Near-Death Experiences: Understanding Visions of the Afterlife

A book by John Martin Fischer and Benjamin Mitchell-Yellin examines arguments for dualism and the afterlife that rely on near-death experiences (NDEs). The authors review compelling cases, such as Pam Reynolds, who reported leaving her body and accurately describing details of her brain surgery while her brain showed no electrical activity. Taking these reports at face value, Fischer and Mitchell-Yellin methodically show how such experiences can be explained in purely physical terms—for example, Reynolds may have later become consciously aware of auditory impressions her brain received earlier. The book argues that NDEs do not warrant belief in dualism or an afterlife.

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Abstract

John Martin Fischer and Benjamin Mitchell-Yellin's book is the gold standard for philosophical work aimed at a popular audience. Fischer and Mitchell-Yellin make nuanced, philosophically interesting arguments about a topic largely unexplored by academic philosophers and manage to do so in a way that is accessible to any intellectually curious reader. The central aim of the book is to consider charitable interpretations of arguments for dualism and the afterlife that appeal to near-death experiences (NDEs) and to make the case that such arguments do not actually warrant belief in either. In the first few chapters, Fischer and Mitchell-Yellin review representative and particularly intriguing instances of NDEs, ones that have convinced many that there must be an afterlife. One such example concerns Pam Reynolds, who had the experience of leaving her body and watching her own brain surgery. She accurately reported numerous details about the surgery (e.g., medical staff had a conversation about the difficulty posed by her small arteries) that supposedly occurred at a time the electroencephalograph was not detecting any brain activity. The details of other cases are similar. Taking the people who had NDEs at their word, Fischer and Mitchell-Yellin proceed to methodically review how such experiences can be explained in purely physical terms. In the case of Pam Reynolds, they illustrate how Reynolds may have, after coming out of surgery, become consciously aware of auditory impressions her brain received at an earlier time.