Reasoning About Messages From the Dead
Now I wish to call attention, not to the incidents recorded, for no one doubts their pathetic reality, but to the process of reasoning by which Mr. Stead has convinced himself that E. M. and his son have been returning to comfort him, with messages and their assurance of happiness in their world. He bases his faith upon, first, a secret agreement between E. M. and himself; and, second, upon a close intimacy between his son and himself. Expressed in syllogism his reasoning stands thus: Major premise: Only E. M. and I knew of our agreement. Minor premise: The conditions of our agreement were fulfilled in every detail. Conclusion: Therefore they were fulfilled by no other than E. M. returned from the dead. The second line of reasoning proceeds thus: Major premise: My son and I had secrets and confidences that only we two knew about. Minor premise: A spirit or intelligence communicates with me after my son’s death with full knowledge of these secrets and plans. Conclusion: The communicating intelligence could have been no other than my son returned from the grave to be my companion. The trouble with this reasoning is that the major premise is not only not proved in either case, but is demonstrably false even on Mr. Stead’s own theory. For even accepting as a fact the return of the dead, we must admit that the spirits of thieves, liars, and murderers can return as easily as those of the worthy and peaceful; and therefore deceit and imposture by spirits of the returned dead can not be held impossible, and indeed is even admitted by Spiritualists. Consequently the fulfilment of any agreement made previous to death, does not necessarily come from the contracting party; for some one or several of these evil spirits, presumably enemies of one or both, might be present and hear the agreement, and after the death of one of the two, fulfil in the minutest detail all the most secret contract in the stipulated time and in the covenanted manner, and do it all for the sole purpose of possibly malicious revenge. That people should be so blinded by the wonders of Spiritualism as not to see such a self-evident truth, is a most surprising anomaly of the human mind.