Searching for scientific evidence of an afterlife
Review: Science
Searching for scientific evidence of an afterlife
By Glenn C. Altschuler
Originally published August 13, 2006
Ghost Hunters: William James and the Search For Scientific Proof of Life After Death
Deborah Blum
The Penguin Press / 371 pages / $24.95
"When his father died, William James, the renowned psychologist and philosopher, grew "dizzy" with the possibility of immortality. Although friends warned him that those who sought proof of life after death were often deemed "weak in the head," James joined other researchers in the United States and England in a Society for Psychical Research."
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Searching for scientific evidence of an afterlife
By Glenn C. Altschuler
Originally published August 13, 2006
Ghost Hunters: William James and the Search For Scientific Proof of Life After Death
Deborah Blum
The Penguin Press / 371 pages / $24.95
"When his father died, William James, the renowned psychologist and philosopher, grew "dizzy" with the possibility of immortality. Although friends warned him that those who sought proof of life after death were often deemed "weak in the head," James joined other researchers in the United States and England in a Society for Psychical Research."
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posted by Jeff Schaler | 10:42 AM
2 Comments:
James was aware of current science, which gave no support to the idea of immorality. But belief in immortality was age old. Moreover there were many people around the world at the time who claimed to be in touch with the other world.
Along with Peirce, James was a founder of Pragmatism. He was pragmatic about the matter: Given the claims on both sides of the issue, why not investigate? Get the evidence. Search for it even if you are labeled a bit nutty.
Thanks, Philo. I see this Sunday's NYTimes Book Review Section has another review of this book. Cf. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/14/books/14cohe.html?_r=1&ref=books&oref=slogin
Books of the Times
‘Ghost Hunters’: Seeking Science in Séance
By PATRICIA COHEN
Published: August 14, 2006
"Ultimately what distinguished James and his colleagues from many of their scientific peers was their humbleness. To think one can divine everything in an infinite universe is an act of extreme hubris. As it turned out, when the 25 years that James thought would settle the issue had passed, he had to conclude that hardly any progress had been made. “I confess that at times I have been tempted to believe that the Creator has eternally intended this department of nature to remain baffling,” he said."
In the current issue of Current Psychology: Developmental, Learning, Personality, Social, Volume 25:1, there is an article by Thomas Szasz that may be of interest to readers here: Szasz, T. (2006) The pretense of psychology as science: The myth of mental illness in statu nascendi, Current Psychology, 25 (1): 42-49 (Spring), 2006.
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