James and Whitehead on Life after Death

Life after death? It’s a question that theologians, scientists, and philosophers have tried for centuries to answer one way or the other. One side appeals to divine revelation, the other side relies on mind-body dualism and limits what counts as evidence by denying the full range of human experience. Now, in an era when it is possible to contemplate not just individual death but the death of the species, David Ray Griffin weighs in on this provocative topic. Using the mature work of philosophers William James and Alfred North Whitehead, Griffin presents a lucid case for life after death that is broadly inclusive of all types of human experience, including near-death experiences. He counters mind-body dualism with his philosophy of panexperientialism and cites evidence of a universe “fine-tuned” for life to suggest a divine reality and that does not require appeals to revelation. The result is a Jamesian-Whiteheadian, science-based affirmation for life after death.In this informed and carefully argued volume, David Ray Griffin has shown that the mature thought of William James and Alfred North Whitehead, when supported by Griffin’s tight arguments against dualism and materialism, provide adequate philosophical support for an affirmation of life after death. Griffin has cleared the decks of all serious counter-arguments. The result is a Jamesian-Whiteheadian case for life after death.~Robert McDermott, author of the “Introduction,” William James, Essays in Psychical Research (Harvard University Press).No academic is less concerned about the academic acceptability of a topic than David Griffin. If the topic is important, he tackles it, concerned only for the truth. No one presents the evidence more objectively or argues from it with greater detachment. If you think the question of whether there is life after death is important and would like to know the reasons for its denial, the evidence in its favor, and the conclusions of a dispassionate and insightful thinker who encourages you to think for yourself, this is the book for you. ~John B. Cobb, Jr., professor emeritus, Claremont School of Theology; co-founder of the Center for Process Studies, Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences.“Physicalism”, the impoverished philosophical descendant of the “materialism” of previous centuries, reigns as the received wisdom of opinion elites throughout our endangered world despite the fact that growing numbers of philosophers and scientists regard it as both intellectually untenable and responsible directly or indirectly for many of postmodern civilization’s manifest and rapidly worsening ills. David Ray Griffin is a long-time leader of the growing rebellion against that pernicious dogma, anchored in the classical physics of the late nineteenth century, and in this short but significant new contribution he systematically attacks one of its most humanly-destructive corollaries—denial of the possibility of postmortem survival in any form whatsoever. Drawing upon empirical evidence of various kinds, including a well-informed survey of four main lines of evidence directly supporting survival (classical mediumship, near-death experiences, crisis apparitions, and cases of reincarnation), he shows clearly how the philosophical vision arising from the work of William James and Alfred North Whitehead provides for reinterpretation of the mind/brain relation in a manner distinct from both physicalism and dualism, and opens the way to an alternative science-based worldview that specifically provides for the possibility of postmortem survival, and yet is more compatible with contemporary physics than physicalism itself. Highly recommended! ~Edward Kelly, Professor, Division of Perceptual Studies, Department of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences, University of Virginia School of Medicine; lead author of Irreducible Mind (2007) and Consciousness Unbound (2021). Read more