguments for Survival
7 Bayesian Explanatory Arguments
8 Bayesian Defenses of the Survival Hypothesis
9 The Problem of Auxiliary Assumptions
10 Exotic Counter-Explanations
11 Conclusion: The Classical Arguments Defeated