The Near-Death Experience and the Question of Immortality: A Philosophical Approach
Stephen D. Smith
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
|---|---|
| Topics | Near-death experience |
| Key points | Argues that the long-running debate over whether near-death experience accounts can serve as evidence for an afterlife has overlooked a more fundamental question: whether any form of afterlife would be truly desirable, and whether a state of immortality would be any more purposive than oblivion. |
Abstract
From tentative beginnings the literature on near-death experiences has mushroomed beyond all computation. In the nature of the case, the bulk of this literature depends very much on anecdotal evidence and presupposes that those who claim to have experienced such phenomena are telling their stories in good faith. Despite a minority of dissenting voices, most of the doctors, psychologists and neuroscientists working in this field of study at least entertain the possibility that the stories related by their patients or subjects, whether spontaneously or formally, may serve as evidence for some kind of afterlife. The debate over whether or not this is a valid approach has been well rehearsed during the past thirty years, and although it would be tempting to add to it here, there is a more fundamental question to consider which, while having been aired in the field of philosophy, seems to have escaped notice among participants of the present debate. The question is whether any form of afterlife would be truly desirable. And would a state of immortality be any more purposive than oblivion? Following some preliminary discussion, this will be the burden of our song.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on near-death experience, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Otherworld Journeys: Accounts of Near-Death Experience in Medieval and Modern Times | 1987 | Historical analysis | |
| Neuroscience and the Near-Death Experience: Roles for the NMSA-PCP receptor, the sigma receptor and the endopsychosins | 1990 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Implications of near-death experiences for a postmaterialist psychology. | 2010 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Near-Death Experience as a Probe to Explore (Disconnected) Consciousness | 2020 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Near-death experiences between science and prejudice | 2012 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |