Editing Parapsychology (section)

===Reincarnation research===
{{Main|Reincarnation research}}

Psychiatrist [[Ian Stevenson]], from the [[University of Virginia]], conducted more than 2,500 case studies over 40 years and published twelve books. He wrote that childhood memories ostensibly related to [[reincarnation]] normally occurred between the ages of three and seven years and then faded shortly afterward. He compared the memories with reports of people known to the deceased, attempting to do so before any contact between the child and the deceased's family had occurred,<ref name="Tucker 2005">{{Cite book|author=Tucker, Jim |title=Life before life: a scientific investigation of children's memories of previous lives |publisher=St. Martin's Press |location=New York |year=2005 |isbn=978-0312321376 }}</ref> and searched for disconfirming evidence that could provide alternative explanations for the reports aside from reincarnation.<ref name="document">{{Cite news| last = Shroder | first = T | url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/10/AR2007021001393.html?nav=hcmodule | title = Ian Stevenson; Sought To Document Memories Of Past Lives in Children | newspaper = [[The Washington Post]] | date = 2007-02-11 }}</ref>

Some 35 percent of the subjects examined by Stevenson had birthmarks or congenital disabilities. Stevenson believed that the existence of birthmarks and deformities on children, when they occurred at the location of fatal wounds in the deceased, provided the best evidence for reincarnation.<ref name="Cadoret, Remi 2005">{{Cite journal | last = Cadoret | first = R | url = http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/162/4/823 | archive-url = http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20090717023649/http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/162/4/823 | url-status = dead | archive-date = 2009-07-17 | title = Book Forum: Ethics, Values, and Religion - European Cases of the Reincarnation Type | volume = 162 | issue = 4 | pages = 823–824 | journal = The American Journal of Psychiatry | year = 2005 | doi = 10.1176/appi.ajp.162.4.823 | accessdate = 2010-09-06 }}</ref> However, Stevenson has never claimed that he had proved the existence of reincarnation, and cautiously referred to his cases as being "of the reincarnation type" or "suggestive of reincarnation".<ref>Harvey J. Irwin (2004). ''An Introduction to Parapsychology''. McFarland, p. 218.</ref> Researchers who believe in the evidence for reincarnation have been unsuccessful in getting the [[scientific community]] to consider it a serious possibility.<ref name=ShroderFeb11>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/10/AR2007021001393.html?nav=hcmodule |title=Ian Stevenson; Sought To Document Memories Of Past Lives in Children |work=Washingtonpost.com |date=2007-02-11 |access-date=2014-04-11|last1=Shroder |first1=Tom }}</ref>

[[Ian Wilson (author)|Ian Wilson]] argued that a large number of Stevenson's cases consisted of poor children remembering wealthy lives or belonging to a [[Caste system in India|higher caste]]. He speculated that such cases may represent a scheme to obtain money from the family of the alleged former incarnation.<ref>[[Ian Wilson (author)|Ian Wilson]]. (1981). ''Mind Out of Time: Reincarnation Investigated''. Gollancz. {{ISBN|0575029684}}</ref> Philosopher Keith Augustine has written, "The vast majority of Stevenson's cases come from countries where a religious belief in reincarnation is strong, and rarely elsewhere, seems to indicate that cultural conditioning (rather than reincarnation) generates claims of spontaneous past-life memories."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://infidels.org/library/modern/keith_augustine/immortality.html |title=The Case Against Immortality |date=31 March 1997 |publisher=Infidels.org |access-date=2014-04-11}}</ref> Philosopher [[Paul Edwards (philosopher)|Paul Edwards]] wrote that reincarnation invokes logically dubious assumptions and is inconsistent with modern science.<ref>Robert Cogan. (1998). ''Critical Thinking: Step by Step''. University Press of America. pp. 202–203. {{ISBN|0761810676}} "Edwards catalogs common sense objections which have been made against reincarnation. 1) How does a soul exist between bodies? 2) Tertullian's objection: If there is reincarnation, why are not babies born with the mental abilities of adults? 3) Reincarnation claims an infinite series of prior incarnations. Evolution teaches that there was a time when humans did not yet exist. So reincarnation is inconsistent with modern science. 4) If there is reincarnation, then what is happening when the population increases? 5) If there is reincarnation, then why do so few, if any people, remember past lives?... To answer these objections believers in reincarnation must accept additional assumptions... Acceptance of these silly assumptions, Edwards says, amounts to a crucifixion of one's intellect."
* [[Paul Edwards (philosopher)|Paul Edwards]]. (1996, reprinted in 2001). ''Reincarnation: A Critical Examination''. Prometheus books. {{ISBN|1573929212}}</ref>