James G. (Jim) Matlock, Ph.D.
> Ian Stevenson - The Principal Reincarnation
Researchers
Ian Stevenson, M. D
Ian Pretyman Stevenson (1918-2007)
was born in Montreal, Quebec. His father was a Scottish political
journalist, his mother a devotee of Theosophy. Stevenson began his
studies in history in Edinburgh, Scotland, but his interests shifted
and he enrolled in medicine at McGill University in Montreal. He received
his M.D. degree from McGill in 1943 and accepted a succession of positions
in the United States before being appointed Chairman of the Department
of Psychiatry at the University of Virginia in 1957, when he was 39.
By the time he reached UVA, Stevenson had made significant contributions
in several different areas. At the start of his medical career he
did experiments on the oxidation of rat kidneys, an experience that
turned him against reductionism. He moved into psychosomatic medicine,
but when that field failed to develop into a regular specialty, took
up psychiatry. Psychiatry was then (in the 1950s) dominated by psychoanalysis,
which was not to his liking, however. He rejected the Freudian dogma
that the human personality becomes fixed in early childhood and faulted
Freud’s failure to test his ideas about sexuality. He began
to read extensively in psychical research, finding in that field a
more congenial approach to the human experience, and changed direction
once again.
Stevenson became a charter member of the Parapsychological
Association when it was formed in 1957 and served as its President
in 1968 and 1980. He was elected President of the Society
for Psychical Research for the 1988-1989 term and was a member
of the Board of Trustees of the American
Society for Psychical Research for many years. His interests
in parapsychology were very broad, as Emily Kelly shows in a recent
collection of his writings, Science,
the Self, and Survival after Death: Selected Writings of Ian
Stevenson. He was drawn to extra-sensory communications and phenomena
suggestive of survival and reincarnation because, if these processes
could be established, they would demonstrate that human beings were
more than their physical bodies. He came to specialize in postmortem
survival and reincarnation because he realized that that they posed
an especially keen challenge to materialistic assumptions. Reincarnation
might help to explain, among other things, the origins of individual
differences and why a given person developed a given disease, one
of the “leitmotif” questions of his career.
Nonetheless, it was almost by accident that he came to concentrate
on the reincarnation studies that were to make him world-famous. In
the 1950s, he began to collect accounts of children who claimed to
recall previous lives from whatever source he came across and in 1960
published a paper in the Journal of the American Society for Psychical
Research entitled The
Evidence for Survival from Claimed Memories of Former Incarnations,
in which he reported having found 44 cases in which the previous person
had been identified. In 28 of these cases, the children had made six
or more statements about the previous lives that proved to be correct.
This paper attracted wide attention, including from Eileen Garrett
of the Parapsychology
Foundation who not only sent him a lead to his first case,
but provided funds to investigate it in India. The paper was also
noticed by Chester Carlson, the multi-millionaire inventor of the
xerographic process, who underwrote later trips. This research resulted
in Twenty
Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation, published in the Proceedings
of the American Society for Psychical Research in 1966 with an updated
second edition by the University Press of Virginia in 1974.
In 1964, Carlson donated funds to the University of Virginia to endow
a Chair for Stevenson, and in 1967 he resigned as Chairman of the
Department of Psychiatry and set up a Division of Parapsychology,
later Division of Personality Studies, now Division
of Perceptual Studies (DOPS), within the Department. When
Carlson died in 1968, he left the University of Virginia a $1 million
bequest to support the furtherance of Stevenson's work. Four volumes
under the general heading of Cases of the Reincarnation Type followed.
The cases reported in these books were from India, Sri Lanka, Burma,
Thailand, Lebanon and Turkey. In 2003 Stevenson published a volume
of European
cases, European Cases of the Reincarnation Type. Meanwhile
he had spent years investigating cases with birthmarks and birth defects,
the subject of a two-volume, 2,268-page study, Reincarnation and Biology,
synopsized in the single-volume Where
Reincarnation and Biology Intersect. Although Stevenson preferred
spontaneous past-life memories, he studied two hypnotic regression
cases that gave some evidence of the use of language unlearned in
the present life, a phenomenon he dubbed xenoglossy (Xenoglossy:
A review and report of a case; Unlearned
Language: New Studies in Xenoglossy). He published numerous
journal papers as well as books and in 1987 summarized his research
in Children
Who Remember Previous Lives: A Question of Reincarnation,
re-issued in a revised edition in 2001.
Stevenson’s work on reincarnation was controversial from the
start. Although he pitched his work toward a medical and scientific
audience, it was in the popular sphere that he made the earliest impact.
His work was treated in critical popular books by writers Ian Wilson
(1981)
and D. Scott Rogo (1985/2005)
and by skeptical philosopher Paul Edwards in his 1996 Reincarnation:
A Critical Examination. The first sympathetic academic review
was my Past
Life Memory Case Studies, in 1990. After 1990, the reception
of Stevenson’s work began to change, partly because he succeeded
in attracting other field investigators who were able to study cases
similar to his, confirming his findings. These investigators include
Antonia
Mills, Erlendur
Haraldsson, Jürgen
Keil, and Jim
B. Tucker, in addition to Satwant
Pasricha, whom he had trained initially to help him as an
interpreter in the field. The Brazilian Hernani Andrade had investigated
cases a few years before, but because he published in Portuguese,
his work has never become well known in the English-speaking world.
In the later 1990s, Stevenson allowed Washington Post writer Tom Shroder
to accompany him on trips to India, Lebanon and the southeastern United
States, as Shroder described in his 1999 book Old
Souls: Compelling Evidence from Children Who Remember Past Lives.
In 2005 Jim Tucker, Stevenson’s successor at UVA, provided an
updated overview of the Stevenson group’s research in Life
Before Life: Children's Memories of Previous Lives. Tucker
has recently contributed a volume of his own cases, Return
to Life: Extraordinary Cases of Children Who Remember Past Lives.
Stevenson’s books and a selection of his journal publications
on reincarnation are listed below. Many of his other journal publications,
including ones on mediumship and near-death experiences, are available
through the DOPS
web site.
Sources
http://www.near-death.com/experiences/reincarnation01.html
Kelly, E. W. (Ed.) (2013). Science,
the Self, and Survival after Death: Selected Writings of Ian Stevenson.
Rowman and Littlefield.
Matlock, J. G. (2011). Ian
Stevenson's Twenty Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation: An Historical
Review and Assessment. Journal of Scientific Exploration,
25, 789–820.
Stevenson, I. (1989). Some
of my journeys in medicine. The Flora Levy Lecture in the Humanities.
Lafayette, LA: University of Southwestern Louisiana.
Stevenson, I. (2006). Half
a career with the paranormal. Journal of Scientific Exploration,
20, 13–21.
Tucker, J. B. (2008). Ian
Stevenson and cases of the reincarnation type. Journal of Scientific
Exploration, 22, 36–43.
Publications on Reincarnation
Books
Stevenson, I. (1974). Twenty Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation:
Second Edition, Revised and Enlarged. Charlottesville: University Press
of Virginia.
Stevenson, I. (1974). Xenoglossy: A Review and Report
of a Case. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia.
Stevenson, I. (1975). Cases of the Reincarnation Type,
Volume 1: Ten Cases in India. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia.
Stevenson, I. (1977). Cases of the Reincarnation Type.
Volume II: 10 Cases in Sri Lanka. Charlottesville: University Press
of Virginia.
Stevenson, I. (1980). Cases of the Reincarnation Type,
Volume III: Twelve Cases in Lebanon and Turkey. Charlottesville: University
Press of Virginia.
Stevenson, I. (1983). Cases of the Reincarnation Type:
Volume IV ,Twelve Cases in Thailand and Burma. Charlottesville: University
Press of Virginia.
Stevenson, I. (1984). Unlearned Language: New Studies
in Xenoglossy. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia.
Stevenson, I. (1997). Reincarnation and Biology: A
Contribution to the Etiology of Birthmarks and Birth Defects Volume
1: Birthmarks. Westport, CT: Praeger.
Stevenson, I. (1997). Reincarnation and Biology: A
Contribution to the Etiology of Birthmarks and Birth Defects Volume
2: Birth Defects and Other Anomalies. Westport, CT: Praeger.
Stevenson, I. (1997). Where Reincarnation and Biology
Intersect. Westport, CT: Praeger.
Stevenson, I. (2001). Children Who Remember Previous
Lives: A Question of Reincarnation (rev. ed.). Jefferson, NC: McFarland.
Stevenson, I. (2003). European Cases of the Reincarnation
Type. Jefferson, NC: McFarland.
Select Journal Papers and Short Pieces
Chadha, N. K., & Stevenson, I. (1988). Two correlates
of violent death in cases of the reincarnation type. Journal of the
Society for Psychical Research, 55, 71-79.
Cook, E. W., Pasricha, S., Samararatne, G., Maung U
W., & Stevenson, I. (1983). A review and analysis of “unsolved”
cases of the reincarnation type. I: Introduction and illustrative case
reports. Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research, 77,
45-62.
Cook, E. W., Pasricha, S., Samararatne, G., Maung U
W., & Stevenson, I. (1983). A review and analysis of “unsolved”
cases of the reincarnation type. II: Comparison of features of solved
and unsolved cases. Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research,
77, 115-135.
Keil, [H. H.] J., & Stevenson, I. (1999). Do cases
of the reincarnation type show similar features over many years? A study
of Turkish cases a generation apart. Journal of Scientific Exploration
13(2), 189-198.
Pasricha, S. K., Keil, [H. H.] J., Tucker, J. B., &
Stevenson, I. (2005). Some bodily malformations attributed to previous
lives. Journal of Scientific Exploration, 19, 359-383.
Pasricha, S. [K.], & Stevenson, I. (1977). Three
cases of the reincarnation type in India. Indian Journal of Psychiatry,
19, 36-42.
Pasricha, S. [K.], & Stevenson, I. (1979). A partly
independent replication of investigations of cases suggestive of reincarnation.
European Journal of Parapsychology, 3, 51-69.
Pasricha, S. [K.], & Stevenson, I. (1987). Indian
cases of the reincarnation type two generations apart. Journal of the
Society for Psychical Research, 54, 239-246.
Schouten, S., & Stevenson, I. (1998). Does the
socio-psychological hypothesis explain cases of the reincarnation type?
Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 186, 504-506.
Stevenson, I. (1960). The evidence for survival from
claimed memories of former incarnations. Part I. Review of the data.
Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research, 54, 51-71.
Stevenson, !. (1960). The evidence for survival from
claimed memories of former incarnations. Part II. Analysis of the data
and suggestions for further research. Journal of the American Society
for Psychical Research, 54, 95-117.
Stevenson, I. (1962). Comments on ‘Parapsychology
and “reincarnation”’ by Professor C. T. K. Chari.
Indian Journal of Parapsychology, 3, 22-26.
Stevenson, I. (1966). Cultural patterns in cases suggestive
of reincarnation among the Tlingit Indians of southeastern Alaska. Journal
of the American Society for Psychical Research, 60, 229-243.
Stevenson, I. (1970). Characteristics of cases of the
reincarnation type in Turkey and their comparison with cases of two
other cultures. International Journal of Comparative Sociology, 11,
1-17.
Stevenson, I. (1971). The belief in reincarnation and
related cases among the Eskimos of Alaska [abstract]. In W. G. Roll,
R. L. Morris, & J. D. Morris (Eds.), Proceedings of the Parapsychological
Association, Vol. 6, 1969 (pp. 53-55). Durham, NC: Parapsychological
Association.
Stevenson, I. (1973). Carington’s psychon theory
as applied to cases of the reincarnation type: A reply to Gardner Murphy.
Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research, 67, 130-145.
Stevenson, I. (1973). Characteristics of cases of the
reincarnation type in Ceylon. Contributions to Asian Studies, 3, 26-29.
Stevenson, I. (1974). Some questions related to cases
of the reincarnation type. Journal of the American Society for Psychical
Research, 68, 395-416.
Stevenson, I. (1975). The belief and cases related
to reincarnation among the Haida. Journal of Anthropological Research,
31, 364-375.
Stevenson, I. (1977). The explanatory value of the
idea of reincarnation. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 164, 305-326.
Stevenson, I. (1977). The southeast Asian interpretation
of gender dysphoria: An illustrative case report. Journal of Nervous
and Mental Disease, 165, 201-208.
Stevenson, I. (1977). Reincarnation: Field studies
and theoretical issues. In B. B. Wolman (Ed.), Handbook of Parapsychology
(pp. 631-633). New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold.
Stevenson, I. (1979). The search for the less than
perfect case of the reincarnation type. Journal of Indian Psychology,
2, 30-34.
Stevenson, I. (1980). A preliminary report on an unusual
case of the reincarnation type with xenoglossy. Journal of the American
Society for Psychical Research, 74, 331-348.
Stevenson, I. (1983). American children who claim to
remember previous lives. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 171,
742-748.
Stevenson, I. (1985). The belief in reincarnation among
the Igbo of Nigeria. Journal of Asian and African Studies, 20, 13-30.
Stevenson, I. (1986). Characteristics of cases of the
reincarnation type among the Igbo of Nigeria. Journal of Asian and African
Studies, 21, 204-216.
Stevenson, I. (1990). Phobias in children who claim
to remember previous lives. Journal of Scientific Exploration, 4, 243-254.
Stevenson, I. (1993). Birthmarks and birth defects
corresponding to wounds on deceased persons. Journal of Scientific Exploration,
7, 403-410.
Stevenson, I. (1994). Guest commentary: A case of the
psychotherapist’s fallacy: Hypnotic regression to “previous
lives.” American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, 36, 188–193.
Stevenson, I. (1999). Past lives of twins. Lancet,
353, 1359-1360.
Stevenson, I. (2000). The phenomenon of claimed memories
of previous lives: Possible interpretations and importance. Medical
Hypotheses, 54, 652-659.
Stevenson, I. (2000). Unusual play in young children
who claim to remember previous lives. Journal of Scientific Exploration,
14, 557–570.
Stevenson, I (2001). Ropelike birthmarks on children
who claim to remember past lives. Psychological Reports, 89, 142-144.
Stevenson, I. (2006). Half a career with the paranormal.
Journal of Scientific Exploration, 20, 13–21.
Stevenson, I., & Chadha, N. (1990). Can children
be stopped from speaking about previous lives? Some further analyses
of features in cases of the reincarnation type. Journal of the Society
for Psychical Research, 56, 82-90.
Stevenson, I., & Haraldsson, E. (2003). The similarity
of features of reincarnation type cases over many years: A third study.
Journal of Scientific Exploration, 17, 283–289.
Stevenson, I., & Keil, [H. H.] J. (2000). The stability
of assessments of paranormal connections in reincarnation cases. Journal
of Scientific Exploration, 14, 365-382.
Stevenson, I., & Keil, [H. H.] J. (2005). Children
of Myanmar who behave like Japanese soldiers: A possible third element
in personality. Journal of Scientific Exploration, 19, 172-183.
Stevenson, I., & Pasricha, S. [K.] (1980). A preliminary
report of an unusual case of the reincarnation type in with xenoglossy.
Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research, 74, 331-348.
Stevenson, I., Pasricha, S. [K.], & McClean-Rice,
N. (1989). A case of the possession type in India with evidence of paranormal
knowledge. Journal of Scientific Exploration, 3, 81-101.
Stevenson, I., Pasricha, S. [K.], & Samararatne,
G. (1988). Deception and self-deception in cases of the reincarnation
type: Seven illustrative cases in Asia. Journal of the American Society
for Psychical Research, 82, 1-31.
Stevenson, I., & Prasad, J. (1971). Preliminary
investigations of the correspondences in Samskars (personality traits)
of the present and previous personalities in cases of the reincarnation
type in India [abstract]. In W. G. Roll, R. L. Morris, & J. D. Morris
(Eds.), Proceedings of the Parapsychological Association, Vol. 6, 1969
(pp. 4-6). Durham, NC: Parapsychological Association.
Stevenson, I., & Samaratne, G. (1988). Three new
cases of the reincarnation type in Sri Lanka with written records made
before verification. Journal of Scientific Exploration, 2, 217-238.
Fonte:
http://jamesgmatlock.net/resources/researchers/stevenson/
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