The Case for Reincarnation

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The Case for Reincarnation
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Alleged Evidences of Reincarnation
1. Past Life Memories
A person S possesses self-referential veridical
information about a formerly existing person S.
2. Similarity of Physical Features
A person S has physical feature(s) similar or
identical to the physical features of some
formerly existing person S.
3. Similarity of Character or Personality
A person S has a character or other personality
features similar or identical to the character
and personality features of some formerly
existing person S.
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4. Similarity of Practical and Theoretical Skills
A person S possesses practical and theoretical
skills similar to or identical to some formerly
existing person S.
5. Similarity of Self Perception
A person S perceives himself as a formerly
existing person S perceived himself.
6. The Existence of widely divergent degrees of
moral, spiritual, intellectual, and practical
skills.
7. Reincarnation makes human suffering or the
various inequities of life intelligible.
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Raynor Johnson on Reincarnation
Raynor Johnson (a Christian reincarnationist)
believes that factual observations support the
idea of pre-existence, and pre-existence in turn
supports reincarnation.

• The life situations into which people are born
  are vastly different and unequal.

B. There are widely different degrees of
spiritual and moral development among people who
are roughly the same age.
C. There are widely different degrees of artistic
and scientific skills among people who are the
same age.
D. A very high level of artistic and scientific
skills are exhibited by some people at a very
early age.
E. Members of the same family often exhibit vast
differences in their mental, moral, and artistic
characteristics.
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Johnsons Argument
Johnson believes that the observational facts
(A)-(E) are best explained by supposing that
human persons have existed prior to their present
life.
Johnson intends an argument for pre-existence.
The form of argument Johnson suggests is
inference to best explanation.
Inference to Best Explanation (1) If hypothesis H
provides the best explanation for some
observational fact(s) F, then F makes H
probable. (2) Hypothesis H provides the best
explanation for observational fact F. Therefore,
(3) Hypothesis H is probable.
Replace H with the pre-existence hypothesis and F
with the facts (A)-(D) and we have Johnsons
argument for pre-existence.
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Potential Problems with Johnsons Argument
The second premise of Johnsons implicit argument
is true only if there is no other hypothesis that
provides an equal explanation for the facts
Johnson cites.
Johnson does not adequately engage alternate
hypotheses. Inequities may simply be the result
of chance. The possession of high degrees
spiritual and moral development, as well as
advanced artistic and mental skills, at an early
age, may be the product of genetic coding, or
genetics and favorable environmental
factors. Differences of profound kind in
mental, moral, and artistic qualities between
members of the same family may be explained by
the complex character of genetic inheritance.
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Since these alternate hypotheses would also lead
us to expect the facts cited by Johnson, there is
no obvious reason why pre-existence provides a
better explanation of these facts.
A possible virtue of the pre-existence hypothesis
is that it is a single hypothesis that would lead
us to expect all of the cited facts, whereas more
than a single hypothesis would likely be needed
to explain the entire set of observations.
One alternate hypothesis could combine chance
(including random genetic mutations) and the laws
of genetic inheritance to explain the facts, in
much the same way that a Darwinist explains the
existence of diverse complex living organisms in
terms of the laws of biology and natural
selection operating on random variations thrown
up by nature.
The remaining virtue of the pre-existence
hypothesis is that it is compatible with the
belief that the universe is overall a just place,
for the inequities in life would be explained by
a persons own actions in the past, not bad luck.
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Johnsons case for pre-existence appears to
depend largely on investing the universe with a
particular moral quality, goodness or justice.
Johnsons Argument for Reincarnation
If the case for pre-existence is considered a
strong one, then the idea of reincarnation
presents no logical difficulties. Johnson
Johnson thinks that the probability of
pre-existence makes reincarnation plausible
(perhaps even probable).
However, if Johnsons case for pre-existence is
not strong, then he loses his reason for
affirming the plausibility of reincarnation.
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Johnson on Past Life Memories
Johnson also considers one of the common
objections to reincarnation, namely the apparent
fact that not everyone recalls having lived a
past life.
Johnsons Response
Observational Datum Memory of past events is
less frequent the further back in time we go.
Our memories of events in our present life seems
to terminate around age two.
Predictive Extrapolation We should not typically
expect anyone to have memories of a past life.
So the absence of such memories does not count
against reincarnation.
Question for Discussion Does the occurrence of
apparent past life memories still count in favor
of reincarnation?
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C.J. Ducasses Defense of Rebirth
Ducasse on Absence of Past Life Memories. . .
. The absence of memories of having existed at a
particular time t does not provide evidence that
we did not exist at t. If it did, then we would
have to conclude that we did not exist during the
first few years of our present life, for we have
no memories of that time period. But this is
absurd. So absence of past life memories would
not disconfirm rebirth.
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Second Objection Laws of Heredity Sufficiently
Explain Mental and Physical Characteristics of
Persons
Ducasse Appeals to McTaggarts Defense
McTaggarts Argument Hats are well-suited to the
heads of their owners, but not because there is
any causal connection between the hat and the
head. Hats are not made for their heads, nor
heads made for their hats. Adaptation is due to a
persons choice of some particular hat from those
available.
Hence, there is no impossibility in supposing
that the characteristics in which we resemble the
ancestors of our bodies may be to some degree
characteristics due to our previous lives.
It is possible that we are reborn in bodies whose
biological ancestors had mental and physical
characteristics similar to those we acquired in a
previous life.
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Clarifying McTaggarts Argument
Ducasse explains that McTaggarts Argument does
not involve a defense of the idea of the rebirth
of personality, the habits, skills, knowledge,
character, and memories which a person acquires
during his or her life.
Ducasses Distinction
What Gets Reincarnated?
Personality Acquired Skills, Habits, and Memories
Individuality Native Aptitudes and Dispositions
OR
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Ducasse favors the idea of the rebirth of a core
of negative and positive dispositions and
aptitudes. It is individuality, not personality,
that is reincarnated.
Third Objection Our sense of personal identity
depends on memorial continuity.
Ducasses Response We only need partial
memorial continuity for our sense of personal
identity, not the preservation of a comprehensive
span of memories. We have no memory of our
earliest years, and yet this fact does not impair
our sense of identity.
If, on each day, a person had a stock of
memories relating to, let us say, only the then
preceding ten years, or some other perhaps
shorter period, this would provide all that would
be needed for a continuous sense of identity.
Ducasse
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Ducasses Conclusion
The objections to reincarnation considered are
ultimately not good objections to the idea of
rebirth (understood as the rebirth of
individuality in Ducasses sense of the term).
These objections do not provide good reasons for
believing that no life after death is possible,
nor that such a significant form of survival
cannot be imagined.
Unlike Johnsons Argument, Ducasses argument is
not intended as a proof of reincarnation, but a
defense of reincarnation against prominent
objections.