Ingersoll Lectures on Human Immortality

Because he was trained deeply in both medicine and philosophy, he evaluated the mind-body connection with scientific rigor, combined with a remarkably open mind.

In 1898, James delivered his famous Ingersoll Lecture at Harvard called Human Immortality; Two Supposed Objections to the Doctrine.

He set out to tackle the dominant scientific assertion of his day, the claim that thought is a function of the brain.

Physiologists argued that because brain injury, disease, or drugs clearly alter mental function, the brain must produce consciousness, and therefore, when the brain dies, consciousness must be permanently destroyed along with it.