Is Scientific Investigation of Postmortem Survival an Anachronism? The Demise of the Survival Hypothesis

Abstract

The survival hypothesis, or the notion of postmortem survival, has been a key domain of parapsychological research since the inception of the Society for Psychical Research in the late nineteenth century. Parapsychologists nevertheless have made no definitive progress toward the verification of the survival hypothesis, and the continued centrality of this issue to parapsychology is a major impediment to the acceptance of the field as a scientific enterprise. A redefinition of parapsychology and the relegation of the survival hypothesis to minor status are advocated.