"Is There Life After Death?" is a tour de force. Robert Kastenbaum, one of America’s most distinguished clinical psychologists, acclaimed for his work in adult development, aging, dying, suicide, and bereavement, conducts a sustained debate with himself on the evidence for and against survival. The reader plays jury as the author adopts, alternately, the stance of ardent critic and ardent advocate. A range of experiments, happenings, research, and a variety of beliefs are unfolded for examination in scientific, psychological, philosophical, social, and even political terms. Central to the debate is the question: What is admissible evidence for survival? Near-death experiences, out-of-body experiences, poltergeist phenomena, phantom sightings - all are possible candidates, but Professor Kastenbaum carefully selects those cases that are most fully documented and have occurred within reach of cameras, recording devices, and critical bystanders. In the last chapter he transcends the adversary approach to suggest that the more we understand the universe and ourselves, the more obvious it becomes that what we call "death" is not the end of life.
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