What do you think?
Immortal Remains: The Evidence for Life After Death
Chances are you're either too willing, or too unwilling, to believe personal consciousness survives death. Some underestimate the evidence, not realizing how impressive the most convincing cases are. Others overestimate, rejecting alternative explanations too readily. In fact, several non-survivalist explanations (hidden or latent linguistic or artistic talents, extreme memory & psychic abilities) are as interesting as the survival hypothesis & may be more plausible. Immortal Remains looks at some of the puzzling cases & considers how to tell evidence for an afterlife from evidence for exotic things done by the living. Braude, who's done much research in parapsychology & dissociation, explores previously ignored issues about dissociation, creativity, linguistic skills, & the nature & limits of human abilities. He concludes we've some reason for believing in life after death.
Survival & Personal Identity
Survival & Anomalous Knowledge
The "Super-Psi" Hypothesis
What Else Is Wrong with the Literature on Survival
Drop-In Communicators
Outline of the Issues
The Cagliostro Case
Runki's Leg: The Case
Runki's Leg: Theoretical Considerations & Nagging Concerns
Trance Mediumship
Outline of Mrs Piper's Mediumship
Examples of Mrs Piper's Mediumship
Mrs Leonard's Mediumship
Mediumship & Super-ESP
Survival & the Causal Nexus
The Cross-Correspondences
The Case of Sharada: Psychopathology & Xenoglossy
Outline of the Case
Objections to Stevenson's Report
Akolkar's Report
Super-Psi & Knowledge-How
Xenoglossy & Dissociation
The Case of Patience Worth
Pearl Curran's Background
The History, Style & Personality of Patience Worth
Writing Samples
The Theoretical Challenge
Non-Survivalist Conjectures
Latency & Creativity: The Case of Helene Smith
Other Cases of Mediumistic Creativity
Survivalist Conjectures
Reincarnation & Possession
The Case of Bishen Chand
A Recent Early-Bird Case
The Antonia Case
The Sumitra/Shiva Case
The Thompson-Gifford Case
Lingering Spirits
Haunting: Preliminaries
Haunting: Comments
Transplant Cases
Transplant Cases: Comments
Out-of-Body Experiences
Why Externalism?
Distinctness & Independence
Apparitions & Reciprocal OBEs
Near-Death Experiences
An Appeal to Systematicity
Ideal Cases
Survival & Personal Identity
Survival & Anomalous Knowledge
The "Super-Psi" Hypothesis
What Else Is Wrong with the Literature on Survival
Drop-In Communicators
Outline of the Issues
The Cagliostro Case
Runki's Leg: The Case
Runki's Leg: Theoretical Considerations & Nagging Concerns
Trance Mediumship
Outline of Mrs Piper's Mediumship
Examples of Mrs Piper's Mediumship
Mrs Leonard's Mediumship
Mediumship & Super-ESP
Survival & the Causal Nexus
The Cross-Correspondences
The Case of Sharada: Psychopathology & Xenoglossy
Outline of the Case
Objections to Stevenson's Report
Akolkar's Report
Super-Psi & Knowledge-How
Xenoglossy & Dissociation
The Case of Patience Worth
Pearl Curran's Background
The History, Style & Personality of Patience Worth
Writing Samples
The Theoretical Challenge
Non-Survivalist Conjectures
Latency & Creativity: The Case of Helene Smith
Other Cases of Mediumistic Creativity
Survivalist Conjectures
Reincarnation & Possession
The Case of Bishen Chand
A Recent Early-Bird Case
The Antonia Case
The Sumitra/Shiva Case
The Thompson-Gifford Case
Lingering Spirits
Haunting: Preliminaries
Haunting: Comments
Transplant Cases
Transplant Cases: Comments
Out-of-Body Experiences
Why Externalism?
Distinctness & Independence
Apparitions & Reciprocal OBEs
Near-Death Experiences
An Appeal to Systematicity
Ideal Cases
348 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2003
About the author
Stephen E. Braude
14 books5 followersStephen E. Braude is an American philosopher and parapsychologist. He is a past president of the Parapsychological Association, Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Scientific Exploration, and a professor of philosophy at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. He is also an accomplished jazz pianist and composer.
Braude received his Phd. in philosophy from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 1971. After working as a lecturer in the philosophy department at UMass Amherst, he found a permanent home at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, working successively as an assistant, associate, and full professor. He served as the Chair of the Philosophy department between 1998 and 2005. He has received numerous fellowships, awards, and grants including but not limited to the National Endowment for the Humanities Research Fellowship, numerous grants from the Parapsychology Foundation, and the Distinguished Achievement Award of the International Society for the Study of Dissociation. He has also received several Faculty Research Grants from UMBC.
Braude received his Phd. in philosophy from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 1971. After working as a lecturer in the philosophy department at UMass Amherst, he found a permanent home at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, working successively as an assistant, associate, and full professor. He served as the Chair of the Philosophy department between 1998 and 2005. He has received numerous fellowships, awards, and grants including but not limited to the National Endowment for the Humanities Research Fellowship, numerous grants from the Parapsychology Foundation, and the Distinguished Achievement Award of the International Society for the Study of Dissociation. He has also received several Faculty Research Grants from UMBC.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
June 17, 2024
A PHILOSOPHY PROFESSOR LOOKS AT PARANORMAL EXPERIENCES
Stephen E. Braude is Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County; he is Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Scientific Exploration.
He wrote in the Preface to this 2003 book, “Let me lay my cards on the table. For much of the survival evidence, it’s not clear… to what extent it can be explained away in terms of normal or abnormal processes, or even in terms of paranormal processes among the living. And some of the evidence scarcely makes sense even if we accept postmortem survival… But overall, I’d say that the evidence most strongly supports the view that some aspects of our personality and personal consciousness… of our distinctive psychology, can survive the death of our bodies, at least for a time. I’ve written this book to document why it’s so difficult to reach that conclusions, and why it’s especially difficult to rule out counter-explanations in terms of psychic or at least highly unusual capacities of the living. What we need to examine … is why we’re EVER entitled to rule out such things as my friend unconsciously (and perhaps psychically) simulating evidence for survival.” (Pg. xi)
He continues, “In the following chapters we’ll study several different types of evidence for survival. But most of the cases I discuss fall into two classes. The first is mediumship (or channeling), in which individuals apparently act as intermediaries between this world and a world of discarnate or surviving entities. The second is reincarnation and possession, in which a person seems to be … a formerly living person… I’ll also examine out-of-body and near-death experiences, ostensible hauntings, and transplant cases, some of which are perhaps more important than others, but all of which are fascinating… I focus primarily on mediumship and reincarnation/possession … because the best of these cases are especially impressive and particularly difficult to explain away.” (Pg. xii)
He observes, “The systematic study of survival began with the founding of the Society for Psychical Research (SPR) in 1882, and two questions have dominated its proceedings ever since. The first is: ‘Do human beings have psychic (psi) abilities (SP or PK)?’ The second is: ‘Does human consciousness survive bodily death?’ In my opinion we can confidently answer ‘yes’ to the first question… [Researchers have] also had to confront… [an] incredibly annoying problem: namely, that if psychic abilities exist … they could elude all conventional experimental controls.. even greater obstacles stand in the way of answering the question about survival, and they are the subject of this book. In fact, if we decide that psychic abilities exist, then that greatly complicates our effort to determine whether we survive death. We must then consider whether evidence suggesting postmortem survival is actually disguised psychic functioning among the living.” (Pg. 2)
He explains, “real cases suggest postmortem survival to varying degrees, and they deservedly command our attention when we can’t plausibly or easily explain them away in more ordinary terms. As a first requirement, a good survival case should resist explanation in terms of a few obvious skeptical counter-hypotheses: namely, fraud, misreporting, malobservation, or hidden memories (cryptomnesia). Let’s dub these ‘The Usual Suspects.’ … But some anti-survivalists resort to more exotic counter-explanations… they fall into two classes. The first class posits decidedly abnormal or rare processes, such as dissociative pathologies… the second … set of exotic counter-explanations… [is] positing psychic functioning among the living. These are often called ‘super-psi’ explanations, because they apparently require more refined and extensive psychic functioning than we discover in controlled laboratory studies.” (Pg. 10-11)
He acknowledges, “it’s true that we may not have direct evidence for the exact form of super psi needed to explain away good survival cases. But there is a substantial body of evidence, from outside the lab, for at least pretty DANDY psi. The most astonishing examples may be cases of physical mediumship. But a decent argument would be made that ESP reported in some spontaneous cases is mightily impressive as well… These bodies of evidence show… that psychic functioning can operate on a level of magnitude and refinement far exceeding anything demonstrated unambiguously in laboratory experiments.” (Pg. 15)
He clarifies, “My position, then, is this. We can (at least in principle) have good reasons for rejecting either the super-psi or the survival hypothesis, even if they remain (as they now seem) compatible with all the data. However, the question we need to confront is whether (or to what extent) any actual evidence takes us to that point, at least in a compelling way. And we need to consider whether theoretical or pragmatic considerations help us tip the scales toward the survival hypothesis. That’s the primary goal of this book.” (Pg. 20)
He admits, “I can imagine noting more exciting than indisputable evidence for survival. In fact, if I have any bias in the matter, it would be that I HOPE we survive the death of our bodies… my concern, all along, has been to show just how daunting a task it is to rule out super-psi explanations. And the primary reason for that has been not to mount a case against survival, but to help raise the literature on survival to a more advanced level of analysis… A second problem with the survival literature concerns its superficial treatment of dissociation… We have to wonder … whether entities apparently communicating through a medium are nothing more than dissociative parts of the medium’s mind… The third problem with the literature on survival is that it fails to address central issues concerning the nature and limits of human abilities, especially those arising from … the study of savants and prodigies…” (Pg. 23-24)
Discussing trance mediums, he states, “A good case of mediumship has at least two obvious requirements. First, there should be no doubt as to the medium’s honesty. Researchers must be able to rule out … the possibility of confederates surreptitiously gathering data on sitters, or the medium exploiting other covert sources of information. Second, the mediums must provide information that is too… intimate, and specific to be attributed to chance or explained away in terms of normally accessible channels… But even … the best cases… present a frustrating mixture of (a) material suggesting survival, (b) material suggesting psi among the living, and (c) apparent rubbish… This mediumistic debris is difficult to interpret, and it’s also difficult to ignore. But it’s also important not to make too much of it.” (Pg. 53-54)
Considering Leonora E. Piper, he suggests, “although it’s important not to overlook the potential significance of Mrs. Piper’s false statements, inaccurate personations, surprising examples of ignorance, periods of rambling, etc., it’s also crucial not to inflate their importance… we must consider the sorts of things that might reasonably disrupt or impede communication with the deceased…. Furthermore, the medium … might allow her own thoughts to crowd onto those passing through her.” (Pg. 66)
He notes, “The history of psi research suggests strongly that psychic functioning, like most other cognitive capacities, is highly situation-sensitive, context-dependent, and susceptible to an enormous range of positive and negative influences, including mood, belief system, interpersonal relations, and even geophysical and celestial variables…” (Pg. 80)
He summarizes, “the most impressive reincarnation and possession cases seem at least to tilt the scales toward the survivalist, even if we can’t demonstrate conclusively that the super-psi hypothesis is false… even if psi works like a magic want, partisans of super-psi apparently have more trouble than survivalists explaining the abundance and consistency of verified information revealed in the strongest cases.” (Pg. 216-217) He adds, “Looking generally at the class of ostensible hauntings, anti-survivalists have several explanatory options. If they shun any kind of paranormal explanation, they must claim either that the apparitions are mistakenly identified normal physical objects or (possibly shared) hallucinations… a viable anti-survivalist account of hauntings … will need to interpret at least some apparitional figures either as telepathic constructs or as products of PK.” (Pg. 233-234)
He finally considers Near-Death Experiences (NDE), noting, “But why should cognitive functioning diminish under physically traumatic conditions? Some commentators on NDEs have argued that during oxygen deprivation and certain other physiological stressful states, one might actually expect subjective experiences to take on a kind of hallucinatory clarity and brilliance… Moreover, we shouldn’t overestimate the degree of similarity among NDEs generally and near-death OBEs in particular… Many reported NDEs happen when subjects are neither seriously ill nor in any life-threatening situation, and often those experiences differ little from those that take place under genuinely life-threatening conditions. In these cases, experiencers were not really about to die; they simply THOUGHT they were… Furthermore, many features of NDEs are culturally specific, and they likewise tend to undermine externalist explanations of the phenomena.” (Pg. 271-272)
He continues, “if OBEs provide evidence for any kind of survival of bodily death---which… is far from obvious… it would be evidence only of short-term survival. OBEs provide no justification for assuming that mental activity could persist independently of the body for periods significantly longer than an OBE… So it seems that even under the most charitable of readings, the evidence from OBEs shows too little. It gives us no reason to believe that the mind is more substantial, resilient, and self-sustaining than a fart.” (Pg. 275-276)
He concludes, “I think … that the case for survival receives very little INDEPENDENT support from OBEs, NDEs, and apparitions. Indeed… there seems little reason to appeal to externalism to account for the data. We can do at least as well by appealing to phenomena---including ESP---whose existence and features have already been established… we might decide that OBEs ad apparitions strengthen the case for survival made by … better evidence.” (Pg. 281)
I thought Braude spent too much time on “older” evidences (e.g., Leonora Piper, Gladys Osborne Leonard, etc.), and too little time on more recent topics such as NDEs. But overall, this is a fine and critical study of paranormal evidences and how they relate to the question of survival.
Stephen E. Braude is Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County; he is Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Scientific Exploration.
He wrote in the Preface to this 2003 book, “Let me lay my cards on the table. For much of the survival evidence, it’s not clear… to what extent it can be explained away in terms of normal or abnormal processes, or even in terms of paranormal processes among the living. And some of the evidence scarcely makes sense even if we accept postmortem survival… But overall, I’d say that the evidence most strongly supports the view that some aspects of our personality and personal consciousness… of our distinctive psychology, can survive the death of our bodies, at least for a time. I’ve written this book to document why it’s so difficult to reach that conclusions, and why it’s especially difficult to rule out counter-explanations in terms of psychic or at least highly unusual capacities of the living. What we need to examine … is why we’re EVER entitled to rule out such things as my friend unconsciously (and perhaps psychically) simulating evidence for survival.” (Pg. xi)
He continues, “In the following chapters we’ll study several different types of evidence for survival. But most of the cases I discuss fall into two classes. The first is mediumship (or channeling), in which individuals apparently act as intermediaries between this world and a world of discarnate or surviving entities. The second is reincarnation and possession, in which a person seems to be … a formerly living person… I’ll also examine out-of-body and near-death experiences, ostensible hauntings, and transplant cases, some of which are perhaps more important than others, but all of which are fascinating… I focus primarily on mediumship and reincarnation/possession … because the best of these cases are especially impressive and particularly difficult to explain away.” (Pg. xii)
He observes, “The systematic study of survival began with the founding of the Society for Psychical Research (SPR) in 1882, and two questions have dominated its proceedings ever since. The first is: ‘Do human beings have psychic (psi) abilities (SP or PK)?’ The second is: ‘Does human consciousness survive bodily death?’ In my opinion we can confidently answer ‘yes’ to the first question… [Researchers have] also had to confront… [an] incredibly annoying problem: namely, that if psychic abilities exist … they could elude all conventional experimental controls.. even greater obstacles stand in the way of answering the question about survival, and they are the subject of this book. In fact, if we decide that psychic abilities exist, then that greatly complicates our effort to determine whether we survive death. We must then consider whether evidence suggesting postmortem survival is actually disguised psychic functioning among the living.” (Pg. 2)
He explains, “real cases suggest postmortem survival to varying degrees, and they deservedly command our attention when we can’t plausibly or easily explain them away in more ordinary terms. As a first requirement, a good survival case should resist explanation in terms of a few obvious skeptical counter-hypotheses: namely, fraud, misreporting, malobservation, or hidden memories (cryptomnesia). Let’s dub these ‘The Usual Suspects.’ … But some anti-survivalists resort to more exotic counter-explanations… they fall into two classes. The first class posits decidedly abnormal or rare processes, such as dissociative pathologies… the second … set of exotic counter-explanations… [is] positing psychic functioning among the living. These are often called ‘super-psi’ explanations, because they apparently require more refined and extensive psychic functioning than we discover in controlled laboratory studies.” (Pg. 10-11)
He acknowledges, “it’s true that we may not have direct evidence for the exact form of super psi needed to explain away good survival cases. But there is a substantial body of evidence, from outside the lab, for at least pretty DANDY psi. The most astonishing examples may be cases of physical mediumship. But a decent argument would be made that ESP reported in some spontaneous cases is mightily impressive as well… These bodies of evidence show… that psychic functioning can operate on a level of magnitude and refinement far exceeding anything demonstrated unambiguously in laboratory experiments.” (Pg. 15)
He clarifies, “My position, then, is this. We can (at least in principle) have good reasons for rejecting either the super-psi or the survival hypothesis, even if they remain (as they now seem) compatible with all the data. However, the question we need to confront is whether (or to what extent) any actual evidence takes us to that point, at least in a compelling way. And we need to consider whether theoretical or pragmatic considerations help us tip the scales toward the survival hypothesis. That’s the primary goal of this book.” (Pg. 20)
He admits, “I can imagine noting more exciting than indisputable evidence for survival. In fact, if I have any bias in the matter, it would be that I HOPE we survive the death of our bodies… my concern, all along, has been to show just how daunting a task it is to rule out super-psi explanations. And the primary reason for that has been not to mount a case against survival, but to help raise the literature on survival to a more advanced level of analysis… A second problem with the survival literature concerns its superficial treatment of dissociation… We have to wonder … whether entities apparently communicating through a medium are nothing more than dissociative parts of the medium’s mind… The third problem with the literature on survival is that it fails to address central issues concerning the nature and limits of human abilities, especially those arising from … the study of savants and prodigies…” (Pg. 23-24)
Discussing trance mediums, he states, “A good case of mediumship has at least two obvious requirements. First, there should be no doubt as to the medium’s honesty. Researchers must be able to rule out … the possibility of confederates surreptitiously gathering data on sitters, or the medium exploiting other covert sources of information. Second, the mediums must provide information that is too… intimate, and specific to be attributed to chance or explained away in terms of normally accessible channels… But even … the best cases… present a frustrating mixture of (a) material suggesting survival, (b) material suggesting psi among the living, and (c) apparent rubbish… This mediumistic debris is difficult to interpret, and it’s also difficult to ignore. But it’s also important not to make too much of it.” (Pg. 53-54)
Considering Leonora E. Piper, he suggests, “although it’s important not to overlook the potential significance of Mrs. Piper’s false statements, inaccurate personations, surprising examples of ignorance, periods of rambling, etc., it’s also crucial not to inflate their importance… we must consider the sorts of things that might reasonably disrupt or impede communication with the deceased…. Furthermore, the medium … might allow her own thoughts to crowd onto those passing through her.” (Pg. 66)
He notes, “The history of psi research suggests strongly that psychic functioning, like most other cognitive capacities, is highly situation-sensitive, context-dependent, and susceptible to an enormous range of positive and negative influences, including mood, belief system, interpersonal relations, and even geophysical and celestial variables…” (Pg. 80)
He summarizes, “the most impressive reincarnation and possession cases seem at least to tilt the scales toward the survivalist, even if we can’t demonstrate conclusively that the super-psi hypothesis is false… even if psi works like a magic want, partisans of super-psi apparently have more trouble than survivalists explaining the abundance and consistency of verified information revealed in the strongest cases.” (Pg. 216-217) He adds, “Looking generally at the class of ostensible hauntings, anti-survivalists have several explanatory options. If they shun any kind of paranormal explanation, they must claim either that the apparitions are mistakenly identified normal physical objects or (possibly shared) hallucinations… a viable anti-survivalist account of hauntings … will need to interpret at least some apparitional figures either as telepathic constructs or as products of PK.” (Pg. 233-234)
He finally considers Near-Death Experiences (NDE), noting, “But why should cognitive functioning diminish under physically traumatic conditions? Some commentators on NDEs have argued that during oxygen deprivation and certain other physiological stressful states, one might actually expect subjective experiences to take on a kind of hallucinatory clarity and brilliance… Moreover, we shouldn’t overestimate the degree of similarity among NDEs generally and near-death OBEs in particular… Many reported NDEs happen when subjects are neither seriously ill nor in any life-threatening situation, and often those experiences differ little from those that take place under genuinely life-threatening conditions. In these cases, experiencers were not really about to die; they simply THOUGHT they were… Furthermore, many features of NDEs are culturally specific, and they likewise tend to undermine externalist explanations of the phenomena.” (Pg. 271-272)
He continues, “if OBEs provide evidence for any kind of survival of bodily death---which… is far from obvious… it would be evidence only of short-term survival. OBEs provide no justification for assuming that mental activity could persist independently of the body for periods significantly longer than an OBE… So it seems that even under the most charitable of readings, the evidence from OBEs shows too little. It gives us no reason to believe that the mind is more substantial, resilient, and self-sustaining than a fart.” (Pg. 275-276)
He concludes, “I think … that the case for survival receives very little INDEPENDENT support from OBEs, NDEs, and apparitions. Indeed… there seems little reason to appeal to externalism to account for the data. We can do at least as well by appealing to phenomena---including ESP---whose existence and features have already been established… we might decide that OBEs ad apparitions strengthen the case for survival made by … better evidence.” (Pg. 281)
I thought Braude spent too much time on “older” evidences (e.g., Leonora Piper, Gladys Osborne Leonard, etc.), and too little time on more recent topics such as NDEs. But overall, this is a fine and critical study of paranormal evidences and how they relate to the question of survival.
November 16, 2016
Braude is a mainstream academician (PhD in Philosophy; Chairman of Philosophy at Univ of Maryland; 50+ essays published) with an open mind (he's also an excellent pianist and a prize-winning photographer) who became interested in dissociative states and parapsychology. If you have an interest in the paranormal and/or Near Death Experiences and/or hauntings and/or mediums and/or telepathy/psychokinesis and/or the possible survival of consciousness after death, this is the first book you should read. It is an incredibly well-reasoned, systematic examination of the best evidence in these murky realms by a brilliant engaging writer. None of these phenomena gets a free pass from Braude. He rigorously posits alternative explanations for very extraordinary events and finds most conventional explanations not to be completely satisfactory. In the end he grudgingly but ever so logically concludes: "I think we can say, with little assurance but with some justification, that the evidence provides a reasonable basis for believing in personal postmortem survival. It doesn't clearly support the belief that everyone survives death; it more clearly supports the belief that some do."
If that conclusion, reached after torturous and exhaustive critical examination by a clear-headed logician of the growing body of parapsychological research accumulated over the course of the past 140 years, excites you and fills you with a desire for immediate expanded study of these phenomena then you and Braude are on the same wavelength, daddy-o.
A final thought: this book is not for folks who find it hard to consider multiple hypotheses simultaneously or for those seeking a non-critical gee-whiz account of strange inexplicable experiences. On the contrary, Braude can find a possible explanation for almost any experience no matter how bizarre. But are those explanations logical? Are they plausible? In the end Braude finds survival to be more plausible than positing extraordinary far-fetched undetected super-powers among LIVING human minds.
PS I liked Stephen Braude right away. Despite having a PhD he never refers to himself in any of his writings or bios as "Dr. Braude." He is a modest man.
If that conclusion, reached after torturous and exhaustive critical examination by a clear-headed logician of the growing body of parapsychological research accumulated over the course of the past 140 years, excites you and fills you with a desire for immediate expanded study of these phenomena then you and Braude are on the same wavelength, daddy-o.
A final thought: this book is not for folks who find it hard to consider multiple hypotheses simultaneously or for those seeking a non-critical gee-whiz account of strange inexplicable experiences. On the contrary, Braude can find a possible explanation for almost any experience no matter how bizarre. But are those explanations logical? Are they plausible? In the end Braude finds survival to be more plausible than positing extraordinary far-fetched undetected super-powers among LIVING human minds.
PS I liked Stephen Braude right away. Despite having a PhD he never refers to himself in any of his writings or bios as "Dr. Braude." He is a modest man.
September 13, 2015
Braude is a professor emeritus of philosophy and one can detect the influence of the analytic tradition in his style of reasoning. Somewhat reminiscent of Wittgenstein's treatment of Russell's logical atomism in the 'Tractatus', Braude works from the assumption that ESP is a proven fact, then takes up its implications in the analysis of cases of OBEs, NDEs, haunting, reincarnation, possession, mediumship, xenoglossy and the like, weighing explanatory ESP hypotheses against survivalist ones. The results are inconclusive, provisional judgments often hinging on considerations of parsimony.
New to me were the case studies of persons receiving heart-lung transplants--and, along with them, elements of the personalities of the donors. Some of these accounts were very provocative, a couple even quite amusing. So too was the case of Patience Worth, something I'd previously heard about but not studied. Here Braude draws extensively on his previous research about Multiple Personality (aka "Dissociative Identity") to make an interesting, and inspiring, human potentials argument.
Having read a lot of parapsychology I'm disposed to think there's something to ESP, at least certain forms of it, something that is real, albeit something not very suitable for controlled replication.
Braude is far more comfortable than I am in playing with a super-psi model whereby such cases as he concerns himself with herein are explained in terms of hypothetical mixes of PK, telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition etc.--if need be, produced from multiple subjects. Granted, it may not be possible when studying ESP to isolate one type from the others. Thus, all psi phenomena may implicate super-psi. Still, one can appreciate--as he does--how the survivalist hypotheses have the virtue of simplicity.
New to me were the case studies of persons receiving heart-lung transplants--and, along with them, elements of the personalities of the donors. Some of these accounts were very provocative, a couple even quite amusing. So too was the case of Patience Worth, something I'd previously heard about but not studied. Here Braude draws extensively on his previous research about Multiple Personality (aka "Dissociative Identity") to make an interesting, and inspiring, human potentials argument.
Having read a lot of parapsychology I'm disposed to think there's something to ESP, at least certain forms of it, something that is real, albeit something not very suitable for controlled replication.
Braude is far more comfortable than I am in playing with a super-psi model whereby such cases as he concerns himself with herein are explained in terms of hypothetical mixes of PK, telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition etc.--if need be, produced from multiple subjects. Granted, it may not be possible when studying ESP to isolate one type from the others. Thus, all psi phenomena may implicate super-psi. Still, one can appreciate--as he does--how the survivalist hypotheses have the virtue of simplicity.
February 26, 2019
I would by no means say this is a definitive assessment, but rather I did like the Braude's musings on Survivalist Theories (non-corporeal survival) vs the so-called super-PSI Hypothesis (subjective and objective psychical forces interact to create the impression of survival or non-corporeal consciousness. I love Braude, though this is not my favorite of his. He claims to personally fall into the Survivalist camp, but after reading the book, I find it's super-PSI argument more compelling. Nonetheless this is a necessary addition to the para-philosophical dialectic.
March 15, 2020
No for the general reader. This is an academic work that is committed to examining the evidence, such as it is, and it takes the whole book examining the data carefully and not allow personal opinion to enter into judgment. This is good but it makes for very dreary reading.
Overwritten and a dry style make for a boring read. If it were cut by half it would have been a better read and if it had been punched up, stylistically, this would also have helped.
Immortal Remains only for academic or determined general readers.
Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars...and that is being generous.
Overwritten and a dry style make for a boring read. If it were cut by half it would have been a better read and if it had been punched up, stylistically, this would also have helped.
Immortal Remains only for academic or determined general readers.
Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars...and that is being generous.
September 8, 2010
Read this with Tim Craighead as we were reading about mysticism and the paranormal in 07-08. Braude is a former professor of mine and does a thorough job looking at any and all possible evidence for any type of life after death. Tim's and my favorite quote toward the end of the book was something along the lines that all the evidence points to the possiblitiy of a brief moment of life after death akin to a "fart."
October 21, 2021
I have been reading a lot about this topic, but have found other books to be better reads. For example, I highly recommend Dr. Ray Moody's classic books and Leslie Kean's "Surviving Death."
Nonetheless, "Immortal Remains: The Evidence for Life After Death" is filled with thoughtful analysis of this fascinating topic. The author, Stephen Braude, approaches the topic with healthy skepticism but attempts to objectively and fairly weigh the evidence to help the reader draw his or her own conclusions.
Nonetheless, "Immortal Remains: The Evidence for Life After Death" is filled with thoughtful analysis of this fascinating topic. The author, Stephen Braude, approaches the topic with healthy skepticism but attempts to objectively and fairly weigh the evidence to help the reader draw his or her own conclusions.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews