Evidence For Reincarnation Flashcards
Who research evidence for reincarnation
Dr Ian Stevenson
what does he not use, what does he do instead
Hypothesis - instead he investigates a large number of cases in which people claim to have memories of a previous life and where some who knew the person in that life can confirm these memories
why did he chose to confine his study to children rather than adults
people he felt they were less likely to be motivated by attention seeking desires
the child sometimes had what
birthmarks which seem to support their claims + could generally recognise people are possessions from the previous life
What is a problem, arisen by societies
almost all the cases he describes are form socialites in which reincarnation is accepted
- belief in reincarnation may be a cultural phenomenon
due to language difficulties what could have happened
interpreters who may have introduced biases of their own into what was said
conclusion
it is impossible to know if one person is the reincarnation of a other
- all we can say is that reincarnated people are similar to rather than the same as those who went before
reincarnation could offer an answer to what
the problem of evil
- if we suffer in this life it is due to actions in a previous life
- however it seems unjust to punish someone for something done in a previous life
