Welcome home! Please contact lincoln@icrontic.com if you have any difficulty logging in or using the site. New registrations must be manually approved which may take several days. Can't log in? Try clearing your browser's cookies.
reincarnation proof
zidangus
Veteran
http://reluctant-messenger.com/reincarnation-proof.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Stevenson#The_locked_cabinet
I had never heard of Dr Ian Stevenson before, it seems he has done a lot of research on reincarnation/rebirth, first glance it looks very interesting stuff. especially the claimed 'physical evidence relating to the often rare and unusual birthmarks and birth defects of children which he claimed matched wounds recorded in the medical or post-mortem records for the individual Stevenson identified as the past-life personality'
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Stevenson#The_locked_cabinet
I had never heard of Dr Ian Stevenson before, it seems he has done a lot of research on reincarnation/rebirth, first glance it looks very interesting stuff. especially the claimed 'physical evidence relating to the often rare and unusual birthmarks and birth defects of children which he claimed matched wounds recorded in the medical or post-mortem records for the individual Stevenson identified as the past-life personality'
0
Comments
Ian Stevensons sensationalist reports always seem to crop up in online Buddhist groups where people are seeking proof for their reincarnation beliefs.
You might like to read this review of the claims made in his book .
here:...http://www.skepticreport.com/sr/?p=482
and also here:...http://www.skepticreport.com/sr/?p=481
with kind wishes
D.
'Stevenson's work has drawn criticism from skeptical groups and individuals such as The Skeptics Society[6] and Robert Todd Carroll, while philosopher Paul Edwards included a lengthy criticism of Stevenson's work in his book Reincarnation: A Critical Examination. In each of these critiques, the authors question both the methods used and the evidence gathered by Stevenson, and offer alternative, more mainstream, explanations for the types of cases Stevenson argued were suggestive of reincarnation. Philosopher Paul Kurtz, founder of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, has gone further and suggested Stevenson's reincarnation research is pseudoscience. By contrast, in his books Death and Personal Survival and Beyond Death: The Evidence for Life After Death, philosopher Robert Almeder endorsed Stevenson's research, rebutted most of Kurtz's objections, and concluded that the evidence he assembled argues strongly in favor of reincarnation, to the point of it being irrational to disbelieve that some people reincarnate.[20][23][24] Skeptic Sam Harris said of Stevenson "either he is a victim of truly elaborate fraud, or something interesting is going on".[25]'
My point is that he has published his work in peer reviewed journals, so I presume he must have followed sound scientific method in conducting his research, and therefore his conclusions cannot be easily dismissed out of hand.
This not only follows up on children's claims of living in another house with other relatives, it explores every other possibility that could explain their recollections, in other words, he tries to debunk each case.
I see Stephenson has a new book: "Where Reincarnation and Biology Meet". I've never read his books, maybe you could share with us what you find, and how you feel about it, zidangus.
"Old Souls: Compelling Evidence from Children Who Remember Past Lives", by Tom Schrader. I'm not familiar with this one.
I don't see this thread as a rebirth/reincarnation debate. It's about one member checking out some publications on the subject. You can believe, or not believe, zid, but it's intriguing info to check out and ponder, in any case.
Sam Harris tends to heap nothing but scorn on all Western religions while uncritically accepting the claims of Eastern Religions. He's been called on this before. For instance, the statement above about "either...or" is total nonsense and shows a huge blind spot in his skeptical thinking, one that any skeptic should immediately recognize if it came from a religious person defending their Holy Book.
It's called the "False Dilemma" and common enough that everyone should be able to recognize the error. "Either Jesus was a liar or he was God." "Either the Bible is nothing but lies or it's the Divine Word." "Either a man is a fraud or victim of a fraud or what he claims is true."
No. It is simply not a choice of two extremes. There are in fact other explanations than the two he tries to force upon us. He should know better as a skeptic.
Ian can be entirely honest in his beliefs, but still fooled by his desire to find evidence for his beliefs and misinterpreting what he's seeing and hearing while ignoring evidence that contradicts his desires. He is neither a fraud nor is a fraud being perpetrated upon him, and neither is his conclusion correct. It happens all the time. The "something interesting" going on is how a person's search for validation can create problems in their perceptions, expecially in intelligent people.
Other researchers have more closely investigated many of the more unusual case histories related by Dr. Stevenson, and found they contain numerous errors of both omission and fact. That's troubling enough that his entire book should be read with doubt as to accuracy.