Rebirth – A Philosophical Study

Summary

Kalghatgi begins by stating that karma and the transmigration of the soul are foundational presuppositions of Indian thought rather than concepts proved through logical deduction. The doctrine of karma implies that karmic residues cannot be exhausted in a single lifetime, so prophets such as the Buddha, Rsabha and Mahavira are said to have undergone many births after initially glimpsing enlightenment before becoming tirthankaras. The article surveys anthropological and historical evidence to show that belief in life after death is nearly universal. Paleolithic graves in France contained skeletons buried with food and implements, Egyptian tombs were elaborately supplied for the afterlife, and tribal religions practice ghost worship and totemism based on animistic ideas. Kalghatgi notes that in prehistoric cultures the soul was conceived as an ethereal double that could leave the body during sleep or trance. Scholars such as James Frazer argue that worship practices are inseparable from the belief in immortality; among “savage” races a life after death is considered an absolute certainty rather than speculation. The essay links these primitive beliefs to early Indian notions of the soul and discusses the “ghost theory” that identifies the soul with breath and dreams. While belief in rebirth is widespread, modern science has fostered agnosticism and philosophers like McTaggart and Pringle‑Pattison have raised objections: how can personal identity persist through multiple births if memories are lost? is there a fixed number of souls to sustain endless cycles of birth? Kalghatgi responds by citing Henri Bergson, who argues that reason cannot grasp metaphysical realities and that intuition is needed to apprehend truths like reincarnation. He suggests that arguments against rebirth often rest on assumptions such as empiricism or Christian linear time that may not be universally valid. Instead, he emphasises the coherence of the doctrine within Indian philosophy: karma and rebirth provide an ethical framework linking actions to consequences across lifetimes, support the moral law of universal justice, and align with experiences reported in parapsychology and extra‑sensory perception. Kalghatgi does not claim logical proof for reincarnation, but he argues that the convergence of anthropological, ethical and intuitive evidence gives the doctrine intellectual respectability and makes it a fruitful postulate for philosophical inquiry.