Griffin, David Ray. “Life After Death, Parapsychology, and Post-modern Animism.” In Death and Afterlife, edited by Stephen T. Davis, 88-107. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1989.

Abstract

The essay defends a position of postmodern animism, which, as defined, holds that the ultimate unites of nature are analogous to our souls or minds in being self-moving things; and so all things in the would have perceiving ability. Here “perceiving” is understood in two sub terms: sensory and non-sensory. Non-sensory perceiving exists in all things, while sensory perceiving can only be found in some animals that have developed certain organs. From such a position, the author analyses the failure of materialism, dualism, and supernaturalism, and discusses the possibility of life or after death. He argues that psychosomatic and parapsychological studies show that there is evidence for out-of-body experiences, which explain away the twofold capacity of the soul to perceive and act without employing its body.