Philosophical Objections and Reflections

Abstract

This chapter will deal mainly with the mind-body problem that is at the heart of the most formidable types of philosophical and scientific objection to reincarnationism in its classic forms: the one that merits, I think, the most serious attention. We shall touch on some other points that may be helpful in unravelling the nature of the objection, even points that may have theological overtones. We shall exclude, however, for the present, all objections that are theological and religious rather than philosophical and scientific, deferring them till the next chapter.

In the collection of facts, one cannot be over-cautious. But in the invention of theories, especially in a field so peculiar as ours, where analogies drawn from the existing sciences are almost useless, a canny and sober circumspection would be the greatest mistake. Professor H. H. Price, Presidential Address, Society for Psychical Research, 1939