Psi Possibilities

Hannah Jenkins

Masters (Hons) Philosophy University of New South Wales 2003 Abstract

This thesis undertakes an analysis of the current status of the evidence for psi. It argues that the current situation could indicate that modern science is in a crisis stage of a Kuhnian scientific revolution. This is based on an analysis of the nature of the dispute between those who maintain that psi does not exist and those who believe that psi is a possibility.

In the course of this discussion the thesis looks at the representation of psi in general philosophy texts. It is shown that when psi is mentioned (often it isn't) the evidence is usually dismissed as insubstantial, this is contrasted with the growing field of academic inquiry into psi effects and the evidence presented for psi.

Finally, some comm~nts are made about areas for future research in philosophy if psi is accepted as a possibility.

Psi Possibilities: Abstract Contents

Psi possibilities Introduction

Chapter 1 What is Psi? 11

Chapter 2 What evidence is there for psi? 39

Chapter 3 What is being done with the evidence for Psi? 75

Chapter4 How can philosophy help? 95

Chapter 5 What are the psi possibilities? 114

Psi possibilities Conclusion 146

Psi possibilities Bibliography 151

Psi Possibilities: Contents Psi Possibilities: Introduction

Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored Aldous Huxley

The study of psi is a little-known and much maligned area of inquiry into the anomalous phenomena more commonly known as extrasensory perception and psychokinesis. It is also a fascinating field of investigation into phenomena which may hold the key to a new understanding of time, space, causality and consciousness. Psi and the possibilities that its possible existence entail are the topics of this thesis and have given it its name:

Psi Possibilities. 1

Philosophical relevance

Due to the anomalous nature of psi, discussion about it is difficult. The issues raised touch on many philosophical areas of inquiry: epistemology, the mind/body problem, the history and philosophy of science and the philosophy of religion to name a few. This is because the evidence for psi poses us with a challenge. The challenge is this: there is a substantial body of evidence for something which contemporary science says doesn't exist. Some scientists and philosophers are currently investigating it as a paranormal phenomenon but it has traditionally been understood as a supernatural phenomenon.

1 'Psi' can be used as both a noun and an adjective. In this thesis the words 'psi (n)' and 'psi (adj) phenomena' will be used to describe anomalous phenomena associated with action at a distance and communication. The elements of psi are defined and discussed in Chapter 1. It should also be noted that the evidence for psi is putative and that psi is understood in this thesis to be an ostensibly paranormal phenomenon. (See Chapter 1 p.14 & 41 respectively for further discussion.) To aid in the clarity of expression psi will not be prefaced with these qualifiers but references to psi should be understood in this context.

Psi Possibilities: Introduction The tension that this situation creates raises some interesting questions: What are we to make of the evidence for psi, should we consider it an area worthy of philosophical investigation and if so, how do we go about it? The tentative answers this thesis puts forward are that: yes, there is a substantial enough (if controversial) body of evidence for psi, the nature of which is hard to conceive through scientific inquiry alone and that finally, the best place for current discussion to take place is within the discipline of philosophy. This thesis asks and answers five questions, which inform the discussion of psi phenomena from this perspective. It is assumed that the reader has little knowledge of the current status of the evidence for psi phenomena so the initial chapter sets the scene for a discussion pertinent to the philosophical issues raised by the evidence for psi.

The questions are: What is psi?

What evidence is there for psi?

What is being done with the evidence for psi?

How can philosophy help?

What are the psi possibilities?

Below is a chart which outlines the thesis in more detail. The structure is discussed further afterwards.

Psi Possibilities: Introduction 2 Evidence for psi

Experimental Spontaneous I I Possible interpretations of the evidence for psi

Supernatural Humean Skeptic Ostensibly paranormal

Philosophy of religion ( not dealt with in this thesis) Kuhn

No change to laws - modification of laws..- change of laws J l l l Psi possibilities to explore in philosophy

Epistemology ~ Philosophy of mind Philosophy of science

time space causality

Psi Possibilities: Introduction 3 In the first chapter the elements of psi are defined and their problematic nature discussed. The second chapter presents an overview of what evidence there is for psi and places psi in the context of prevailing scientific naturalism. The third chapter takes a look at the current representation of psi in philosophy texts. It is shown that if psi is mentioned at all it is also usually also noted that there is little substantial (or no) evidence for it. It is then shown that this prevalent assumption most likely stems from a modern interpretation of Hume's miracle argument. The fourth chapter argues that this perspective is representative of only one of three interpretations of the evidence for what appears to be psi, and that this could indicate that we are in the crisis stage of a scientific revolution. The final chapter elaborates on this and looks at what constitutes a Kuhnian scientific revolution and what role psi might be seen to play in such an event. A short conclusion follows in which psi possibilities are discussed and some areas for future research are suggested.

Addressing all of the philosophical issues raised by these questions is beyond the scope of this thesis. The focus will be on coming to an understanding of how those interested in psi should progress and what contributions philosophers have made to this area in the past. Some points particularly pertinent to the issues discussed in this thesis require some initial further clarification. These are the notion of possibility and the use of Thomas Kuhn. This will be done after the initial parameters have been set.

Setting the parameters

The scope of this thesis is limited to a traditional western investigation of psi. There is worldwide interest in psi phenomena and to take into account all countries that have institutes for the study of psi would take far too much space and time than the scope of this thesis allows. As the resources available to me are mainly from English-speaking publications and books, attention will be focussed on these sources. The centres for the study of psi in Britain and the US are responsible for producing the major parapsychology publications and the universities in mainland Europe and Australasia which have parapsychology units often publish their findings in these journals. Consequently, in focusing on this area most of what is going on in contemporary academia is covered.

Psi Possibilities: Introduction 4 What will be missing though are esoteric interpretations of psi phenomena as well as experiential ones. There are many and varied attempts to understand psi outside the scope of western science. These areas of inquiry are worthy of a thesis all to themselves. This thesis will not attempt to cover them, only to acknowledge that other interpretations from other cultural perspectives are available and worth considering in the future.

Two points are made in the thesis pertinent to this issue. Firstly that there are supernatural interpretations of the evidence and secondly that psi has traditionally been accepted as a supernatural phenomenon. Only since the late 1800s has psi been the target of investigation as a paranormal phenomenon and this thesis takes this understanding of psi one step further and advocates that psi is best treated as an ostensibly paranormal phenomenon. In terms of modern day naturalism psi, understood in this context, can be explored through philosophy as a phenomenon which is at this stage unexplained but not necessarily unexplainable. A discussion about this important distinction forms part of Chapter 2.

Possibility

This thesis advocates that the possibility of the reality of psi phenomena should be accepted and acted upon. This requires some understanding of what is meant by the use, in this thesis, of the word possibility.

The use of possibility in philosophy can have many interpretations and levels of understanding: logical, metaphysical, nomological, epistemological, temporal and conceivable. The areas most pertinent to this thesis are logical, nomological and epistemological. Below the logical possibility of psi will be briefly discussed. Logical possibility has been defined by Ruth Barcan Marcus as:

cp is logically possible; its negation entails a contradiction (Honderich, 1995, p. 706)

Psi Possibilities: Introduction 5 This definition is, however, too narrow applying only to necessary or logical truths (which are, of course, logically possible). A better definition of logical possibility is proposed as follows:

X is logically possible iff it is not the case that x entails a contradiction.

An example often cited of such contradictions is the notion of a three-sided square. Is it possible that there is a square that doesn't have 4 sides? This is impossible because a square, by its very nature and definition, must have 4 sides. Understanding this in terms of the above definition we would say: the proposition that a three-sided square exists does entail a contradiction, namely that something has three sides but does not have three sides. A three-sided square is therefore logically impossible.

To put psi in this context we must then ask the question:

Does the statement 'psi exists' entail a contradiction?

It seems safe enough to say the statement 'psi exists' on its own does not entail a contradiction. Psi can therefore be reasonably considered to be a logical possibility.

The more complex (and interesting) areas of nomological and epistemological possibility will be discussed in Chapter 2, after the initial definition of the elements of psi has been made. In short though, the contention is that there is reasonable evidence that psi is epistemically possible but it is currently understood as nomologically impossible. The tension that this causes is a matter unresolved in contemporary debate on the issue.

Psi Possibilities: Introduction 6 The use of Thomas Kuhn

Thomas Kuhn's theory of scientific revolution is, perhaps, considered by many philosophers of science as an outdated and old-fashioned theory. The use of it in this thesis therefore might be considered unnecessary and, even worse, unwise. However, in the literature that discusses psi phenomena it is still very much a live issue. Many psi researchers have continued to research on the basis that they may well be partaking in just such a revolution. There have been criticisms made of the study of psi on the basis that it seems to be misguided in this regard. Some initial justification for the use of this contentious philosopher of science is therefore warranted and the use of his work in this thesis requires clarification.

It is contended, in Chapter 4, that a Kuhnian interpretation of the evidence for psi helps to resolve the unconstructive discussion that appears to be taking place over and over again between those who do not believe that psi is possible and those who do. The nature of this debate is discussed and it is argued in Chapter 5 that it might indicate that we could be in a crisis stage of a Kuhnian revolution. It is not, however, necessary to accept this conclusion in order to consider further investigation of psi a reasonable way to proceed. In Chapter 2 the consequences of accepting the possibility of psi in a naturalist frame work are discussed and it will be made clear that although the use of Kuhn is relevant to this discussion there are other avenues equally worthy of philosophical attention that can be pursued. For instance, an epistemological investigation of the evidence for psi or a theoretical investigation of current psi theories are two areas that would shed light on the evidence without any need to understand psi as a contender for a trigger of scientific revolution in a Kuhnian sense. Given the problems with using this philosopher and the existence of other avenues of inquiry, why refer to Kuhn's theory at all? This question can be answered on a number of levels.

Psi Possibilities: Introduction 7 As it has already been noted the use of Kuhn is almost assumed by many of those actively investigating the phenomena so the issue should be addressed on the basis that it is still relevant to the field of inquiry. The discussion of the use of Kuhn by those who are not so amenable to the continued study of the phenomena is discussed in detail and this sheds some light on the use of Kuhn by those who both advocate the possibility of psi and those who are skeptical about its validity as well as one notable psi researcher who does not think that the Kuhnian interpretation of psi is applicable yet nevertheless has pursued the study of psi further.

A look at the steps that Kuhn sets out in the book The Structure of Scientific Revolution shows that the situation that we currently find psi in is akin to how he describes the 'crisis stage' of his understanding of scientific process. A recent example of a public debate between scientists in the English press is used to show the connection between the current status of psi research and indicators of a Kuhnian 'crisis stage'. If this interpretation is accepted then this understanding can be used to further comprehend how to progress in understanding psi phenomena and that is another reason why this analysis is undertaken.

The word 'crisis' might indicate (as the perhaps inapt word seems to imply) that science is in some kind of trouble due to the possible existence of psi phenomena. This is not how it should be understood however. According to my interpretation of Kuhn, the 'crisis' stage of a Kuhnian revolution will most likely not be noticed by many people outside of a small group of interested researchers. If Kuhn is right, we would not expect mainstream science to be taking much heed of what is taking place at this stage and the 'crisis' will only affect some areas of general mainstream scientific inquiry, even if the eventual outcome will effect science on a larger scale.

It is understood that this interpretation may be challenged and the problems that Kuhn has had to deal with at a theoretical level are substantial. No attempt will be made to make a complete defence of Kuhn's theories as this is beyond the scope of this thesis, but the main criticisms will be addressed.

Psi Possibilities: Introduction 8 A way forward for psi research

It should be borne in mind that the aim is not to persuade the reader to accept or reject the evidence for psi but to present a thorough overview of the current status of the evidence, and use this to argue that it is currently strong enough to be treated as a possibility. The use of the word possibility should be taken to indicate that there are no clear cut answers to most of the issues involved but that there is enough to suggest that the possibility should be taken into consideration and is worthy of further philosophical investigation. Instead, the anomalous nature of psi and the tricky position it is in because of this will be explored. The investigation is limited to the realm of the western tradition of scientific investigation. It is therefore necessary to say something of the possible avenues that can be further explored. This will be done initially below and discussed further, in Chapter 2.

If psi is understood as logically and epistemologically possible but currently nomologically impossible, it appears we now have at least four possible outcomes. These are limited to outcomes in the context of naturalism, and within this physicalism.

Naturalism in this context is understood to be "the doctrine that reality consist of nothing but a single all-embracing spatio-temporal system". (Armstrong 1980, p.149) And physicalism is to be understood, as the current prevailing view appears to dictate, that it is through the reduction to physical processes that our understanding of events in the world are to be explained.

Psi Possibilities: Introduction 9 If psi is to be considered a possibility then psi potentially:

1. poses a challenge to the naturalist and physicalist approach to understanding the world.

2. challenges a physicalist approach to understanding the world (but not a naturalist approach)

3. will force currently unknown developments of scientific theories to explain the anomalous phenomena

4. does not challenge the naturalist or physicalist approaches because psi is not truly anomalous.

Each of these potential outcomes requires further understanding of psi. This thesis will investigate the contributions that philosophers have made and acknowledge the consequences of attempting to understand these potential outcomes. The aim is to provide an overview of the literature and issues and finally to suggest a way forward for further psi investigation. The development of each of these potential outcomes and their consequences will be discussed in Chapter 2 and further in the conclusion to the thesis.

Psi Possibilities: Introduction 10 Chapter 1: What is Psi?

Truth is not necessarily that which is easily demonstrable. Instead, truth is that which is inescapable Dean Radin

Psi is an umbrella word for the anomalous phenomena known as extrasensory perception and psychokinesis. The words that are used to describe psi often reflect assumptions as to what these phenomena are. The first section of this chapter will therefore make an effort to define the elements of psi and associated words and clarify how they will be used in this thesis. There are underlying assumptions in the definitions of these words. Some of the major philosophical problems associated with the definitions of psi and its elements will therefore be dealt with in the course of defining these words. The second section will discuss the difficulty of knowing exactly what psi is and how difficult (if not impossible) it is to differentiate between its various components.

Chapter 1: What is psi? 11 The elements of psi

The word psi was proposed for use in the area of psychical research by B.P. Wiesner and R.H. Thouless in 1942. It was coined in order to avoid some of the problems with assumptions about what psi is when little is actually known about its exact nature. It can be used as a noun or an adjective. Though the word was taken from the first letter of the word psyche in Greek it was hoped that, being more semantically neutral than 'extrasensory phenomena' and the like, it would avoid any assumptions being made as to the nature of these phenomena before it was ascertained exactly if they are in operation and, if they are, when and how. Psi has subsequently become widely accepted as the most appropriate word to use to describe two kinds of anomalous phenomena: extrasensory perception (ESP), the anomalous acquisition of information; and psychokinesis (PK), anomalous action at a distance. (Thouless 1972, p.2; Thalboume 1982, p.56-57)

The word psyche in Greek can mean 'soul', 'self or 'mind'. Psyche is 'breath' or 'sign of life' (Liddell & Scott 1856, p.1605): it is what differentiates people from rocks. That psi takes its semantic derivation from a word which can mean such a myriad of intangible concepts indicates its obscure nature. It is thought by some that the search for an explanation for psi phenomena should ~elp us to gain knowledge about these concepts so it is appropriate that it stems from such a many-sided word.

It should be noted, however, that the exact nature of psi is still unknown and that throughout the history of scientific and philosophical inquiry into these curious phenomena psi has been treated as both a mental and physical phenomenon. It is still not clear whether psi necessarily falls into one or other of these categories: there are academics working on the basis that psi is a non-physical mental phenomenon (Beloff 1990), while others are seeking a physical theoretical framework to explain its anomalous nature (Whiteman, Walker, (Beichlar 1998c) ). Psi is still a mystery waiting to be solved and it is dangerous to make too many assumptions as to its nature based on the words that are used to describe the anomalous phenomena associated with ESP and PK.

Chapter 1: What is psi? 12 Psi is commonly broken into the following elements:

Psi

Extra-sensory perception (ESP) Psychokinesis (PK) (expressive) I ~ Telepathy Clairvoyance Precognition Inanimate PK Animate PK

It should be noted that this breakdown of psi is only one of many other possibilities. There are almost as many ways of dividing the various facets of psi as there are books on the subject. When analysing the elements of psi in her book Hidden Channels ofthe Mind, a collection of spontaneous psi events, Louisa E. Rhine notes: 'the lines of distinction laid down between the types seem to be only superficial markings necessary at first to help make "sense". One can see now that they are chalk marks only, like those of preliminary or scouting stages of map-making, and do not necessarily mark fundamental divisions of reality.' (Rhine, L. 1961, p.289) Thus the breakdown of the elements for psi shown above are also 'chalk marks' only. This particular breakdown of psi phenomena has been chosen because it is the one most commonly presented in general books on psi phenomena written by working parapsychologists such as Dean Radin's The Conscious Universe (1997) and Richard Broughton's Parapsychology: A Controversial Science (1991).

Chapter 1; What is psi? 13 Other breakdowns of the elements of psi that are different to the one presented above are:

• to make a separate category for a possible spirit element • to make clairvoyance and telepathy one category • to use the words 'psi-gamma' and 'psi-kappa' to differentiate between expressive and receptive psi • to use the word GESP as an inclusive word for all ESP phenomena on the basis that telepathy, clairvoyance and precognition are impossible to differentiate from one another experimentally.

There are also theories that advocate that all psi is a form of PK, in which case the breakdown into receptive and expressive psi would be no longer necessary.

The evidence for these phenomena will be discussed in the next chapter. For the purposes of defining the elements of psi it will be assumed for the moment that psi exists. This will help the definitions remain as simple as possible and alleviate the need for qualifiers about the putative existence of these phenomena. The commonly accepted definitions will suffice for the purposes of the discussion for the moment. More detailed ones will be given as each of the elements is examined individually.

Chapter 1; What is psi? 14 The elements that make up psi are usually defined as follows:

1. Extrasensory perception (ESP): the acquisition of information about a person or event in the past, present or future without the use of the ordinary five senses (taste, touch, sight, hearing or smell).

Comprising:

Telepathy: Information gained about another mind or minds without the use of the ordinary five senses

Clairvoyance: Information gained from an inanimate object or event without the use of the five senses

Precognition: Information gained about events in the future using either telepathy or clairvoyant information

2. Psychokinesis (PK): Affect of the mind on matter without the use of any known motor system. The matter can be animate (animate PK) and include the body of the person who is experiencing PK, or inanimate (inanimate PK)

The word 'mind' is used in the definitions for both ESP and PK. The use of this word requires special clarification as there are many assumptions that are made when this word is used in any context. In the context of psi it is even more problematic. Along with other mental functions such as beliefs, desires and emotions, psi is often assumed to be a function of the 'mind' and it is most commonly studied from within the field of psychology in a sub­ discipline called parapsychology.

Many of the early academics who pioneered modern investigation into psi phenomena, such as John Beloff and J.B. Rhine, are dualists and psi research would appear to have a fair share of researchers and theorists of this persuasion. The dualist influence has meant that it is often taken for granted that psi is necessarily of the mind and that the mind is not physical. However, it should be noted that there are also researchers who are active in the

Chapter 1: What is psi? 15 field who hold other points of view as to what the mind is: the literature on psi research contains the works of those who are materialist, idealist, panpsychist and Jungian, among others. However, it is not always stated what particular perspective an author may }:lave on the issue of mind. Assumptions are made as to what the mind is and depending on who wrote the article, and when it was written, these assumptions change. Whatever the stance taken it must be remembered that whoever is writing the definition for psi already has a perspective on what they consider the mind to be, so using this word to define psi effects is problematic unless it is stated exactly what the author means by 'mind'.

The line this thesis takes on the status of current theories of the mind is that there has been no definite resolution to the debate as yet. The mind/body problem is still being wrangled over by philosophers of all persuasions although the materialist view seems dominant at the moment, especially within the mainstream scientific perspective. There is a gap in most explanations of mind. I don't want to go into a detailed analyses of the problems in the philosophy of mind, but, for an example, take the two extreme positions of mind/body theories: dualist and materialist. (I use these because both of these are the main perspectives that are represented by various working parapsychologists - past and present.) If a dualist view of the mind is correct there needs to be an explanation of how the mental and the physical interact; if the materialist view is to be shown correct and thought is the firing of neurons, then an explanation as to what causes the neurons to fire in the first place must be found. It might be found that psi is a possible foundation on which to build a bridge over the explanatory gap; however, this thesis maintains that it is detrimental to future psi and mind theory to make any assumptions as to what the mind is at this stage. Once the possibility of psi is accepted, it becomes apparent that further research may impact greatly on contemporary philosophical inquiry as to what the mind is. However, at this stage too many aspects of psi are as yet unknown to be clear what sort of influence future theory might have. So, for the purposes of this thesis when the word 'mind' is used (unless it is expressly stated otherwise) it is done so in the most general way as a word that describes a function of something which is represented by a conscious self. It is not intended to be exclusively indicative of a materialist, monist, idealist, dualist or phenomenalist interpretation.

Chapter 1: What is psi? 16 It is also necessary to define how this thesis will approach what matter is and how it is that we come to know what we know about the world. Since the parameters of this thesis have already been set as limited to the western scientific tradition, mystical interpretations of the evidence for psi will not be covered in this thesis, nor will ones which uphold an epistemological scepticism about what we are able to know about the world.

Instead, I base the assumptions about what we currently understand we can know about the world on a view set out by David Ray Griffin in his book Philosophy, Parapsychology and Spirituality. His view is based on what he calls the 'hard-core commonsense' ideas that apply to how we understand how we function in the world. They are that we accept as a starting point: 1. The reality of conscious experience, with its emotions, memories, beliefs, and purposes. 2. The reality of the external world.

3. The reality of efficient causation as real influence.

4. The causal efficacy of our bodies for our conscious experience.

5. Freedom in the sense of partial self-determination in the moment.

6. The efficacy of conscious experience for bodily behavior.

7. The reality and efficacy of values. (Griffin 1997, pp.102-3)

The first two are the most pertinent to the discussion at the moment (the others will be dealt with later as a group), although they all form together a view that I think most people would find intuitively acceptable. That is, we are conscious beings in a physical world that we are both influenced by and can influence through causal means. As I understand it, adopting this view means that it is accepted that we have access to an external physical world through our bodies, and that this information is processed by a conscious self which has memories, beliefs and emotions. Not everyone will agree with this as a starting point, however. The works of philosophers are full of reasons why this intuitive perspective may

Chapter I: What is psi? 17 be incorrect, and arguments such as determinism seem to imply that we do not have any free will at all. The issues are complex and I don't want the acceptance of this view to indicate that I am advocating some sort of naYve realism. However, investigating these issues is not the central task of this thesis and a modus operandi must be found if the ensuing discussion of psi is to take place. The reason why I accept the 'hard-core commonsense' view as the best working perspective is because of the nature of the investigation into psi as an anomalous phenomenon. I think it would be agreed that most people who experience psi and most psi researchers will have a perspective that reflects this intuitive one. Therefore most of the work done in this area assumes such things as: • that we have a will, • that bodies can effect the physical world just as the physical world can effect our bodies, • and, that this effect is then processed by a conscious self.

Acceptance of the above working proposition might seem to conflict with what was stated earlier in regard to mind. The view was expressed that when the word 'mind' is used in this thesis without any qualifications it is not meant to indicate any particular stance on what 'mind' is. But the 'hard-core commonsense' view expressed above would seem to rule out theories of mind such as idealism, which maintains that mental states create the physical reality that we perceive rather than the other way around. However, because the issues that psi raise are so complicated and because they are usually studied in disciplines which assume the reality of the physical world, the hard core commonsense view represents a reasonable starting point, leaving the possibility that in the future, when more is known about the mechanisms of psi, these issues will be resolved - most likely in a way that is inconceivable to us now.

The sections below will give more detail on each of the elements of psi, starting with ESP, which will be further broken down into its elements of telepathy, clairvoyance and precognition.

Chapter I: What is psi? 18 ESP - Extrasensory perception

Extrasensory perception, or receptive psi, occurs when information is obtained without using the five regular sensory channels. But what are we really talking about here? What sort of information is this and how could it possibly be obtained without the use of the five senses? First it is necessary to clear up any misconceptions that the word ESP itself may unintentionally imply. Stephen E. Braude is a philosopher who has tackled this issue in more depth than others. When defining psi in his book on ESP, Braude comments that extrasensory perception 'is an unfortunate expression, since it suggest that the phenomena being picked out are of a perceptual, or quasi-perceptual, nature'. He cautions that 'the various forms of ESP apparently involve processes quite different from those of the familiar sense modalities' and we should therefore 'be on guard against being seduced into thinking that ESP must be anything like ordinary perception.' (Braude 1979, p.3). It should also be noted that the 'extra' in 'extrasensory perception' was never intended to mean 'in addition to', which it is commonly assumed to mean. Instead it is meant to refer to something 'outside of. Thus we have a situation whereby the major defining word for one element of psi 'extrasensory perception' is neither in the traditional meaning an 'extra' sense, let alone a 'perception'. What is receptive psi then? And how do we know that it is something if it is not information gained by the normal senses?

These questions raise all sorts of issues about the nature of psi as an anomalous phenomenon. The definition of ESP is a negative definition. In fact, as Anthony Flew pointed out, ESP applies 'when it appears that information has been acquired or transmitted without the employment of any means or mechanisms at all. A further and most important consequence is that the fundamental concepts of parapsychology are all essentially negative.' (Flew 1987, pp.88-89) How information is not obtained indicates that ESP has taken place. If the information gained through ESP is not gained by tasting, touching, seeing, hearing or smelling then it is an instance of ESP. Only when all of the normal possibilities of acquiring such information have been ruled out can ESP have taken place.

Chapter 1: What is psi? 19 It is currently accepted that the only way to gain knowledge of the world is through the five senses; the fact that someone can know something without using any of these faculties, and which is subsequently found to be correct through the corroboration of this information through normal means, indicates that there is another means by which humans are able to acquire information. If it happens once or twice it can be considered a fluke. It if happens again and again under controlled conditions (the evidence for this will be discussed in the next chapter, so for the moment I will assume that this has been shown to be so), it would indicate that there are more ways to obtain knowledge about the world other than through accepted sensory means of receiving information from the external world. This is what is asserted when it is maintained that ESP is a way of obtaining information. The method of acquisition is not at this stage known, so we have only the negative definition of acquisition of information to define ESP by. ESP is therefore, at this stage of our understanding, by definition anomalous, for if it were otherwise it would not be ESP - it would be acquisition of information through normal means. There are three types of ESP: telepathy, clairvoyance and precognition. They all involve the acquisition of knowledge either from another mind or minds, from a physical object or from an event, including one in the future. This includes the possibility of backwards causation.

The next issue to address concerns the nature of the information. What sort of information are these definitions referring to? The first answer to this would be to say that the sort of information that is acquired by ESP has to be the sort of information (at this stage at least) that can be checked later for validity. This is because the unknown mechanism of obtaining this information means we must be able to corroborate the information in question. Until more is known about ESP this is the only way we can know for sure that anomalous information has been obtained (if we can be sure at all). Thus the information currently accepted as ESP obtained information must be information that is also available to us through the use of our regular five senses and indeed, it is corroborated through these means as they are currently the only ones acceptable to the modem scientific world view. It is not the information that is anomalous in instances of ESP: what makes ESP information different to regular information is the means by which that information has been obtained. Richard Robinson makes the following analogy in regard to one form of ESP, telepathy:

Chapter 1: What is psi? 20 'The difference between telepathy and telegraphy is that in telegraphy you get information by making use of your eyes and the machines and officers employed by the post office, whereas in telepathy you just get information, without, so far as can be discovered, making use of anything at all.' (Robinson 1987, p.53-54)

Such a constraint on the type of information is not meant to limit the scope of possibilities for ESP information. If clairvoyance is possible then presumably the information obtained through such means is as valid whether or not it can be confirmed by normal means and in due course it will be accepted as such if psi phenomena are ever explained sufficiently. For instance, a clairvoyant may be asked for information pertaining to the surface conditions of the planet Pluto. This information may be given and it may be correct but until it is corroborated by normal means, or until the mechanisms for knowledge of this kind are understood and accepted by the current scientific world view, this knowledge will remain speculative.

Precognitive information is more problematic but the same sort of notions apply. The information gained of future events through telepathic or clairvoyant means is anomalous because it is not known how we can obtain information about future events. However, precognitive information must be information that cannot be predicted using information available through normal means. For instance, I might predict that I will get out of bed tomorrow morning. This is not a precognitive piece of information because I am using normal means (knowledge that I do get out of bed every morning, which is accessible to me through my usual five senses); barring any unforseen circumstances it is highly likely that tomorrow I will do the same things. Precognitive information is that which is unable to be predicted using such means. As with telepathy and clairvoyance the information itself is not at issue, because that information becomes available through normal means once that future is experienced. If it didn't we wouldn't know if the prediction were correct or not. So once again it is the means by which the information is obtained, and the time (past or future) it is pertinent to, not the information itself, which is anomalous.

Chapter 1: What is psi? 21 It must always be considered that it is our ignorance that is preventing us from understanding or even conceiving of how we may understand psi. Psi in reference to the current world view does not fit. The attempts to define it reflect assumptions that could easily be way off the mark. The definitions made for psi in this chapter are tentative and formed on the basis that they represent things that are shown to happen that are not seen as possible by the current world view. Hopefully this will not remain the case. The definition of psi as anomalous will have to change if we are to progress to a stage where psi is able to be used as a means of obtaining information for the sake of that information alone. If this happens definitions not just of words pertaining to psi but other words (such as 'information') will need to change. This will happen only if the mechanisms become understood and their operation explained as acceptable to mainstream science. As G. Spencer-Brown pointed out in 1955 this makes the subject of study of psi suicidal, for when psi 'becomes familiar enough to be explained by a generally recognized hypothesis, it at once ceases to be a part of psychical research, and comes under some less esoteric discipline.' (Spencer-Brown 1968, p. 73)

Many great minds have attempted to come to grips with the anomalous nature of psi but we are still continually comparing our lack of understanding about it (and defining it as anomalous) to our understanding of the world according to our five senses - which, if psi turns out to be real, will be like trying to explain to a person blind from birth what the colour blue looks like. The concepts are just not there to support the words, no matter how eloquently they are expressed. How psi may be able to make this transition from an anomalous phenomenon to a 'normal' one is the subject of chapters 3-5. In the meantime the next section will define the elements of ESP in more detail.

Chapter 1: What is psi? 22 Telepathy and clairvoyance

The definitions for telepathy and clairvoyance will now be expanded before each is dealt with briefly on its own and examples cited which exemplify each type of psi operation. Braude makes an interesting point about the commonly held notion that ESP is necessarily only about obtaining 'information' anomalously. In his definitions of telepathy and clairvoyance he makes a further differentiation between extrasensory interaction and cognition. The definitions that he settles on for telepathy and clairvoyance are as follows.

Telepathic interaction: the direct causal influence of one person's mental states on those of another independently of the known senses. Telepathic cognition: knowledge gained through telepathic interaction concerning the mental state of the agent in the interaction ( or knowledge inferred from this).

Clairvoyant interaction: the direct causal influence of a physical system on a person's mental states independently of the known senses. Clairvoyant cognition: knowledge gained through clairvoyant interaction concerning the cause of the interaction ( or knowledge inferred from this). (Braude, 1979, p.18)

A few comments should be noted about these definitions. The first one is that because Braude specifically defines telepathic and clairvoyant interaction as 'causal' he disallows the possibility considered by some theorists that ESP is acausal. Most of these theories are based on a Jungian synchronistic interpretation of the evidence for psi. It is worth bearing in mind at this early stage that not all theorists are searching for a causal interaction between 'mental states' (whether mental or physical) and 'matter' as indicated by these definitions, even if most do. This raises the issue of what is considered a 'cause' in the definitions of ESP.

Once again, this is an assumption that is based on trying to explain psi from the perspective of the modern world view. We have already accepted the 'hard-core commonsense' view as a departure point for discussing psi. Causes under this view are considered to be 'something's producing or bringing about something else (its effect)' (Oxford Dictionary, p.126). As with psi information where we saw that it was the means by which the information was obtained that made instances of psi anomalous, psi causes are unknown

Chapter l: What is psi? 23 but the effect is something measurable under our current perspective. To illustrate this I will use a hypothetical example involving a person's response to being unknowingly stared at by another person. It is based on some real experiments. (Radin 1997, pp.155-56; Sheldrake 2001)

Imagine an experiment in which there are two rooms remote from each other and in one there is a television monitor set up so that the person in that room can see the person in the other room. Let's call person A the subject and person B the starer. Person A has an electrodermal instrument attached to their skin which measures physical changes in the skin. Person Bis sitting in the room with the TV monitor. Over a period of time it is shown that the person who is being stared at shows an effect (a physical change of the skin measured by an instrument) whenever the TV monitor is switched on and person B focuses their attention on that person. The correlation between the cause (the staring) and the effect (the skin change) will be tested by having control subjects or long periods of time when the subject is not being stared at. Let's assume that long runs and repeated experiments have been performed, showing this effect is most likely not due to fluky coincidence. It may then be surmised that if no other normal cause can be found for the change of skin readings that has been recorded by the electrodermal device then the person who is staring at the person on the real-time TV monitor can be thought to be somehow causing this effect. Psi causes are unknown but the measurement of effects that cannot be explained through normal means that correlate to some kind of intention or will of a person upon the subject (whether ESP or PK) mean that some sort of cause, which relates to our accepted definition of cause as defined above, will be required to explain a psi event.

The second task is to explain why Braude feels it is necessary to differentiate between ESP interaction and cognition. This is a considerable extension to the commonly accepted definitions of psi but because Braude is a philosopher he is more aware of the problematic use of words such as 'cause' and 'information' than others who have defined the elements of psi, so it is worth taking note. The addition of interaction to the definition allows the possibility that ESP also involves mental interaction without the need for 'information' exchange to be involved. For example someone using anomalous means to influence

Chapter 1: What is psi? 24 another person's mental state. To take the staring experiment as an example again, this experiment would not seem to involve any information exchange between the two people; however, something has caused a physical reaction in the person being stared at even though they are not consciously aware that this is happening. Whether or not it is an instance of clairvoyance or telepathy is difficult to tell and is dependent on what the mind is considered to consist of (this is part of a larger problem which will be discussed later). What is clear is that under the prevailing scientific world view the person being stared at should not show any indication that they are being stared at when they have no normal means of perceiving it. However, if it has been shown experimentally that changes in the skin do happen and that this is in accordance with the periods that the person is unknowingly through normal means being stared at then something must have caused this. But what? It could be that Person B (the starer) has caused a mental state in Person A which in tum causes Person A's skin to change temperature. There is no information (in the sense that Person A has received any information that they are aware of) that has been transferred between the two. It could be a case of PK or ESP depending on your point of view regarding the mind. Braude's addition of the word 'interaction' to his definitions of telepathy and clairvoyance is to allow for this sort of anomalous occurrence to be covered by the definition of ESP. Telepathy and clairvoyance will now be dealt with separately in more detail.

Chapter l : What is psi? 25 Telepathy

Telepathy literally means 'feeling at a distance'. The term was coined by F.W.H. Myers in 1882. (Radin, 1997 p.61) It has also been referred to as 'thought transference' or even at one time as 'mental radio'. None of these words should be taken literally at this stage because it is still uncertain ifthere is such a thing as telepathy (as opposed to clairvoyance) and if there is how it actually works. What is known, however, is that there is a considerable amount of evidence showing that information has been obtained by people without using any normal means of communication with the regular five senses. Like other psi phenomena, it was first experienced in everyday circumstances before it became the subject of scientific investigation. Catalogues of this kind of acquisition of anomalous knowledge have been collected by some of the earliest researchers into psi phenomena. The first of these was the book Phantasms ofthe Living, published in 1886. It was commissioned and encouraged by Henry Sidgwick, the first president of the Society for Psychical Research (and moral philosopher at Cambridge University). Incidents of telepathy were gathered, verified and documented by the psi researchers Frederic Myers and Edmund Gurney. It is from this catalogue that a general picture of telepathy was formed which eventually led to the study of telepathy in laboratories. Here is an example of an instance reported in the book. It was experienced by Miss Martyn: On March, 16th, 1884, I was sitting alone in the drawing-room reading an interesting book, and feeling perfectly well, when suddenly I experienced an undefined feeling of dread and sorrow; I looked at the clock and saw it was just 7 p.m. I was utterly unable to read, so I got up and walked about the room trying to throw off the feeling, but I could not: I became quite cold, and had a firm presentiment that I was dying. The feeling lasted about half-an-hour, and then passed off, leaving me a good deal shaken all the evening; I went to bed feeling very weak as if I had been seriously ill.

The next morning I received a telegram telling me of the death of a near and very dear cousin, Mrs. K., in Shropshire, with whom I had been most intimately associated all my life, but for the last two years had seen very little of her. I did not associate this feeling of death with her or with anyone else, but I had a most distinct impression that something terrible was happening. This feeling came over me, I afterwards found, just at the time when my cousin died (7 p.m. ). The connection with her death may have been simply an accident. I have never experienced anything of the sort before. I was not aware that Mrs. K. was ill, and her death was peculiarly sad and sudden." (Gurney, Myers & Podmore1970, vol.1, pp.197-198).

Chapter l: What is psi? 26 Miss Martyn had mentioned to a friend this feeling the evening before receiving the telegram. The witness was later interviewed by Gurney and Myers. The point of their book was to show that when this sort of thing happens occasionally coincidence or chance can explain the correlation between events but when catalogues of similar events are put together it appears as if there is something going on which cannot so easily be explained away. However, stories of this kind are not enough to satisfy the more scientifically inquisitive, and the study of telepathy originally found in everyday people's lives eventually entered the laboratory as a subject of further inquiry, the evidence of which will be discussed in the next chapter.

Various instances of telepathy have been catalogued as follows:

Telepathy: Exchange of information between minds

Reading someone's thoughts

Consciously or unconsciously causing someone to think a specific thought Knowledge of another's thoughts without use of regular communication Knowledge of a person's personal situation gained without the use of regular communication.

Chapter l: What is psi? 27 Clairvoyance

Clairvoyance is from the French language for 'clear seeing'. Although there is also a word 'clairaudience' - clear hearing - clairvoyance has become an encompassing word for all information gained by anomalous means of communication from physical objects or events whether they are 'heard' or 'seen' or even 'smelt'. The word clairvoyant is applied to somebody who is able to obtain this sort of information. It continues to have a connotation of mediums and gipsy fortune tellers staring into crystal balls, because in the early days of psi research these people were a major focus of study for psi researchers. One of the major preoccupations of the early researchers was to discover if there was life after death, so mediums and other people who claimed that they could acquire information from spirits were used to study psi. It was quickly realised that any information that could be corroborated would necessarily have been accessible (although still through anomalous means) with the living, and did not necessarily entail communication with a spirit.

Experimentally, it has proved very difficult to differentiate between clairvoyance and telepathy as there always seems to be another mind in the past, present or future that has access to the knowledge that has been gained clairvoyantly and thus from a physical state of affairs in the world. However, because so much is unknown about psi it is worthwhile keeping these initial differentiations of the phenomena for the time being, even if, eventually, they are shown to be one and the same thing (or something else altogether). Braude makes the very interesting point along these same lines - that it depends on your particular perspective in regard to what 'mind' is whether you view anomalous communication of information necessarily as clairvoyant or telepathic. He says:

We must concede that telepathy may prove to be a special case of clairvoyance if, that is, as reductionistic materialists insist, mental states are simply kinds of physical states. On the other hand, if the idealists are correct in taking the physical world to be a construct out of inner episodes then clairvoyance would tum out to be a special case oftelepathy.' (Braude 1979, pp.16-17).

Chapter 1: What is psi? 28 Regardless of these difficulties, it is worth noting that for many years there have been attempts made to understand the difference between telepathy and clairvoyance, and once again as with incidents of telepathy it is originally from spontaneous cases of clairvoyance that laboratory studies of psi have taken their cue.

Examples of clairvoyance are as follows:

Clairvoyance: Information gained from objects or events (for instance, the now famous instance of the philosopher Swendenborg who knew that his home town was on fire and that the fire stopped just three doors from his house when he was in another part of the country and had no normal means of acquiring this information)

Psychometry- locating lost or hidden objects (for instance, an ancient sunken ship, mining sites or stolen jewellery)

Remote viewing - knowledge of a far-off location without prior knowledge as to what will be found there.

Precognition

Precognition has already been defined in this thesis as:

Precognition: Information gained about events in the future using either telepathy or clairvoyant information.

It should now be reasonably clear what is meant by telepathy and clairvoyant information. Precognition confuses this already confusing area by claiming that not only can we gain knowledge without the use of our five senses about state of people and the world around us, but that we are also able to gain knowledge from the future using this same anomalous means of accessing information - either from physical objects and events or from other people's minds, or even, as some theorists posture, from our own mental states in the future.

Chapter 1: What is psi? 29 For some people this is enough to discount the possibility of psi altogether; for others precognition indicates that we have a set future which is unchangeable (thus supporting the old determinist arguments); for others still precognition is the most comprehensive way of understanding how ESP is possible at all (theories of this kind argue that all incidences of ESP are precognitive and it is from the knowledge of our future mental state that real-time telepathy and clairvoyance can occur). Since we are concerned here only with defining the elements of psi and have already done so in regard to the issues of mind, causality and information, it is enough, for the time being, to settle for the above definition with the same qualifications regarding the possibility of cognition as well as information acquisition prevailing.

Examples of precognition from everyday life (in the laboratory the incidents are much more mundane and are not always conscious) are:

Precognition: Vivid dreams or knowledge of events (such as the birth of a baby) which tum out to come true. Prediction of disasters which eventuate or an event that because evasive action was taken was prevented, with good reason to believe that otherwise the disaster would have occurred. (For instance a dream in which the brakes of a car fail, only to have them checked and find that they are malfunctioning.) Prediction concerning a person's life (for instance, feeling a sense of foreboding when boarding a train and acting on it by getting off, only later to find train had crashed).

Chapter 1: What is psi? 30 PK - Psychokinesis

PK stands for psychokinesis. The word stems from the Greek words psyche (mind) and kinesis (motion). Together they mean the movement of physical objects using the mind without using any known sensorimotor means. A common dictionary definition (from the Macquarie dictionary) for psychokinesis is:

Psychokinesis: the moving of objects by the power of the mind. (Delbridge & Bernard 1998 p.792)

Although this definition is true to the original meaning of PK and its etymology, it does not adequately describe what PK is thought to be in modem parapsychology. The problem is that although it is not explicitly stated, the definition insinuates by the use of the words 'physical object' that the effect of PK is necessarily outside the body of the person who is performing it and is on an inanimate target. Contemporary thought on PK allows for physical influence on both animate and inanimate matter, including the body of the person who is instigating PK phenomena (consciously or unconsciously). One of the simplest yet most comprehensive definitions for PK was put forward ( once again) by Stephen E. Braude in his book The Limits ofInfluence: Psychokinesis and the Philosophy ofScience:

Let us define 'PK' as the 'causal influence of an organism on a region r of the physical world without any known sort of physical interaction between the organism's body and r. (Braude 1986, p.220)

Such a definition deliberately allows for the possibility of mind interaction with physical, animate matter by referring to the target of the PK as 'region r of the physical world' instead of a 'physical object', which caused the problems of the alternative, more commonly expounded, definition above. Once again we must acknowledge that there are acausal theories for PK and these would not be covered by this definition. However, we have seen that with ESP some sort of cause and effect interaction seems to occur. With PK the cause and effect is even more evident as the physical effects of PK can be quite dramatic, especially in incidents of poltergeist phenomena where furniture and other household items are seen to be affected and acted upon in unknown ways. As with ESP, PK

Chapter 1: What is psi? 31 was first noticed as an occurrence in everyday life; it was then taken into the laboratory and studied as an anomalous phenomenon. Here are some examples of where PK might be seen in action:

Animate PK: Psychosomatic illnesses 'Miraculous' cures-spontaneous remissions of terminal disease Increases or decreasing own or other's blood pressure Voluntary control of heart beat rate Stigmata Levitation Healing at a distance Causing seeds to germinate faster than control seeds Knowing someone is staring at you when other sensory cues are not possible Hexing Bone pointing.

Inanimate PK: Deliberately causing dice to throw desired amount Moving a compass needle without touching the compass Metal bending Stopping and starting mechanical objects without touching them or using other known devices (remote control etc.) Exploding light globes Moving a matchbox or polystyrene ball across a table Controlling the weather Levitation of physical objects during seances Materialisation or apportation of physical objects during seances Poltergeist phenomena (stones falling from nowhere, knocking on doors, objects falling from shelves, pictures falling from hooks, knives hovering in the air).

Chapter 1: What is psi? 32 Differentiating between telepathy, clairvoyance and psychokinesis

Although it is easy to differentiate between telepathy, clairvoyance and PK in theory, in reality it has proven to be almost impossible to tell which one is operating when psi is thought to be occurring. Given this, it may seem strange to differentiate these types of psi at all. However, it must be considered that when more is known about the operation of psi these divisions might prove useful; for the time being they provide a focus for investigating the various ways that psi might operate.

To illustrate the difficulties of differentiating between these various aspects of psi there is an anecdote (possibly apocryphal, but nevertheless instructive) about King Croesus of Lydia in Herodotus's Histories (Book I.48). It serves to exemplify the difficulties that are encountered when looking at how and why such things may happen and the need for caution when drawing conclusions about the different elements of psi. The story is as follows:

Needing to get some advice on whether or not to wage a war with a neighbouring kingdom, King Croesus decided to test the prominent oracles of his day (around 550 BC). Before consulting them on a matter of such gravity, he designed an experiment to test the validity of the oracles' powers. To do this he sent seven messengers to seven oracles and told them to ask the respective oracles what the King of Lydia was doing on the hundredth day after they had departed. On this day Croesus made a tortoise and lamb stew in a bronze cauldron, something he did not usually do. Of the replies that he received only one was interpreted by him as what would be called now in parapsychology a 'direct hit'. It was the Delphic oracle with the message: I count the grains of sand on the beach and measure the sea; I understand the speech of the dumb and hear the voiceless. The smell has come to my sense of a hard-shelled tortoise Boiling and bubbling with lamb's flesh in a bronze pot: The cauldron underneath is of bronze, and of bronze the lid.

Chapter 1: What is psi? 33 Given the success of this oracle he consulted the priestess again regarding whether or not to invade his neighbour. He received an equivocal reply which he interpreted as indicating he would succeed. He was defeated. So what went wrong?

Aside from the obvious problems to do with interpreting an oracle's reply, or the fact that there may be hidden agendas in the replies, or the possibility that it is impossible to foretell the future, let's look at the difficulties that his experiment faced when trying to analyse it into various forms of psi. Please bear in mind that this is not an historical re-enactment - only a thought experiment, to investigate the kind of problems encountered in experimental conditions.

For a start the King of Lydia did not necessarily ask the oracles for a 'prediction'. This was what he wanted to test them for - to ascertain the outcome of invading his neighbour prior to deciding whether to invade or not. Also, what if the messenger had turned up less than a hundred days from the day they had left, and asked the oracles the question? If the oracles then gave the answer prior to the day he was boiling the soup, it would have been a prediction. Or they may have waited for the day to arrive and described what they thought the King was doing from knowledge gained while he was actually boiling the soup.

To complicate matters further, what subcategory of psi did they use in each case? If they gave the answer before the day in question they could have gleaned knowledge about what the King was going to do by 'reading' his mind at the time. This would be telepathy. They may have used clairvoyance to ascertain what event the King was participating in on the specified date. They may have used both or they may have had access to the information before the day and not realised it. They may also have influenced the King's thoughts and somehow ensured that he would choose to boil a tortoise and lamb in a copper pot. This could be an instance of ESP or PK. How is it possible to tell?

The value of this story is that it shows both that humans have been trying to understand psi for many centuries and also that the elusive and confusing nature of psi is unable to be easily tested or understood. As I said, it is intended as a thought experiment only.

Chapter 1: What is psi? 34 We have already seen that personal perspectives as to what the mind is will influence whether anomalous mental interaction will be viewed as instances of PK or clairvoyance. If we put this issue aside and try to understand how we may be able to differentiate the differences between the elements of psi, the situation becomes even more dire. In 197 4 J.B. Rhine published a paper in which he acknowledged that even after 30 or so years of psi research he was unable to 'design a definitive experimental test of telepathy'. And he went so far as to advocate that 'telepathy be indefinitely shelved until, if ever, a conclusive test design is discovered'. (Rhine, J.B. 197 4, p.3 7) He did not mean this to indicate that investigation into psi should halt but that trying to ascertain whether clairvoyance, precognition or telepathy was operating was impossible and that research effort should not be wasted in this endeavour. However, telepathy is still a concept that is found in most discussions of psi and it has certainly not been subsumed into clairvoyance. It is just another part of the psi riddle waiting to be solved. This issue will be discussed in more detail when the evidence for psi is presented in the next chapter.

In the history of scientific inquiry into psi it has often been the case that the popular belief in psi phenomena has instigated the inquiry. This is why the categories of psi do not as yet match up to the theoretical reality of psi. The categories used here should therefore only be treated as a means through which this thesis will evaluate the evidence for psi, not as definitive categories.

Chapter 1: What is psi? 35 Other concepts associated with psi

There are a few other related concepts associated with the study of psi which require clarification. First, a quick look at the way psi itself will be used in this thesis. It has already been noted that psi can be used as both a noun and an adjective. The words psi effects will be used to indicate that in experiments or in spontaneous cases of psi there is apparent what at least appears to be psi. That is, all normal explanations have been ruled out according to the best knowledge available at present. The addition of' effects' allows for the possibility that other explanations may be found at a later date to explain these incidents of psi but it also indicates that all other such explanations have been assessed as not being possible according to what we currently know now. Psi will sometimes be used on its own; in this case the word is meant to be taken as a concept that is being explored, not to mean any particular explanation of psi. When psi is seen to be evident, the unknown nature of the event will be expressed by such terms as 'psi operation' or psi 'functions'. These words are not indicative of any particular kind of function or operation - just that something appears to be happening.

Caution should be taken with any assumptions that might be made about words that are traditionally used to describe psi operation. These words (as we have already seen with extrasensory perception) are laden with suggestive meanings about psi being a kind of signal or force or sense. The words used in experiments also reflect this: 'receiver', 'sender', 'percipient' and 'agent' all of which have connotations that indicate psi is a kind of sense or acts as a kind of radio wave. Such words are used because we are still trying to work out what psi is according to what we currently understand the world to be like through our five senses. This may change in the future as the functioning of psi is better understood. Attempts have been made to introduce new terms to describe psi effects. DMILS is, for instance, an acronym for 'direct mental interaction with living systems' which is often used in contemporary journals to describe incidents of what has traditionally been called PK. The old words and concepts, however, are still prevalent in most books and articles that deal with psi so it should be remembered that this terminology is not to be taken literally.

Chapter 1: What is psi? 36 Finally, a few comments on who studies psi and in what discipline and what they are called. Most books refer to parapsychology as the field which undertakes the study of psi phenomena. Parapsychology is a sub-discipline of psychology and most academic departments that study psi are located within psychology departments. The word parapsychology was first coined in 1882 by Max Dessoir, but it was not until 1934 when J.B. Rhine at Duke University in North Carolina published his book Extrasensory Perception that the word became synonymous with what had previously been referred as 'psychical research'. There are other academic disciplines which undertake the study of psi - for instance, Princeton University's engineering department is host to the PEAR laboratories which have produced much of the laboratory evidence for PK over the past few decades. Another subdiscipline, 'paraphysics', was referred to in a speech given in 1967 by E. Douglas Dean, an engineer and also president of the Parapsychological Association, (Beichlar 1998c, net) but to my knowledge, there are no departments of paraphysics in the same way as there are departments of parapsychology. There are however, a handful of physicists who are numerous enough and interested enough in psi to warrant the production of at least one journal in this specialist area. There are also anthropologists, chemists, biologists, medical doctors and an extensive list of philosophers who have contributed to the area of investigation into psi. In addition there is a considerable number of researchers not aligned to any particular discipline or university but who have nevertheless contributed greatly to the area of psi research. The term psi researcher will therefore be used rather than 'parapsychologist' or 'paraphysicist' when referring to this broader category of academics and enthusiastic lay people who undertake serious and rigorous research or theoretical work in this area.

Another group that is interested in the paranormal in general and psi research in particular is a group called the skeptics which is deliberately spelled with a 'k' instead of a 'c' to differentiate them from the general word 'sceptic' and 'sceptical'. There are amateur skeptical societies and a more formal association: CSICOP (Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal). CSICOP (and skeptics in general) do not usually actively research psi because they believe that the existence of such things as psi is impossible, instead:

Chapter 1: What is psi? 37 The Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal encourages the critical investigation of paranormal and fringe-science claims from a responsible, scientific point of view and disseminates factual information about the results of such inquiries to the scientific community and the public. It also promotes science and scientific inquiry, critical thinking, science education, and the use of reason in examining important issues. (CSICOP website, net)

The skeptical position has become synonymous with those who take a negative view towards the evidence for psi and actively debunk psi researchers and anybody who makes public claims as to the veracity of psi or other paranormal occurrences or abilities. The word skeptic should not be confused with philosophical scepticism . In this thesis when the word is spelt with a 'k' it the hardcore skeptical position that it is referring to. This is represented by the point of view that psi is impossible (there will be more about this group later). The descriptive words 'skeptically' and 'skeptical' are also generally used in the literature to describe the position taken by one so inclined. This thesis will adopt this usage also.

Chapter l: What is psi? 38 Chapter 2: What evidence is there for psi?

Parapsychology is in the very peculiar situation ofbeing obliged to establish the very existence ofthe phenomena it intends to study Robert Amadou

Now that we have working definitions for psi and the phenomena it covers (ESP and PK) it is time to look at what evidence there is for these phenomena. A discussion of this evidence will form the focus of this chapter. Before this takes place the position of psi in the larger category of paranormal phenomena, followed by a section which places the discussion in the context of naturalism. This leads onto a discussion involving the nomological and metaphysical notions of possibility in relation to the evidence.

The supernatural and the paranormal and psi

The previous chapter showed that under the current scientific world view psi phenomena are anomalous by definition. It is worth remembering that psi phenomena themselves are not new. They have been an integral part of human existence since records have been kept, as experiments such as King Croesus' show. What is new is that they are now studied as paranormal phenomena as opposed to being tacitly accepted as supernatural phenomena. This transition is ongoing. There are people today who still view psi phenomena as supernatural. It is necessary therefore to place psi in one or other of these categories and explain what is meant by this categorisation. This point will be further developed with a discussion about psi in the context of prevailing naturalism. The current status of the evidence for psi will then be discussed.

Chapter 2: What evidence is there for psi? 39 Psi as an ostensibly paranormal phenomenon

There are entries for psi in dictionaries both of supernatural and paranormal phenomena and sometimes the words paranormal and supernatural are used as if they are interchangeable. It is incorrect to do this. What is considered supernatural or paranormal will depend on personal religious and scientific beliefs. (Bern & Honorton 1994, p.16). Thouless (the researcher who originally coined the word psi) takes pains to clarify his use of these words: 'The word "paranormal" should not be equated either with "supernatural" or "magical"; both of these words imply something about the origin of such events. "Paranormal" implies no theory about the events except that we should not expect them to happen.' (Thouless 1972, p.2). It is essential that in any discussion of psi it is made clear what position is taken in regard to this aspect of psi phenomena as it is by no means universally accepted that psi should be treated as paranormal, nor is it always clear what it is meant by the use of paranormal as a category for psi phenomena.

One definition of paranormal is that it is 'any phenomenon which in one or more respects exceeds the limits of what is deemed physically possible on current scientific assumptions' (Thalbourne 1982, p.50). On the other hand, the supernatural is defined in the Macquarie Dictionary as "1. being above or beyond what is natural; not explicable in terms of natural laws or phenomena. 2. of or pertaining to supernatural beings, as ghosts, spirits, etc" (Delbridge & Bernard 1988 p. l 009). Therefore, a phenomenon is termed supernatural when it is attributed to a god or force beyond that of the workings of the natural laws in the universe, whereas a paranormal phenomenon is one which is unexplained but not necessarily unexplainable in terms of natural laws.

The category of the paranormal can be further explained by comparing it to the normal and abnormal, which are other categories that have a semantic relationship to the paranormal. Stephen Toulmin (1986) remarks that the words normal and abnormal are relatively recent constructs, with normal first appearing in the Oxford English Dictionary in 1840. He attributes the use of the word normal as a term used by scientists to describe what is expected of 'nature', which was a word that had been adopted by the poets and critics of the Romantic movement, and which had lost 'some of the precision it needed to be of use in

Chapter 2: What evidence is there for psi? 40 science' (Toumlin 1986, p.16). Psi phenomena at that stage were widely regarded as supernatural; consequently, when they made the transition to being the subject of scientific inquiry there was no place for them within the category of 'normal' phenomena. The philosopher CJ. Ducasse coined a new term,paranormal, to which these phenomena are now usually referred, when not categorised as supernatural. Phenomena other than psi that are also often placed in this category are UFOs, crop circles, ghosts, yowies and other unexplained phenomena. Psi phenomena are sometimes seen as different to these other types of paranormal phenomena because they are seen to be human in origin; it can be assumed that, if psi does exist and if it isn't a supernatural phenomenon, there will be a natural explanation for ESP and PK as opposed to an alien or otherworldly one (which could of course also be natural, but would involve other entities - more about this later).

Psi phenomena are therefore sometimes referred to as ostensibly paranormal phenomena. (Braude 1979, p.244) This is intended to indicate that psi, as an ostensible paranormal phenomenon, may at some stage in the future be explained to a sufficient degree that general mainstream science accepts psi as a 'normal' phenomenon subject to the natural laws of the universe. This thesis understands psi to be ostensibly paranormal.

The transition of psi from supernatural to ostensibly paranormal

The modem investigation of psi phenomena can be viewed as the transition from psi being accepted as a supernatural phenomenon to psi being investigated as an ostensibly paranormal phenomenon. This is the first step that many people have taken over the last 120 years, although there are still many who view the phenomena associated with psi as supernatural and others still who view paranormal phenomena as impossible. The transition from paranormal to normal is the second step -the debate is going on right now as to whether this should happen and, if it should, then how? There has been no resolution of this issue to date.

The first step took place towards the end of the 1800s; due to larger-scale societal changes psi phenomena, which had been traditionally accepted as supernatural, became the subject

Chapter 2: What evidence is there for psi? 41 of scientific investigation. That is, the categorisation of psi as a supernatural phenomenon changed, and some saw psi as a paranormal phenomenon which required investigation and explanation as natural phenomenon. Among the most commonly cited causes are the rise of spiritualism in Europe and North America and the consequent concern over mediumistic­ related phenomena, the scientific investigation of which led to the categorisation of psi into ESP, clairvoyance and precognition. (Thouless 1972, p. 7) Other causes mentioned are the effects of the publication ofDarwin's Origin ofSpecies on religious authority and the questioning of previously strongly held religious tenets, as well as the advent of the industrial revolution and the ensuing 'scientific age' where science became the dominant mode through which the world was to be understood and explored. (Haynes 1982, pp.1-2)

A tangible reflection of this change happened in 1882, when the Society for Psychical Research was founded in Cambridge by a group of scientists and philosophers. Their goal was: 'to investigate that large body of debatable phenomena designated by such terms as mesmeric, psychical and spiritualistic without prejudice or prepossession of any kind, and in the same spirit of exact and unimpassioned inquiry which has enabled science to solve so many problems, once not less obscure nor less hotly debated.' (Haynes 1982, xiii). The search for an explanation for psi phenomena has been ongoing ever since. In more recent times the society changed its goal to read: 'The purpose of the Society for Psychical Research is to advance the understanding of events and abilities commonly described as 'psychic' or 'paranormal', without prejudice and in a scientific manner' (SPR homepage, 2002). The spiritualist and mesmeric aspects have been dropped and the broader word 'paranormal' used instead- but the scientific approach remains the same.

What evidence has been gained in the ensuing years, with a focus on the most recent developments, will form the focus of this chapter. But first, a brief discussion on naturalism and psi. This will help to put the discussion of the evidence into a contemporary Australian philosophical context.

Chapter 2: What evidence is there for psi? 42 Naturalism and psi

It would seem at the outset that to put psi into the category of the paranormal and particularly the category of the ostensible paranormal as outlined above would seem to indicate that a naturalist interpretation of the evidence was being attempted. This would be partly correct, however, the current anomalous nature of psi dictates that we can't know for sure whether psi will eventually be explained as a 'natural' phenomenon explainable according to our existing understanding of the spatio-temporal system. We can only say that an attempt is being made to do this supported by an initial justification for the study of such phenomena in such a context, the potential outcomes for which were outlined in the introduction. Some means of testing whether this has been achieved sets a bench mark which anybody aiming to investigate psi should try to reach. It is suggested that an appropriate formula can be adopted from William Seager's paper 'Real patterns and surface metaphysics' in which he formulates a set of rules to indicate whether something has been naturalised.

He states:

The rules of this naturalism are straightforward and remain at heart reductionist in spirit: They require us to provide an explanation of the target phenomenon (be it intentionality, consciousness or plain old chemistry) in terms of Something Else which is irreproachably 'natural' and which does not itself appeal to or depend upon features of the target. The rules of this hopeful naturalism can be codified as follows.

The rules:

X has been naturalised iff 1. X has been explained in terms of Something Else. 2. The Something Else does not essentially involve X. 3. The Something Else is properly natural. (Seager 2000, p.96)

Chapter 2: What evidence is there for psi? 43 To maintain that psi is ostensibly paranormal is to maintain that it is a contender to be an 'X'. Psi, as an anomalous phenomenon is obviously not an X as defined by the rules above. The contentious issue is whether or not it qualifies to be studied further as a potential for being an X, and if so then how will a 'properly natural' explanation be pursued, given the anomalous nature of the subject. Seager's 'Something Else' might need to be a something that is properly natural but perhaps a modification of something already concretely 'properly natural' in science. This is where notions of nomological and epistemological possibility become important. They are discussed below in relation to psi phenomena.

Possibility

It is the contention of this thesis that there is enough evidence for psi to warrant further investigation of psi in philosophy with the hope that psi will eventually be explained as something that is natural rather than paranormal. It is also argued later on that this may mean that some of the ideas that are currently held in modem science may have to change in order to incorporate the currently anomalous phenomena relating to psi events into a naturalised understanding of the world that includes these phenomena. This does not mean that psi can't be naturalised- only that it is possible that some concepts may have to change in order to understand psi as natural rather than ostensibly paranormal. Below is a discussion of the evidence for psi in relation to epistemological, and nomological possibility. 2

2 Other kinds of philosophical possibility such as conceivable, temporal and metaphysical could also be discussed here but because this thesis limits the discussion of psi to the western scientific arena it is thought that epistemological and nomological possibilities are the most pertinent to this area of inquiry.

Chapter 2: What evidence is there for psi? 44 1. epistemological possibility

Epistemology is concerned with how it is we can know about the world. For X to be epistemologically possible it must be consistent with what is known. As this thesis has set the parameters for the discussion as limited to the western scientific approach of exploring the world, a discussion of the evidence for psi that has been pursued through scientific research forms the focus of subsequent sections within this chapter. It is shown that if modem scientific research methods are considered to be adequate then psi can be considered an epistemic possibility. This is a controversial claim and the approaches to the evidence for psi are discussed in Chapter 4 where this issue will be raised again. However, in recent years it has become widely acknowledged, even by previously hard core skeptics, that there is evidence for what appears to be psi.

2. nomological possibility

For something to be nomologically possible it must be consistent with scientific laws as they are currently understood. Psi is currently by definition anomalous and this means that, until psi is understood and explained by science in terms of natural laws, then psi, cannot currently be considered to be nomologically possible. If it were the phenomena currently understood as psi would not be considered psi.

It is important to realise though that this does not mean psi is destined to be forever nomologically impossible. There are degrees of anomalousness. At one end of the spectrum something can be considered anomalous if it cannot be explained by current science - as has been mentioned before this does not mean that it is unexplainable. And at the other end of the spectrum is something that is so anomalous that it appears to so severely conflict with the natural laws as they are currently understood that it can be considered impossible. A contender for this type of nomological impossibility would be, for instance, to maintain that the moon is made of blue cheese. The philosopher C.D. Broad published an analysis of the many ways that psi contravenes not just natural laws but what he terms BLPs (basic limiting principles). If his analysis is accepted it is not easy to make a case for the

Chapter 2: What evidence is there for psi? 45 nomological possibility of psi. However, one philosopher argues that psi has been excluded from the current world view which was developed before it was considered as an ostensibly paranormal phenomenon. This will be discussed further in Chapter 4.

This thesis takes the line that that further investigation is warranted due to the epistemic possibility of psi phenomena based on laboratory and spontaneous evidence which is presented below.

The difficulty of resolving this issue is reflected in academia where we have a situation in which some academics are pursuing research into psi on the basis that it will become understood in scientific terms but some academics and critics of psi research believe that psi is impossible because it contravenes too severely the strictures of science as they are currently understood.

At the heart of this dispute are beliefs about the nomological impossibility of psi phenomena which will not be resolved until further investigation takes place. Arguments relating to this aspect of the possibility of psi have engaged some contemporary philosophers and are discussed in relation to Hume's miracle argument in Chapter 3. But first, a look at what evidence there is for psi to date.

Chapter 2: What evidence is there for psi? 46 The evidence for psi

Psi research is a fledgling area of inquiry because it is only since the creation of the societies for psychical research and the subsequent entry of psi research into university departments in the late 1920s that attempts have been made to explain psi in any terms other than supernatural. Over the past 120 years, the application of widely accepted methods of scientific inquiry have been applied to psi phenomena in order to ascertain what these phenomena are and how they operate.

There are two general types of evidence available for psi: experimental and spontaneous. The investigation of the evidence undertaken in this chapter will start by looking briefly at what is currently considered to be acceptable scientific evidence. The issue of repeatability within the social sciences will be addressed, as will the difficulties of studying paranormal phenomena using the scientific method. Some of the most accepted evidence that has been obtained to date will be discussed in this context. There will then be a section that deals specifically with spontaneous evidence for psi, a category that is sometimes neglected.

What is accepted as scientific evidence?

What does it mean that something has been 'scientifically proven' or that 'scientific evidence' has been found? More particularly how do you go about studying a paranormal phenomenon such as psi? I have already said that this thesis accepts the western scientific world view as a point of departure, so this discussion will be limited to defining science and its related terms in this context. It will also not delve into the philosophical problems associated with epistemology, nor will it deal with experiential approaches to the evidence for psi. Discussion will be limited to the existing currently practised scientific method. Unfortunately deeper discussion of this aspect, although it would be interesting, is beyond the scope of this thesis. It is usually within this already established arena of modern scientific inquiry that discussions of the validity of the evidence for psi currently occur, so it is an appropriate place to start.

Chapter 2: What evidence is there for psi? 47 Scientific method

The 'scientific method' gives us what is considered to be a fairly good idea that something is happening and that the thing that is happening isn't just a once-off fluke or the product of a scientist's misperception of a situation. Scientists use a commonly accepted scientific method to design experiments that try to find out how things in the world are and why and what makes them so. Experiments must be undertaken in certain ways in order to be accepted as scientific - that is, their methods and means by which data is collected and analysed have to be acceptable to the scientific community at large. Hypotheses are made, the data is collected and analysed and conclusions are drawn. The results are then published in journals which are reviewed and read by other scientists. Mistakes in procedure or misconceptions in analyses are then pointed out. Incidences of unwitting human error or intentional fraud occur in science, as in any other human activity. Checks and balances are designed to make sure that scientific experimentation is undertaken with as many protocols as are deemed necessary to investigate the subject of inquiry in a thorough and proper manner. One-off experiments that show something new or unexpected will need to be repeated by other scientists numerous times, although the degree of repeatability required will vary according to the subject of inquiry (a discussion of this will follow). With this understanding of the currently accepted scientific method and with particular regard to the anomalous nature of psi, the evidence will be analysed on the following basis:

1. indication that measurements have been carefully made 2. indication that experiments have been controlled for sensory leakage and that experimenter and subject fraud can be ruled out 3. indication that data from the experiments has been analysed in accordance with accepted methods in statistics 4. indication that attempts at replication have been undertaken successfully.

Chapter 2: What evidence is there for psi? 48 The relative benefit of this type of system for ascertaining what is accepted as 'scientific proof of something, or reasonable assertions about how something works is summed up by Dean Radin as follows:

In addition to careful observations and measurements, a fundamental strength of the scientific method is its reliance on public, consensus agreement that the measurements are in fact correct. This differs dramatically from earlier approaches to knowledge, such as the logical arguments favored by philosophers, or the dogmatic acceptance of scripture demanded by religious authorities.

The idea of public agreement about measurements has led to the strong requirement in science (at least in the experimental sciences) that phenomena must be independently and repeatedly measurable to allow this consensus to form. In other words, the idea of repeatability, or replication, has become roughly equivalent to a test for stability' (Radin 1997, p.20)

The next question that needs to be answered is: where to go looking for the evidence? Detailed reports of experimental evidence can be found in peer-reviewed journals and books published by academic institutions or professional organisations that are generally recognised as authorities on the area of research in question. Books published by people who have published in these journals can also be considered a source of information, as are books by people who work in prominent positions in research institutions. These sources will be used to provide the experimental evidence for discussion in the sections below. But first a word on the issue of repeatability with particular regard to psi phenomena.

Repeatability

The issue of repeatability is of particular importance to psi research. How many times does something have to be repeated for it to be accepted as more than just a chance occurrence or a case of mistaken interpretation of data. In the 'hard' sciences strong repeatability is expected as there are fewer variables in the experiments than in those which depend on human subjects such as in the social or biological sciences. The subjects of the experiments in the social sciences are consequently not expected to be repeatable in the same way as a physics experiment on inanimate objects (Reinsel 1990, p.195). The degree of repeatability required is also dependent on the nature of the experiment and subject of inquiry, and how

Chapter 2: What evidence is there for psi? 49 radical the hypothesis is. This is because it is not always possible to recreate the situation exactly in repeated experiments and accordingly the exact same results will not be expected to be gained every time the experiment is run. Even if the same experimenters and subjects are used, other factors may change that are not able to be controlled, such as the moods of the participants and experimenters.

There is no magic formula that applies in psi research. Instead there are generally accepted, although often debated, statistical analyses of probability that are used to try to ascertain if something is happening that appears to be psi. Inasmuch as the study of psi has been carried out within psychology departments, the already accepted methods of performing psychology experiments have been used to perform psi experiments. Solutions to this problem are often discussed and are the subject of sometimes heated debate in literature on psi research.

When do we know that we have seen psi in operation? How do we know when this point has been reached experimentally? This issue is contentious. There is no one single conclusive experiment that has been shown to prove the existence of psi, because a successful run of 'hits' can be attributed to a fluke of coincidence and many do not consider this convincing enough. Instead, many runs are undertaken and it is hoped that over time and through meta-analysis of the data it can be shown that overall the results indicate that psi is taking place. These results are usually represented by statistics indicating what probability would be expected for the results to have been obtained through chance alone.

Spontaneous psi cases suffer from similar problems with chance due to the difficulty of knowing when an instance of psi is more than just a coincidence. To take the example cited in the last chapter apparent knowledge of a relative's death at a distance away, given how many people die every day in Britain and given how many people may, by chance, be thinking of their relatives at their time of death over many centuries, how do we know when something like telepathy is occurring compared to a chance happening of a death occurring at the same time as a relative in a distant place is thinking of that person? There is no easy answer to this problem, but it is worthwhile to heed the advice of Arthur Koestler

Chapter 2: What evidence is there for psi? 50 (who did a lot of work in this area, culminating in large scale experiments with some 200 participants): 'The point is that the importance we attach to coincidences depends mainly on their objective improbability, but partly also on their subjective impact. Other people's coincidences are never as fascinating as one's own. This should make us beware of seeing mysteries where a trivial explanation will do. But that is no justification for wearing blinkers.' (Hardy, Harvie & Koestler 1973, p.216)

Before we take a look at the spontaneous evidence for psi, we will begin by looking at the experimental evidence and then continue to discuss why this evidence has not yet been widely accepted. Over the years the experiments have been refined to a great degree and, although the issue ofrepeatability is often cited as parapsychology's most tragic flaw, in a recent article on experimental ganzfeld work it was noted: 'Some of the major critics of parapsychology are now of the opinion that repeated demonstrations of psi-effects are no longer of interest, and suggest instead that priority in parapsychology should be given to seeking a theoretical framework for psi in terms of lawful relationships.' (Parker, Persson & Haller 2000, p.65). A discussion of this series of experiments starts below.

Ganzfeld experiments

In 1994 Daryl Bern and Charles Honorton published an article in the Psychological Bulletin, in which they maintained that:

We believe that the replication rates and effect sizes achieved by one particular experimental method, the ganzfeld procedure, are now sufficient to warrant bringing this body of data to the attention of the wider psychological community. (Bern & Honorton 1994, p.4)

In this article they detail the ganzfeld series of experiments which commenced in the mid- 1970s almost simultaneously by three different researchers: William Braud (University of Houston), Adrian Parker (University of Edinburgh) and Charles Honorton the co-author of the article. Together they provide what is considered by some as a replicable experimental procedure that shows that anomalous transfer of knowledge (ESP) occurs between human

Chapter 2: What evidence is there for psi? 51 beings. In this article they discuss the history of the ganzfeld experiments and the ongoing discussion between those who believe that the methods and procedures and analyses of data support a positive result in favour of psi effects and those who don't. The debate is ongoing today and more about the current status of these experiments will be discussed shortly. But first a run-down on the ganzfeld experimental procedure and its history.

The history of the ganzfeld experiments Ganzfeld is a word first used in the 1930s in experimental psychology to 'test propositions derived from gestalt theory' (Bern & Honorton 1994, p.5). The procedure was developed for parapsychology on the supposition that previous ESP experiments, such as those run by J.B. Rhine at Duke University involving long runs of forced-choice experiments, were not conducive to psi as it would be found in more natural circumstances outside the laboratory. The three original researchers who developed this technique were also inspired by the idea that psi was often associated with altered states of consciousness, particularly ones in which the regular senses were dulled and the focus was on internal imagery such as dream or meditative states. (Bern & Honorton 1994, p.5). Psi, they thought, might be filtered out by other senses in ordinary situations. Accordingly the ganzfeld procedure developed as follows.

The subject is placed in a soundproof room in a comfortable reclining chair. Halved ping-pong balls are taped over the eyes and the light shining through is red. White noise plays on headphones. The subject is asked to perform some relaxation exercises. This technique of creating a blanket of unobtrusive sensory experience which is unstimulating to the senses is what gives the ganzfeld its name ('whole field' in German). The hope was that if telepathy was occurring it would be more likely to be recognised by the subject whose regular sensory input is numbed to a certain degree by the red light and white noise. (Rao 1984, p.197). In another room, the sender is given the target which has been randomly selected from a large pool of pictures or short videos (or in some earlier experiments View-Master slides). The sender concentrates on the target at a designated time while the subject in the reclining chair is asked to verbally describe any images, feelings or thoughts

Chapter 2: What evidence is there for psi? 52 out loud. These are taped (or in the early days transcribed). After 30 minutes (usually), the subject is shown four randomly selected pictures (or video clips, or View-Master slides) which include the target and asked to rate them according to how strongly each of them correlates to the thoughts and images previously recorded and experienced. The experimenter carrying out this part of the experiment is not aware what the target is either, so there is no chance of the subject being discreetly lead to a correct hit. A 'hit' is scored if the subject correctly identifies the target as the highest rating. Independent judging can also be carried out by giving the judge the four possible stimuli and the tape record of images from the half-hour 'sending' period. (Bern & Honorton 1994, pp.5-6)

The major differences between previous ESP experiments and the ganzfeld procedure lie in the relaxed state of the subject, the length of time to record any impression, and the nature of the targets. For instance, earlier telepathy experiments conducted by J.B. Rhine consisted of runs of experiments using a pack of 25 cards ( 5 sets of 5 cards, with the patterns of a circle, square, cross, star and waves in each set). These had been created by Dr. K.E. Zener, a colleague of Rhine's in the 1930s. (Rhine J.B. 1964, p.47). The subject would make a guess as to which card was the target. The results were recorded and statistical analyses undertaken. Many trials were undertaken with the same cards as targets. By 1934 when he published his now famous monograph, Extra-sensory Perception, Rhine had over 90,000 trials to perform analyses on. (Rhine J.B. 1964, p.46) Instead, the ganzfeld experiments use various pictures of complex images, the intention being that if ESP does occur then it is more likely to be emotional in content, so the use of these images compared to the rather dry Zener cards will be more conducive to picking up the elusive psi information.

An early ganzfeld experiment performed by Charles Honorton and published in 1976 was undertaken at the Maimonides Medical Center (Terry & Honorton 1976, 1984 p.197).The subjects were undergraduate students divided into six teams. Each team had three members designated as a 'sender', 'receiver' or 'monitor'. The targets were View-Master reels with pictures on each reel similar in content. After the session was over the 'receiver' was asked to rank a possible four reels according to how strongly they corresponded to the images gained during the ganzfeld period.

Chapter 2: What evidence is there for psi? 53 The results were promising: 'A hit was defined as a correct first or second choice out of a packet of four slide reels ... Overall, the five supervised teams obtained a scoring rate of 78%, with 21 hits in 27 sessions.' (Terry & Honorton 1976, 1984 p.200) Pure chance would expect a hit rate of 50%3.

An example of a successful hit with accompanying images recorded during the ganzfeld session and target picture is reproduced below:

Pre-sending: " ... and archbishop's hat. Tiny people, far away .... Floating ... a lot of clouds and a skyline .... A 3-D statue of a girl's face, with short, dark hair. ... A blue sky, people with umbrellas, looks like it could be France ... Red Riding Hood. A little girl in a bonnet, she's gone now." Sending" "Arches. A church ....An aerial view, moving to the ground fast. A road with hedges and towers ... a church and columns. A Green church with Doric columns .... "

Post-sending: " ... a window up high in a stone wall, more bells. A peaked roof.... " (Terry & Honorton 1976, 1984 p.200)

(Terry & Honorton 1976, 1984 p.202)

3 This was an early experiment. Later experiments tend to consider a 'hit' when the subject chooses the ranks the target first. This gives the expected success rate by chance alone as 25%~, in this case because a hit is considered either a first or second choice the rate is 50%.

Chapter 2: What evidence is there for psi? 54 The success of these early experiments encouraged other laboratories to undertake their own ganzfeld studies. In 1982 Charles Honorton presented a paper in which he concluded that 'the experiments at that time provided sufficient evidence to demonstrate the existence of psi in the ganzfeld'. (Radin 1997, p.78).

By 1985 'ganzfeld experiments had appeared in thirty-four published reports by ten different researchers. These reports described a total of forty-two separate experiments. Of these, twenty-eight reported the actual hit rates that were obtained. The other studies simply declared the experiments successful or unsuccessful.' (Radin 1997, p. 78). These 28 studies which did provide the hit rate were used by Honorton and a psychologist who was vocally sceptical about the existence of psi, Ray Hyman, to independently perform two meta­ analyses on the data at hand. The results that they obtained indicated that the chances of the hits being coincidental were ten billion to one. (Radin 1997, p. 79). These results were published in the Journal ofParapsychology during 1985 and 1986. They included the original meta-analyses as well as ongoing communication and rejoinders by the individuals involved as well as by outside observers. (Hyman 1985) Hyman and Honorton in a joint communique published in 1986 stated that:

We agree that there is an overall significant effect in this data base that cannot reasonably be explained by selective reporting or multiple analysis. We continue to differ over the degree to which the effect constitutes evidence for psi, but we agree that the final verdict awaits the outcome of future experiments conducted by a broader range of investigators and according to more stringent standards. (quoted in Bern and Honorton 1994, p.9)

Accordingly, the ganzfeld procedure was refined to accommodate the 'more stringent' requirements which were detailed in this same communique. These included more secure protection against sensory leakage, not only when the participants were in the ganzfeld but also afterwards when the 'receiver' was shown the four targets to rank. It was pointed out that when the same target was used by the 'sender' the possibility of sensory clues such as finger prints or smudge marks could indicate which picture had been the target picture. Other requirements involved the 'documentation of randomisation methods ... statistical correction for multiple analysis, advance specification of the status of the experiment

Chapter 2: What evidence is there for psi? 55 (e.g., pilot study or confirmatory experiment).' (Bern & Honorton 1994, p.9) Subsequent to this publication a new series of experiments was devised which were christened 'autoganzfeld' experiments. In order to ensure that no sensory cues were to be given and to ensure randomisation of the target pictures, a computer was used to select and present the target pictures or videotapes. The randomisation and presentation of the targets was now fully automated. The verbal exchanges between the participants were collected on audiotape. (Bern & Honorton 1994, p.10). A subsequent meta-analyses of these \ experiments was undertaken and a 32% hit rate recorded where chance would expect a 25% hit rate (since the subject chose one from four possible targets) (Bern & Honorton 1994, p.10-11 ). Although more laboratories would need to perform similar experiments to confirm these findings, it appeared promising that at last parapsychology had found an experimental procedure that consistently produced positive results (Radin 1997, p.87). Other laboratories that were recorded in 1996 by Daryl Bern as still undertaking autoganzfeld-like experiments were the University of Amsterdam, the University of Edinburgh, Gothenburg University in Sweden, and, in the United States, Cornell University and the Rhine Research Center in Durham, North Carolina. (Bern 1996, net)

Recent developments A new meta-analysis by Julie Milton and Richard Wiseman was published in the Psychological Bulletin (Milton & Wiseman 1999) which provided a 'follow-up meta­ analysis of 30 additional ganzfeld studies that had been conducted from 1987 through 1997. They concluded that these studies did not yield an overall significant effect, thereby calling into question the replicability of the ganzfeld procedure.' (Bern, Palmer & Broughton 2001, p.208) Following the publication of this article much debate ensured as to the validity of the Milton and Wiseman meta-analysis, on the grounds that it used ganzfeld experiments that differed significantly in procedure to the original experiments that were used in the Bern and Honorton (1994) meta-analysis. There was an intense online debate between contemporary parapsychologists as to the motives and methods of this meta-analysis. (PRF 1999).

Chapter 2: What evidence is there for psi? 56 A paper published in 2001 by Daryl Bern, John Palmer and Richard Broughton, 'Updating the ganzfeld database: A victim of its own success?', addressed the issue. In this paper they argued that the insignificant result of the meta-analysis performed by Milton and Wiseman was due to two major considerations. The first was that 10 new studies that were published shortly after the Milton and Wiseman paper was published were not included in the meta­ analysis. A subsequent meta-analysis, reported in the paper, including these studies did produce a significant result. They concluded: 'The 10 new ganzfeld studies yield an overall hit rate of 36.7% ... All 40 replication studies combined yield an overall hit rate of 30.1 %. This latter set of figures thus represents the current status of ganzfeld studies published after those summarised in Bern and Honorton ( 1994). ' (Bern, Palmer & Broughton 2001, p.214), where a hit rate of 32% was reported. Secondly, 'many psi researchers believe that the reliability of the basic procedure is sufficiently well established to warrant using it as a tool for the further exploration of psi. Thus, rather than continuing to conduct exact replications, they have been modifying the procedure and extending it into unknown territory. Not unexpectedly such deviations from exact replication are at increased risk for failure.' (Bern, Palmer & Broughton 2000, p.208)

The subjectivity of the meta-analysis as a method for evaluating large amounts of data was also brought to the fore. Meta-analysis involves the specification of which experiments will or will not be included in the analysis. The setting of the criteria and the subsequent selection of which experiments fit the criteria is a subjective process and it can be seen from these two different meta-analyses that two very different scores have been obtained. This sort of dispute indicates to some observers that this approach to procuring testable evidence for psi might not be the best method. (In the next section this will be discussed further.)

Despite this dispute, the ganzfeld and autoganzfeld experiments are generally considered the strongest series of studies to have attempted to replicate psi under controlled conditions in laboratories and to have produced well documented data that is analysable in terms of current statistical and probability theory. They are, however, still the subject of debate and ongoing analysis and there is no consensus even from within the parapsychological

Chapter 2: What evidence is there for psi? 57 community as to the strength of the overall data. Before going on to see how these experiments fare in the light of the criteria for acceptable scientific method set out earlier in the chapter, some of the other major parapsychology experiments performed under laboratory-controlled conditions will be briefly outlined below.

Remote viewing

The modern series of remote viewing experiments were initially created and carried out by two physicists, Russell Targ and Hal Puthoff at the Electronics and Bioengineering Laboratory of the Stanford Research Institute. (Targ & Puthoff, 1977). In the remote viewing experiments the procedure generally consists of 'having an experimenter visit a randomly selected target site and having the subject, sensorially unaware of the location, describe to a second experimenter the place which the first experimenter is visiting during the same time.' (Rao 1984, p.225). Variations on this experiment were to give the subject only the latitude and longitude of a site and describe what was to be found there. Judging was usually performed by getting an independent judge to match the pictures or transcripts of the descriptions made by the subject with the target pool. (Utts 1996, p.8)

Similar experiments had been carried out before. For example, one series of such experiments was written about by the novelist Upton Sinclair in a book published in 1930 called Mental Radio: Does it Work and How? In it he details a series of telepathic experiments that his wife, Mary Sinclair, had taken part in. For example, she would relax on her couch while at a distant location a 'sender' (in this instance, Upton Sinclair's brother-in-law) would draw a picture at an assigned time. She would then make a note of the image that appeared to her and they would later compare the two. At one stage he drew a fork and she wrote: 'See a table fork. Nothing else.' (Sinclair 1930, p.13). Targ and Puthoff were aware of such anecdotes but their contribution to the field was to oversee such experiments being performed in a respectable laboratory under controlled conditions, by physicists who were able to publish their findings in peer-reviewed journals.

The series of experiments that were performed in remote viewing by the Stanford Research Institute became known as the 'SRI experiments'. They were carried out by Targ and

Chapter 2: What evidence is there for psi? 58 Puthoff at the SRI from 1973 until 1988, at which time an analysis was undertaken by Edwin May. This involved 'all 154 experiments conducted during that era, consisting of over 26,000 individual trials. Of these 20,000 were forced choice and over a thousand were laboratory remote viewings.' (Utts 1996, p.8). The early work by Russel and Targ had been criticised for methodological flaws in the target pool selection and presentation of the material for judging. The main concerns were primarily concerned with the judging procedure and the availability of extra information in the transcripts (such as dates and times) that could possibly be used to match the targets. (Marks 1986, p.113). However, the results were significant and well accepted enough for further experiments to take place. Edwin May became the principal investigator of another series of experiments based on the SRI experiments and overseen by a committee of academics from a variety of disciplines including 'statistics, psychology, neuroscience and astronomy' (Radin 1997, p.101 ). These became known as the SAIC experiments as they were undertaken by the Science Applications International Corporation.

Both the SRI experiments and the SAIC experiments were reviewed by independent researchers in papers commissioned by the CIA. Ray Hyman (a psychologist with Oregon University) and Jessica Utts (a statistician with University of California, Davis) were chosen for the task. They came to different conclusions. Utts concluded:

It is clear to this author that anomalous cognition is possible and has been demonstrated. This conclusion is not based on belief, but rather on commonly accepted scientific criteria. The phenomenon has been replicated in a number of forms across laboratories and cultures. The various experiments in which it has been observed have been different enough that if some subtle methodological problems can explain the results, then there would have to be a different explanation for each type of experiment, yet the impact would have to be similar across experiments and laboratories. If fraud were responsible, similarly, it would require an equivalent amount of fraud on the part of a large number of experimenters on an even larger number of subjects.

What is not so clear is that we have progressed very far in understanding the mechanism for anomalous cognition. Senders do not appear to be necessary at all; feedback of the correct answer may or may not be necessary. Distance in time and space do not seem to be an impediment. Beyond those conclusions, we know very little. (Utts 1996, p.16)

Chapter 2: What evidence is there for psi? 59 Hyman on the other hand states: My report argues that Professor Utts' conclusion is premature, to say the least. The reports of the SAIC experiments have become accessible for public scrutiny too recently for adequate evaluation. Moreover, their findings have yet to be independently replicated. My report also argues that the apparent consistencies between the SAIC results and those of other para psychological experiments may be illusory. Many important inconsistencies are emphasized. Even if the observed effects can be independently replicated, much more theoretical and empirical investigation would be needed before one could legitimately claim the existence of paranormal functioning. (Hyman 1996 net) The conclusions drawn are once again disputed by those who are actively working in the field. However, because one of the findings in the CIA-commissioned report was positive about the results, as well as the fact that Targ and Puthoff actively encouraged skeptics to take part in their remote viewing experiments, this series of experiments and the subsequent SAIC experiments are often listed in support of evidence for psi.

PK experiments

Early PK experiments performed in the laboratories of J.B.Rhine were usually in the form of dice-rolling. Once again many long runs were performed in the anticipation that results would show above-chance findings that could not be explained by fluky runs without statistical significance. These early experiments in which subjects were asked to hand­ throw dice and attempt to 'will' a desired outcome produced results "significantly above chance, with a probability of over a billion to one." (Reinsel 1990, p.192). Early methodological concerns were addressed, such as the concern that there was some 'normal' means (although most likely subconscious) taking place because of the hands on nature of the experiment, and a mechanical dice thrower and a random selection of targets (rather than having the thrower choose their own target) were introduced. There was still the possibility that the dice themselves were not as random as they could be, because (for instance) on the sides of a regular die the dots that represent numbers have a small scoop out of them. This would mean that the number 6 would show more often than the expected one out of six times over long runs because it would be lighter than the other sides of the

Chapter 2: What evidence is there for psi? 60 die; consequently this discrepancy could skew the data in favour of hits. However, a meta-analyses performed by Dean Radin and Diane Ferrari in 1989 concluded that even after taking out studies where this was a problem 'there was still highly significant evidence for mind-matter interaction, with odds against chance of greater than a trillion to one"'(Radin 1997, p.137).

The means of testing for PK was refined when Helmut Schmidt developed a random number generator (usually referred to as an RNG) in 1960s. This type of machine is used in both ESP and PK experiments today as the best means of achieving a random selection of targets and as a target for PK interaction itself. The machines 'operate by generating random binary electrical pulses that serve as targets, in the manner of an electronic coin flipper.' (Reinsel 1990, p.197). They are generated by either 'electronic noise or radioactive decay times. Both of these are physical sources that, through proper circuit design, provide electronic spikes at unpredictable times.' (Radin 1997, p.13 8). These spikes interrupt a clock which is in a one of two possible states (usually represented by the binary numerals '1' or '0'). A run of the RNG will be expected over time to produce a 50% of each, just as in a coin-tossing experiment, but more accurate. The information is often displayed on a computer, or in the early days in terms of light bulbs glowing on or off. A hypothetical experiment based on real ones might consist of the subject attempting to make one light bulb of a possible two light bulbs light up more often than the other one. The lights are being turned on and off by the results of the RNG but if PK is possible, and intention can produce a desired result at a distance, then the results can be analysed according to the amount of times the intended light turned on compared to what would be expected by chance alone (50%). Once again, many runs of experiments would need to take place and the data analysed in order to show that a successful run was not the result off once of coincidence. The advantage of an RNG PK test is that, like the autoganzfeld procedure, the randomisation and data collection is performed without human intervention, thus limiting the possibility of normal means affecting the experimental data or experimental error in transcribing the data. (Radin 1997, p.139; Reinsel 1990, p.197).

Chapter 2: What evidence is there for psi? 61 The largest database of experiments of this kind has been performed in the PEAR laboratories at Princeton University. In a meta-analyses performed in 1987 by Dean Radin and Roger Nelson, a psychologist with Princeton University, that included among many others (258 of a total 597 studies) the data produced in these laboratories which tested for the effectiveness of human interaction with RNG machines, the final results produced incredible odds against change 'beyond a trillion to one'. (Radin 1997, p.140). Given the nature of the machines (fully automated and randomised) and the prestige of what is one of the major laboratories this is an impressive result.

Precognitive experiments

The remaining psi category is precognition. Because precognition is viewed as a possibility through the use of ESP or even potentially PK, experimental evidence for precognition is usually carried out using the same experimental procedure as the above experiments in ganzfeld, remote viewing and PK. For instance, in the cited remote viewing experiments precognitive ESP was tested by selecting the target place after the remote viewing was performed. Earlier experiments also tested for precognition - for instance, a subject would be asked to guess the series of cards in a pack of cards yet to be shujjl,ed, the guesses were recorded, the cards then shuffled and the results analysed. Schmidt used his RNGs to test for precognition and in a trial with 'three gifted subjects. Over a total of 63,066 responses, the results form these three subjects were highly significant, with odds of 2000 million to 1 against chance.' (Reinsel 1990, p.198). Precognition is one of the most interesting and baffling of psi phenomena but, because it involves ESP or PK it is tested for in experimental conditions under these same experimental conditions as discussed above. For the purposes of this discussion, which is to ascertain the extent to which modern experiments adhere to the scientific method, it will not be treated as a separate category.

Chapter 2: What evidence is there for psi? 62 Evaluating the laboratory evidence in light of scientific method

It is hoped that this overview has given the reader some idea as to the availability of experimental evidence that has been collected in the modern era of psi investigation, especially the more contemporary experiments which have been the subject of meta­ analysis. The evidence is substantial, if controversial. It is time, therefore, to see how these experiments fare in light of the criteria set out at the beginning of the chapter. Each of these will now be addressed in turn. As a brief reminder they were:

1. indication that measurements have been carefully made 2. indication that experiments have been controlled for sensory leakage and that experimenter and subject fraud can be ruled out 3. indication that data from the experiments has been analysed in accordance with accepted methods in statistics 4. indication that attempts at replication have been undertaken successfully.

1. Indication that measurements have been carefully made Automisation of the autoganzfeld procedures and the collection of data by computers in the RNG experiments appear to have been addressed initial criticisms of parapsychological research that the collection of data may have been erroneously collected by experimenters. The number and length of runs and corresponding significant results indicate that the measurements are being taken carefully. The methods of obtaining the data are carefully explained in these experiments. The data collected was widely made available for future analyses that we have seen undertaken by parapsychologists. When independent studies (such as Utts and Hyman) have been undertaken there have been no reported difficulties in either obtaining the data or understanding the measurement methodology. It would seem then that careful measurements are being made that stand up to peer-reviewed scrutiny.

Chapter 2: What evidence is there for psi? 63 2. Indication that experiments have been controlled for sensory leakage and that experimenter and subject fraud can be ruled out This is an issue crucial to performing an experiment that is looking for psi effects or trying to find out how psi might work. If any normal sense can be used to obtain the correct guess or influence the experiment, the experiment must not be considered as evidence for psi. Great pains must be taken by experimenters to ensure that this is the case, and they quite often describe the location of the subject and receiver in great detail. The concerns over the production of possible targets in the ganzfeld and remote viewing studies have been addressed, with either computerised systems providing the subject with the targets or a second set of prints used for judging. The dice-rolling problems have also been addressed, with the use of the completely automated RNG procedure for testing for PK effects. However, it is pointed out that skilful people such as magicians and mentalists are able to perform similar feats without using psi, but instead through clever means of deception and secret techniques, and that effects such as seen in some telepathy and clairvoyant experiments can be reproduced by these people. Because these experiments have been undertaken in many laboratories and over decades with many different participants, this makes this supposition implausible, but in order to quell any future concerns experimenters such as Honorton have asked prominent mentalists to observe the autoganzfeld procedure and have subsequently found this procedure to 'provide excellent security against deception by subjects'. (Bern & Honorton 1994, p.10). Targ and Puthoff also actively encouraged dubious people ( even hard core skeptics) to participate in their experiments and, although there has been published some material that is scathing of their methodology (Marks 1986), the fact that a similar procedure has been used in subsequent experiments under the auspices of a high-level committee and that their data has been subject to independent analyses seems to indicate that these initial concerns have been addressed. It has also become common practice to use the double-blind procedure to ensure that there is no means by which even subconsciously the experimenters are aiding in obtaining a positive hit rate. In a study performed by Rupert Sheldrake "comparing the use of randomised double-blind protocols in a variety of difference academic fields - biology, chemistry, physics, psychology and medicine - the group that stood out in terms of their standards and their

Chapter 2: What evidence is there for psi? 64 commitment to what is considered the gold standard in Western Science - the use of the randomised double-blind protocol-was parapsychology."(Schlitz 2001, p.344)

The honesty and integrity of psi researchers is often questioned when successful experiments are published and in a 1993 New Scientist article it was noted that 'parapsychologists often joke that the last thing they want from an experiment is a positive result. "Immediately you know that either your competency or your honesty's going to be questioned- usually both."' (McCrone 1993) This would seem to indicate that parapsychologists will be extra careful to ensure that if such accusations are made they will be in a position to show otherwise. Media attention given to previously successful experiments has, I am sure, made many of them wary to ensure that all forms of sensory leakage are excluded before continuing with their experiments.

However, one of the main reasons why I think that this issue appears to be adequately addressed in these experiments is from the dialogue between the critics of psi research and those undertaking the research. For instance, after disagreeing publicly on the initial ganzfeld findings, both Charles Honorton and Ray Hyman agreed on what protocols should be improved in order to allay any doubts about future research. This was written and published in a public forum (Bern and Honorton 1994, p.9) and the subsequent experiments show that the recommendations have been taken into account. Similarly, when the SRI and SAIC remote viewing experiments were published Russel Targ and Hal Puthoff refined their experimental procedure accordingly (by changing the target pool selection process). From the discussion in these articles it is apparent that prominent psi researchers appear to take criticism seriously and then subsequently address the issues in future experiments.

3. Indication that data from the experiments has been analysed in accordance with accepted methods in statistics This is probably the biggest bone of contention in the field of psi research. We have already seen that there is no general agreement between statisticians, psychologists and parapsychologists as to what will be considered enough statistical significance to produce

Chapter 2: What evidence is there for psi? 65 definitive evidence for psi. For some such as James Alcock there never will be. He sums the problem up as follows:

I want to emphasize that statistical conclusions cannot say anything at all about the existence or non-existence of psi. All one can gain from statistical procedures is an indication that the observed results are unlikely to have been observed by chance, as described by the particular probability model being used. Unfortunately, despite claims to the contrary, parapsychologists routinely interpret statistical departures from 'chance expectation' as evidence that psi is involved. (Alcock 1986, p.22)

It would appear then that it is not the statistical analyses that are in dispute. It is the interpretation of the data and the use of statistics in general as applied to something unknown like psi that is the issue at hand. This same concern is raised again and again in literature which discusses the evidence for psi, and there does not seem to be a ready resolution to the debate. Alcock (1986) also points out the difficulties of having a control group for any psi experiment, because if psi operates as is expected and can be unconscious, how would it ever be known that a control experiment has remained untarnished by psi influence?

In defence of the use of this kind of analysis for psi experiments, parapsychologists point out that the effect sizes and highly significant scores achieved in psi experiments are as good as or better than those accepted in other scientific studies. One example cited by Bern and Honorton is of a study carried which 'sought to determine whether aspirin can prevent heart attacks ... The study was discontinued after 6 years because it was already clear that the aspirin treatment was effective (p < .00001) and it was considered unethical to keep the control group on placebo medication.' (Bern & Honorton 1994, p.8) However, they note that although this was considered a positive result and the experiment halted and people advised to take aspirin, the 'size of the aspirin effect is quite small: Taking aspirin reduces the probability of suffering a heart attack by only .008. The corresponding effect size is .068, about one third to one fourth the size of the psi ganzfeld effect." (Bern & Honorton 1994, p.8).

Chapter 2: What evidence is there for psi? 66 Other pertinent issues, like the so-called 'file drawer problem', have been resolved using accepted methods of statistical analysis that apply to areas outside of parapsychology. In this instance, criticisms have been made that meta-analyses that show significant results may be doing so because the experiments that are used are ones that are successful and have subsequently been recorded and published. The implication is that there may be a number of unsuccessful experiments that have never made it to publication stage (put away in the 'file drawer') and consequently will not be included in the meta-analysis. To remedy this problem, a figure is calculated determining how many such studies would need to have been undertaken and filed away in order to make the obtained result void of significance. (Radin 1997, pp79-80).

The statistical aspect of modem psi experimentation is controversial. There are critics not only of the use of statistical analyses for psi experiments in general (such as Alcock, mentioned above) but also of the use of meta-analysis for any study in particular. Although problems such as the file drawer problem have been resolved using statistical analyses, the use of statistics in general is considered to be unproductive by some. It has however been the main means by which evidence for psi has been evaluated and - although the use of it is controversial and the way it is used not always agreed upon - it does appear as if current, valid statistical methods of analyses are being applied to the data.

4. Indication that attempts at replication have been undertaken successfully Meta-analyses would not be able to be undertaken if successful replication attempts had not been performed and reported. So the answer to this question is an initial and quick yes. It does not broach the issue, however, as to whether or not what has been undertaken can be considered proof for psi on this basis. It has been shown that experimental procedure is being followed and that more than one laboratory (and sometimes as many as 14) have published results that use the same experimental procedure (such as the ganzfeld studies). Some people now believe that repeatable evidence has been obtained in these experiments though others are yet to be persuaded. The issue of replication is therefore also unresolved although we can say that attempts to replicate experiments are being undertaken.

Chapter 2: What evidence is there for psi? 67 Spontaneous psi

This brings us to the next section, which will look at the spontaneous evidence for psi. Stephen E. Braude makes a strong case for the use of this kind of evidence in his book The Limits ofInfluence. In his discussion of the sort of quantitative evidence that was presented in the previous section, he notes,

To be sure, some skeptics might be swayed if odds against chance were regularly billions to 1. But others - perhaps many others - would still wonder whether our figures were right, whether the number of trials was great enough, or whether some non-paranormal factor in the experimental situation had been overlooked. (Braude 1986, p.6)

We have see that recent meta-analysis made on the ganzfeld database have produced different conclusions to earlier analysis and that these more recent conclusions have sparked debate as to the subjective nature of selection of experiments for analysis and the use of experiments that vary somewhat from the initial experimental procedure. Whatever the eventual resolution of this particular issue, it is clear that the problems of quantitative analysis are still with us today. That is why some researchers prefer to look at the spontaneous occurrence of psi.

There are various kinds of evidence available for spontaneous psi. Spontaneous psi poses some similar and some different challenges when compared to experiments performed under strictly controlled conditions in the laboratory. The similar challenges are to do with the issue of chance, especially in the catalogues of ESP instances such as the catalogues of spontaneous ESP in Phantasms ofthe Living and Hidden Channels ofthe Mind (first published in 1961 by Louisa E. Rhine, the wife of J.B. Rhine). An example from the former has already been citied, along with the problem of how to interpret this kind of instance and ascertain if it were not a coincidence, so this sort of evidence will not be represented in this chapter. This section will also omit the evidence from mediums, which is often cited in books that deal with spontaneous psi. There is insufficient room to do justice to the added element of the spirit world. This category of evidence also poses its own problems the complexity of which would deserve a book to itself. The spontaneous evidence for psi

Chapter 2: What evidence is there for psi? 68 which has emanated from seances is similar to that of poltergeist occurrences. Such occurrences are known as part of a larger group of psi events known as spontaneous PK. Spontaneous PK ranges from small-scale events, such as a clock stopping in the house when someone dies, to the large-scale poltergeist incidents in which objects appear and disappear, stones fall on the roof out of nowhere and objects that fly through the air. Due to the dramatic nature of poltergeist incidences they usually attract attention and have consequently been the subject of numerous investigations. Also, because the phenomena continue sometimes for months at a time the anomalous action at a distance that accompanies these occurrences is often studied closely by those interested in such phenomena. There is therefore a wealth of resources that present the evidence for this kind of spontaneous PK.

Poltergeist is a German word which means 'noisy spirit'. It was coined at a time when it was thought that restless spirits were responsible for the extraordinary phenomena, usually centred around one person. The supernatural explanation was that the spirit 'possessed' the person around which the phenomena occurred and priests were usually called in to 'exorcise' the spirit, thus returning normality to the household. Nowadays such events are referred to as RSPK, which stands for 'recurrent spontaneous psychokinesis' and other explanations, usually of an anomalous physical nature, are sought to explain the phenomena.

A comprehensive study of poltergeists from 1612 to 1974 was undertaken by W.G. Roll (who had himself investigated modem poltergeists incidents) and published in the book Handbook ofParapsychology in 1977. It is from this that book that the following information is taken. The scope of the survey was quite large and included 116 cases with representations from Britain, America, Europe and a smaller number from Asia, and one from Mauritius.

Chapter 2: What evidence is there for psi? 69 Poltergeist incidents

It commonly occurred (in 92 cases) that one person appeared to be the focal point. The median age of this person was 13 for both males and females, although there were two people aged over 70 ( one male and one female). The following is an incident reported by Roll:

Several objects had moved when Roger, a 12-year-old boy was near, but it had happened out ofmy sight. This was in his home in Kentucky, December, 1968. I therefore stayed as close to Roger as I could. One time he went out to the kitchen while I followed a few feet behind. When he came to the area between the sink and the kitchen table he turned around facing me. At that moment the table jumped into the air, rotated about 45 degrees, and came down on the backs of the four chairs that stood around it, its four legs off the floor. No one else was in the area, and I was unable to discover any ordinary explanation of the event. (Roll 1977, p.3 87)

This is quite a spectacular case of the complicated movement of an object, for which any mechanistic explanation would involve considerable intricacy - especially if it were not to be detected by a trained investigator.

Similar occurrences of objects moving in a seemingly deliberate way (that is, by objects hovering, fluttering, revolving or turning corners) were reported in 43 of the 105 instances in which movement of objects was recorded. Sounds accompanied 63 of the cases. In ten of the cases the phenomena consisted of light flashes. Other occurrences were the showering of stones on the roof, the appearance of water and, probably the most bizarre of all and most challenging to explain by non-fraudulent explanations, the teleportation of objects. For instance, an investigator in the famous Rosenheim case witnessed such an event. After being told that objects that had disappeared from the house had been seen falling outside, 'he put bottles containing perfume and tablets on the kitchen table, asked the inhabitants of the house to go outside, closed all the windows and doors and then left himself. After a short time, the perfume bottle appeared in the air outside the house, and a bit later on, the

Chapter 2: What evidence is there for psi? 70 bottle of tablets appeared in the air at the height of the roof and fell to the ground in a zigzag manner.' (Roll 1977, p.391) With accounts such as this where an investigator has deliberately set about to test the occurrence of such phenomena, and who was on the look­ out and keen to find a 'normal' cause (such as trickery), it really does seem as if some incredible phenomena have been recorded. If even one such case proves to be due to paranormal causes, there is certainly much that requires serious investigation.

Fraud On the issue of fraud Roll notes that 'in 19 of the 116 cases one or more incidents were discovered where the focal person, or in one case a relative, produced one or more events by trickery.' He notes, though, that sometimes the investigation of the phenomena and the attention given to the subject encourage such incidents even after credible instances of RSPK have been observed where no such explanation has been discovered. It should be remembered, however, that because the average duration of the incidences is two months, the investigation into such phenomena has been possible in at least semi-controlled environments. This has been long enough for investigators to take precautions against fraud and to set up tests for the 'poltergeist' which rule out this as an explanation in all cases.

These cases have been investigations by qualified and aware people, they are well documented and often witnessed by many people including police officers (who are sometimes called in to investigate before the paranormal nature of the event becomes apparent), clergy and trained parapsychologists. If the studies of these cases are to be believed, the field of RSPK may hold some information particularly pertinent to PK in general. The only trouble is that the occurrence is not produced on demand and seems to be uncontrolled by the person who appears to be the instigator of the PK effects, the cause of which remains a mystery, as do the mechanisms which might be responsible for the physical effects that have been witnessed.

The reason why such dramatic instances of psi has never been replicated in the laboratory is one that needs to be addressed by psi researchers. Skeptics often cite this fact in support of

Chapter 2: What evidence is there for psi? 71 the theory that spontaneous cases of psi have either been produced fraudulently in order to attract attention, gain publicity and or money, and that they are therefore unable to be reproduced under controlled conditions. The veracity of eye-witness statements and also the problem with selective memory are also issues that investigations of spontaneous psi need to address. However, psi researchers who undertake these investigations would surely be on the look-out for trickery and since many incidences involve children, complicated magic tricks that levitate heavy tables can surely be ruled out as possibilities. Photographic evidence can go a long way to dispelling these concerns, but it is also pointed out that such evidence can be (and has been) faked. That is why the investigation of psi was taken into the laboratories in the first place. This sort of evidence is worth mentioning, though, because of its dramatic nature.

Summary

It is hoped that although this is by no means a comprehensive review of the evidence for psi, it at least gives some idea of what evidence is available from both experimental psi and spontaneous psi as well as the complicated issues that are involved in investigating such anomalous phenomena. There is much debate about any new evidence for psi that emanates from the labs of academic institutions; however, some are using this evidence as a basis for further experiments to try to ascertain not only if psi is but what psi is.

There will most likely not be one single experiment that 'proves' psi. The accusation of fluky guessing will always be applied to such an incidence but, on the other end of the spectrum, countless runs and huge databases that have undergone meta-analysis are still open to the same skeptical dismissal. The best cases of spontaneous psi, such as flying knives that move around comers and the teleportation of objects, have never been replicated in the lab. It is hoped, though, that this presentation of the evidence for psi indicates that neither those for nor those against can be discounted at this stage. There is good evidence for psi that has been procured using acceptable scientific methods, even though there is debate as to the significance of this evidence, especially in terms of

Chapter 2: What evidence is there for psi? 72 statistical significance, which is an area that philosophy can contribute to. There are also catalogues of well-researched evidence that indicate that psi occurs and also that extra­ ordinary anomalous physical activity has been witnessed by alert observers. All of this indicates to me that psi should be considered an epistemic possibility and not discounted out of hand.

Psi potentials

In the introduction to this thesis is a brief discussion of the potential outcomes that can be explored if psi is considered to be a possibility. The evidence for psi as discussed above appears to be strong enough to warrant further investigation. Experimental evidence for psi has been shown to have been produced using currently accepted scientific methodology and the spontaneous evidence for psi is well catalogued. The next question is what to do with this type of anomalous evidence? In the context of naturalism as discussed at the beginning of this chapter we can now put the evidence into a meaningful context for future exploration and say (to reiterate from the introduction):

If psi is to be considered a possibility then psi potentially:

1. poses a challenge to the naturalist and physicalist approach to understanding the world.

2. challenges a physicalist approach to understanding the world (but not a naturalist approach)

3. will force currently unknown developments of scientific theories to explain the anomalous phenomena

4. does not challenge the naturalist or physicalist approaches because psi is not truly anomalous.

Chapter 2: What evidence is there for psi? 73 It is the contention of this thesis that not enough is known about psi to indicate which of these outcomes is necessarily going to eventuate and that this is where development of our understanding of psi will need serious work in the future.

The consequences of each of them are worth exploring and are significant to the development of understanding of psi phenomena. Possible consequences that need to be considered for each of these potential outcomes are:

1. That if psi does challenge both naturalism and physicalism what sort of mechanisms for understanding the world would be advocated?

2. If psi challenges physicalism but not naturalism what sort of world view will need to replace the materialist one?

3. What sort of developments in science would need to occur for psi to be explained according to Seager's rules for 'naturalisation'?

and finally,

4. What explanations would be sufficient to explain the evidence for psi as not posing a challenge to naturalism or physicalism?

It is beyond the scope of this thesis to provide concrete answers to all of these questions. The issues that they raise though will be returned to at the end of the thesis for further consideration. First an exploration of the main stances that philosophers and psi researchers have been taken towards the evidence will be discussed.

Chapter 2: What evidence is there for psi? 74 Chapter 3: What is being done with the evidence for psi?

A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it Max Planck

From the previous two chapters the reader should now have a fairly good idea of what evidence there is for psi and where it has come from. It should also be clear that although what constitutes evidence for psi is still a matter of dispute the search for psi has produced a substantial amount of well-researched data and catalogues of spontaneous psi, which indicate that anomalous communication and anomalous action at a distance could be taking place. The ganzfeld series of experiments, the SRI and SAIC remote viewing experiments, PK experiments, and well-documented and witnessed spontaneous psi research have provided what some people ( even some previously hardcore skeptics) consider acceptable and repeatable evidence for psi effects, at least, if not psi itself. Some skeptical experts in the field of psi research, such as Susan Blackmore, have come to the conclusion that to discount what has been shown as evidence for psi effects the traditional skeptic has been 'pushed ... into the position of having to say it is either some extraordinary flaw which nobody has thought of, or it is some kind of fraud - or that it is genuine ESP.' ( quoted in McCrone 1993, p.30) That the evidence for psi is being recognised in mainstream journals with this sort of comment is a major breakthrough and an exciting development for psi research. However, it will be shown that contemporary philosophy does not reflect this development in psi research.

Chapter 3: What is being done with the evidence for psi? 75 This chapter will start by building on the information presented in the previous chapter. First, a brief list of current academic activity in the area of psi research will be presented. The purpose of this is to show that there is a growing interest in psi research in Europe, America and Australia. Secondly, we will look at how this work is represented in mainstream philosophy texts. It will be shown that despite the work that is being done by psi researchers, psi is almost invisible in these texts and when it is mentioned, the evidence for psi is often denigrated.

It will then be argued that this is an unfair portrayal of the evidence when it is presented as the only possibility, the current philosophical assumptions of which stem back to a modern interpretation of the Hume's 'miracle argument'. The origins of the argument will be cited and discussed. It will then be argued that, although this is a perfectly valid stance to take on the issue, there are other possibilities and that these should also be taken into consideration when presenting the evidence for psi. This will lead into the next chapter, in which I will show that these various positions are based on beliefs about what is possible in the world given what we currently know about its workings. I will then argue that given the current situation of investigation into psi we could be in a 'crisis stage' of a scientific revolution.

Chapter 3: What is being done with the evidence for psi? 76 Current research into psi phenomena

The last chapter focused on contemporary experimental evidence for psi in light of what is expected of the scientific method. It also mentioned the major institutions that actively support the laboratory research in the study of psi. This section will deal more broadly with what is being done to study psi phenomena in the academic arena. It will focus on academic institutions that currently actively support psi research, in an effort to show that there is a small but substantial amount of interest in this area. This interest is growing in Europe and North America and sustains a lively academic community which discusses the issues involved through journals and conferences.

Parapsychology

It has already been mentioned that J.B. Rhine was responsible for setting up psi research within an academic school (that of psychology) in a process which started in the late 1920s. This was a major breakthrough for gaining the acceptance of psi into the academic realm. Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, where Rhine was employed as a psychologist, is where a majority of the early forced-choice Zener card guessing and dice-throwing experiments took place in the 1940s and 50s. From these beginnings the department grew and transformed into the Rhine Research Center, which in 1962 set up in its own premises close to, but independent from, the university. Even before J.B. Rhine's success at Duke University there had been a bequest at Stanford University by the brother of that university's founder ofto support research in 'psychical science'. Although the Stanford Research Institute is unrelated to the initial bequest, we have already seen that it has contributed the remote viewing experiments to psi literature, and it is interesting to note how early academic inquiry was being undertaken in at least one North American university. Other centres for research in the US are the Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research, already mentioned, and the Institute ofNoetic Science (California), Cognitive Sciences Laboratory (California), Franklin Pierce College, (New Hampshire) Institute of

Chapter 3: What is being done with the evidence for psi? 77 Transpersonal Psychology (California), and the Kairos Foundation (Illinois) (SPR research directory 2002)

In the UK it was John Beloff who helped to set up the Koestler Parapsychology Unit (KPU) after his friend, the author Arthur Koestler, named Beloff in his will as the executor of this bequest. Edinburgh University, where Beloff was a staff member of the psychology department, accepted the challenge and since 1985 Professor Bob Morris, a psychologist, has headed this unit. This has proved to be an important step in increasing the number of academics working in the field of psi research in Britain; once they attain their PhD at Edinburgh with psi research as a focus, they then take that knowledge and interest to other universities. Since John Beloff supervised five PhDs concerned with psi in the 1970s, 15 other students have gained their doctorates under Bob Morris and some have gone on to other Universities to specialize in this field of inquiry. The University of Hertfordshire is one such institution, which now has a number of graduates from Edinburgh working in the area of psi research within the discipline of psychology. Other institutions mentioned on the SPR website as supporting research into psi are: Middlesex University, University College Northampton, Sheffield University and the University of Wales (SPR research directory 2002). Psi research is therefore a growing area of research in both the US and the UK as graduates from these institutions go on and in tum supervise students of their own in this area. (Smith 1999)

In Australia there is a new unit that was set up in 2001 by Michael Thalboume at Adelaide University called the Anomalistic Psychology Research Unit, which focuses on psi research and related fields. This is a major step, for until this time there were no dedicated units for psi research in Australia. Before this the outlook was grim: with the retirement of at least one parapsychologist and funding cuts in other universities the already small amount of study into psi was diminishing even further, unlike in Europe and North America where it was getting stronger. (Irwin 2001, p.4)

Continental Europe has two major centres for psi research: one at the University of Amsterdam headed by Dick Bierman and the other at Freiburg University called the Institut

Chapter 3: What is being done with the evidence for psi? 78 fur Grenzgebiete der Psycholgie und Psychohygeine. Other institutes worldwide known for the study of psi are: Centre for Parapsycholgical Studies in Bologna, International Society of Life Information Science in Japan and the Pacific Neuropsychiatric Institute, Austrian Society for Parapsychology and Border Areas of Science and Gothenborg University in Sweden.

Other disciplines with psi researchers

Not all work on psi research has been performed within the domain of psychology. There is also a handful of academics who have specialised in other fields but who have found the evidence for psi worthy of further investigation. Of the people who are currently and have relatively recently been active in this area are (to start with the philosophers): Stephen E. Braude who has written two landmark books on the philosophical aspects of psi and continues to provide his expertise in the area. Anthony Flew is another philosopher with an interest in psi. He edited the book The Philosophy ofParapsychology. Shivesh C. Thakur is a philosopher who in the 1970s edited a book on Philosophy and psychical Research. Other academics from non-philosophy disciplines include: Hoyt Edge, an anthropologist, and the physicists Russel Targ and Hal Puthoff in the US and Brian Josephson and Fotini Pallikari from Britain and Greece respectively to name just a few. All of these academics have put their professional reputations on the line and contributed their knowledge and skills gained in their respective disciplines to further our understanding of psi and what the implications of its existence are. There is a small but very dedicated number of contemporary academics working in the field of psi research.

Journals, societies and mainstream articles

It is worth mentioning that there are 6 peer reviewed journals which focus on psi research and a number of societies who host conferences which focus on psi research. Once again it is psi research that is performed through psychology which dominate the peer-reviewed journal's perspective. The main journals that produce peer-reviewed articles are: Journal of Parapsychology, Journal ofScientific Exploration, Subtle Energies Magazine, Journal of

Chapter 3: What is being done with the evidence for psi? 79 the Society for Psychical Research, Journal ofthe American Society for Psychical Research, and the European Journal ofParapsychology

The oldest society, the Society for Psychical Research (SPR), has already been mentioned. It continues to produce a journal and host numerous speeches and conferences that are well attended. And in New York the Parapsychology Foundation has its headquarters. It too hosts numerous conferences on topics as diverse as Quantum Mechanics and Psi to Creativity and Psi, the papers from which are published in proceedings. Both societies fund to the best of their ability further research into the area of psi research. There is also a skeptically oriented society, CSICOP (Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal mentioned previously in Chapter 1) which actively debunks what its members consider spurious psi research (along with other paranormal phenomena such as UFOs, crop circles and astrology). The Society provides a forum for the dissemination of its findings and general discussion through its publication The Skeptical Inquirer. In comparison to the other journals it has shorter articles generally targeted towards the general public rather than the academic community. It also hosts numerous conferences worldwide through its local member groups.

Courses which teach psi

There have been a few articles published that deal with the topic of the study of psi. At present in Australia there are limited opportunities to specialise in this area alone. In the UK and the US there are both undergraduate and postgraduate courses in parapsychology that are taught in conjunction with psychology degrees. Dick Bierman of the University of Utrecht runs a course over the Internet which gives an excellent introduction to the issues involved with studying psi phenomena from a parapsychologist's perspective. The Rhine Institute has an eight-week program that runs over the northern hemisphere's summer. Of other disciplines such as the sciences or humanities, none that I know of include the study of psi phenomena in general course work or as options. Although some courses on the history and philosophy of science might include it in their curriculum, research through the

Chapter 3: What is being done with the evidence for psi? 80 net has not provided me with any examples of any degree courses in which psi is the only focus of study.

There are numerous courses run outside of academic institutions which are called 'courses in parapsychology'. In the main these take a more experiential approach to studying the phenomena and are not as academically rigorous as those run through the psychology departments in the universities already cited. There is a place for practising psi, which is why I mention it here, and future debate about what direction psi research should take and whether or not it has to be practised in order to be studied and understood will no doubt ensue. For the purposes of this thesis however, I would prefer not to wade into these waters.

Summary

It is hoped that this brief run-down of the journals, books which deal with psi and academics who are involved in psi research has shown that there is a lively and active group of professional people studying psi and its implications and uses. The group however is still small: to give an idea of how small compare the members of the American Psychology Society (155,000) to those of the Parapsychological Association (250) (Smith 1999, p.235). The number of academics studying psi outside the field of parapsychology (that is, from within physics, neurology, philosophy, anthropology etc) is even smaller still compared to the amount of academics not studying psi. My intention in naming all of these activities and people involved is to show that there are many interesting investigations being undertaken by people with solid academic credentials in well-respected academic institutions and that this is a growing field of inquiry. From the initial count of two universities (Stanford and Duke) in the 1920s that supported the study of psi there are now numerous institutions worldwide who are tackling this subject. The next section will contrast what has been presented in the previous chapter and the section above with how psi is being represented in contemporary philosophy texts.

Chapter 3: What is being done with the evidence for psi? 81 The representation of psi in philosophy

There is a handful of philosophers who have published substantial works on philosophy and psi. This section is not meant to include these people, because they have already been mentioned in the previous section and chapter. Instead, this section is interested in what the average undergraduate philosophy student would have access to in regard to information pertaining to the current state of the evidence for psi. The average philosophy student is not assumed to have an abiding interest in psi, so what they are exposed to is what is normally taught at university undergraduate level and what they might stumble across accidentally.

The focus on this level of information has been chosen for a reason. The reason is that it is this group of people who will go on to study postgraduate degrees and then make their entry into academia. It is consequently this group who will take whatever knowledge they have of psi forward into the next generation of academic research. It will be shown later in this chapter that it is doubtful at this stage that science textbooks would be able to present the evidence for psi. It will also be argued that philosophy is one of the best areas to start introducing the information about psi and for investigating its implications. Philosophy is not a commonly taught subject at high school level and there are no Australia-wide textbooks which could be targeted to include this information at this level. That is why it is at the undergraduate level that people will be introduced to the evidence for psi in relation to contemporary problems in philosophy. It is this representation that is investigated more fully here. It will be contrasted to the previous representation of the current situation of psi research.

Dictionaries of philosophy

Most philosophy students will consult a philosophy dictionary during their time at university. They may specifically look up the entries for 'paranormal' and 'parapsychology' if they have had their interests in the area aroused, or they may stumble

Chapter 3: What is being done with the evidence for psi? 82 across these entries as while searching for another entry and read them out of interest. Whichever way they come to it for some this will be where they find out what contemporary philosophy thinks that psi is. A sample of the entries for 'paranormal' and 'parapsychology' from commonly used dictionaries in the UNSW library have been selected and are displayed below. These words were chosen as they are the entries in which psi is usually mentioned as psi does not always warrant an entry to itself.

Dictionary of Philosophy, 1996:

Paranormal adj. n. There are many things which science cannot explain at present, and this is indeed why scientific research is continuing. The paranormal, in contrast, is something which science cannot explain at all, because it defies the basic scientific and common-sense assumptions about space, time and causality. In order to account for paranormal events, therefore, a radical revision of these basic limiting principles would be required.

The main kinds of paranormal events are telekinesis, telepathy, clairvoyance and precognition. The inquiry into alleged paranormal events is called parapsychology. Physical events are not considered, as such, to be paranormal.

The existence of genuinely paranormal phenomena is strongly contested and the doubts seem well founded. Note The use of this term is due to the American philosopher C.J. Ducasse (1881-1969)

Parapsychology n. The inquiry into paranormal phenomena is called parapsychology, since they are always supposed to involve the mind. They can be divided into telekinesis and extrasensory perception, and the latter in tum into telepathy, clairvoyance and precognition.

Although the impulse for much parapsychological research is often connected with some religious or spiritualist Weltanschauung, there is no necessary connection. The word was introduced in 1889 by the German philosopher Max Dessoir. At that time, the standard English term was psychical research. Among those who took a favourable interest in it were some eminent philosophers such as H. Sidgwick, C.D. Broad and H.H. Price. (Mautner 1996, p.310)

Chapter 3: What is being done with the evidence for psi? 83 Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy 1994

Parapsychology - The study of allegedly paranormal phenomena. Also known as psychical research.

Paranormal - Paranormal phenomena are those supposedly due to powers of the mind that go beyond the normal, such as telepathy, psychokinesis, precognition, and survival of bodily death. Paranormal psychology, also known as psychical research is the attempt to establish these phenomena scientifically, and then to theorize abut their nature. Philosophers who have interested themselves in this area of investigation include Glanvill, Sidgwick, James and Broad. (Blackburn 1994, p.277)

These entries give an idea of what can be found in an initial cursory look at the 'paranormal' (which is where psi is usually mentioned) and 'parapsychology' entries. These particular samples were chosen because the evidence for psi in broad terms is dealt with succinctly and telepathy, PK and psi are sometimes referred back to these accounts.

From these examples it can be seen that psi is represented quite fairly in parts of the definitions. For example, it is mentioned that well-known philosophers have written about psi, their names are listed and the reader gets a general impression that there is a history of serious academic investigation into psi. In neither of the definitions, however, are contemporary philosophers who deal with psi, such as Braude, or Flew named, despite their considerable contributions to this area of study. This serious omission gives the impression that the investigation into psi is a pursuit of yesteryear.

These examples are indicative of a general pattern for entries on psi-related words whereby a fairly accurate account is given of what psi is (eg. made up of the elements telepathy, psychokinesis etc), acknowledgment is made that psi has been studied by some eminent philosophers in the past (for example, Sidgwick and Broad), before expressions of doubt as to the validity of the phenomena.

Chapter 3: What is being done with the evidence for psi? 84 The undergraduate who delves into these books to find information on psi will no doubt be left with the impression that nothing much has happened in this field of late and that what has previously been shown to be psi is now seriously doubted to be authentic. This would appear to be contrary to the slowly growing field of inquiry as presented in the section above.

General texts

By 'general texts' reference is made to texts that might be used as a general reference on particular topics within philosophy. Examples of these are readers on philosophy of mind, science, ethics or ones that tackle areas of interest such as 'time'. These texts follow a similar pattern to the entries in dictionaries. The only difference is that there is a more stunning silence on the possibilities of psi; psi is, more often than not, not mentioned at all in these texts and when it is, it is referred to negatively or brushed off as a mere possibility1• It is an important omission as it is leaving out a reasonably substantial body of work that is carried on in academia today and an area that has been investigated seriously for over 120 years.

I have chosen one example from a current book on philosophy of mind to focus on for this section. It should be noted that this is not intended to criticise the book as a whole - only its representation of psi. Unlike many other books on the philosophy of mind it should be commended in that it mentions psi at all. Contemporary Philosophy ofMind by Georges Rey is a well-researched and comprehensive book which would provide the undergraduate student a good grounding in the status of contemporary problems in the philosophy of mind. Here is a section in which psi phenomena are referred to as 'parapsychological phenomena'. It is mentioned during a discussion of eliminitivism.

1 A cursory look at the general text books in philosophy section the UNSW bookstore revealed only one had an index entry for psi and the reference to psi in the text was quite derogatory.

Chapter 3: What is being done with the evidence for psi? 85 Of course, it could tum out otherwise, if, say, there were any satisfactory evidence of so-called 'parapsychological' phenomena, e.g. telepathy, telekinesis, clairvoyance. If there were such phenomena, then existing physical theory would certainly appear to be inadequate. But there is no evidence of such phenomena ( or so most current philosophers of mind assume). Moreover, even if there were, it is unclear how it would bear upon the explanation of vast amounts of perfectly normal human and animal behaviour when such evidence seems even less likely to arise. (Rey, 1997, p. 72)

The author has recognised that psi could be used to solve some of the philosophical problems encountered in the study of the mind; he is unclear exactly how it would help and has doubts about how effective it would be. Unlike in the other books cited though, psi is at least mentioned and the potential recognised. The possibility of using the evidence for psi in this argument, however, is quickly reneged upon, when Rey states with conviction: 'But there is no evidence of such phenomena (or so most current philosophers of mind assume)' (Rey 1997, p. 72). It is important to note that this statement is not referenced, nor is there any subsequent information about who these philosophers are or how they came to this conclusion, nor who the philosophers are who do not accord with this view. It is presented as afait accompli and not open to serious questioning, despite the acknowledged ramifications this evidence may have on the issues involved in the study of the mind.

Chapter 3: What is being done with the evidence for psi? 86 Summary

This section looked at how psi is represented in contemporary philosophical texts - in particular, the ones that would most commonly be available to an undergraduate philosophy student. The focus has been on texts other than those deliberately written about psi since these were dealt with earlier in the chapter and fall into a different user category: the reader is usually already interested in psi research, they are not used as undergraduate textbooks and often only a small selection of them is available in any one university library. The representation of psi in the general philosophy texts is commonly negative when it is mentioned - it is more often than not left out altogether. I hope that the evidence presented in Chapter 2 and the list of active researchers and growing number of institutes for the study of psi presented earlier in this chapter lead the reader to believe, as I do, that this is not an entirely fair representation of the current status of the evidence for psi.

It is the silence about psi and its negative representation that is interesting, when contrasted with the actual evidence for it and the work that has been done to refine and hone experiments showing psi effects. The point has been reached where even hardened critics of the evidence for psi are calling for theoretical models showing how it might work, making the investigation of psi effects even more necessary and urgent. The next section investigates the assumptions that are behind these commonly espoused negative statements about psi. It will be shown that these assumptions stem back to a modern interpretation of Hume's 'miracle argument'. An analysis of the foundations of this argument and its place in the current context of psi research will follow. This will lead to the next chapter, which will discuss how philosophy can help with this issue and postulate that it may show that we are currently in the 'crisis stage' of a scientific revolution.

In the section below those philosophers who have engaged in discussing psi phenomena are mentioned and their various perspectives discussed in brief. It will answer these questions: Why is the evidence for psi usually referred to in a negative manner? Why is there this silence regarding psi phenomena? We have already seen examples of this negativity, as in Georges Rey's book, which states that there is no evidence for psi, or in the dictionary

Chapter 3: What is being done with the evidence for psi? 87 entries, which dismiss the evidence for psi as insubstantial. By taking a look at the philosophers who promote this view of psi it will become evident that theirs is only one side of the story and that given what has been shown to be the current status of psi research this is only one of many psi possibilities.

Chapter 3: What is being done with the evidence for psi? 88 What is behind the negative presentation of psi phenomena in philosophy texts?

The previous section showed how the evidence for psi is often espoused in a negative and at times derogatory manner, but this section is concerned with why it happens. When psi is mentioned in philosophy texts it is often implied that although there is a history of investigation into psi it is nowadays assumed that there is no evidence for psi despite reasonably good evidence for psi effects. This position is founded on a modem interpretation ofHume's miracle argument which is presented below.

Home's everlasting check

In his argument against miracles (first published in 1748) Hume states that humanity needs an 'everlasting check' when confronted with the seemingly impossible phenomena of miracles. This is to prevent us from leaping to the wrong conclusions when confronted with such events. In this argument it is important to clarify what sort of miracles this everlasting check was meant to target. To Hume 'a miracle is a violation of the laws of nature, and as a firm and unalterable experience has established these laws, the proof against a miracle, from the very nature of the fact, is as entire as any argument from experience can possibly be imagined ... No testimony is sufficient to establish a miracle, unless the testimony be of such a kind that its falsehood would be more miraculous than the fact which it endeavours to establish ... ' (Hume 1748, 1987, p.207) However, in a footnote he also defines a miracle as 'a transgression of a law of nature by a particular volition of the Deity, or by the interposition of some invisible agent.' (Hume 1748, 1987, p.204) My interpretation of this is that for Hume there are false miracles which the everlasting check is meant to apply to and there are also truly miraculous miracles. The argument proceeds as follows: 'You would in vain object to me the difficulty and almost impossibility, of deceiving the world in an affair of such consequence ... with the little or no advantage ... from so poor an artifice: all this might astonish me; but I would still reply that the knavery and folly of men are such common phenomena, that I should rather believe the most extraordinary events to arise

Chapter 3: What is being done with the evidence for psi? 89 from their concurrence, than admit of so single a violation of the laws of nature.' (quoted in Price 1955 1987,p.217)

These are strong words; they accuse people of 'knavery and folly'. On my reading of this, Hume believes that witnesses' accounts of ostensibly impossible phenomena are products of either fraud or deception or a misinterpretation ( deliberate or otherwise) of lawful events, and that it is far preferable to believe this than that the laws of nature could be transgressed, unless the events are truly miraculous in the sense that they stem from the actions of a God (and in his case, a Christian God). Whether or not Hume personally believed in God it was politically necessary in the time he was writing to ensure that there was a place for a genuine God who performed miracles. This possibility formed part of his argument against false miracles. It has already been mentioned that an unstated undercurrent in people's particular appreciation of the possibilities of psi is based on their personal belief about the role of religion and science. In Hume's argument this is spelt out clearly as the politics of his time necessitated. In the modem translation of this argument, which was formulated in 1955 (more about this will be detailed below), the current scientific world view did not, and still does not, address this issue at all, despite the fact that people working in the field of science and philosophy still have personal religious views that may dictate their thoughts on such a confusing matter as psi. This is one of the reasons why this argument does not translate well into modem times as the only 'everlasting check' required to distinguish fraudulent anomalous phenomena. Below is an account of how Hume's argument has been adapted to target psi phenomena as opposed to false miracles.

Chapter 3: What is being done with the evidence for psi? 90 The modern interpretation of Home's miracle argument

The first use of this argument in regard to psi is usually attributed to George Price in an article published in 1955. He states that after reading Hume's 'miracle argument' he converted from being an avid believer in ESP to a non-believer, or skeptic, and that it was now his 'opinion concerning the findings of the parapsychologists that many of them are dependent on clerical and statistical errors and unintentional use of sensory clues, and that all extrachance results not so explicable are dependent on deliberate fraud or mildly abnormal mental conditions.' (Price 1955 1987, p.217)

To uphold this argument in the light ofHume's miracle argument he believes that all he has to do is to show that psi is incompatible with current scientific theory. This had been set out previously by C.D. Broad in a paper published in 1949 in which he shows that the effects of psi, if accepted as real, conflict with 'basic limiting principles' which are fundamental to current concepts of space, time and causality. (Broad 1949 1987) Price accepts this analysis and consequently maintains that parapsychology and modem science are incompatible. He whittles this down to a choice between believing in something 'truly revolutionary' and 'radically contradictory to contemporary thought' and believing in the occurrence of fraud and self-delusion. In Humean style he opts for the latter and creates the argument which we see reflected in more modem times and which is now the unstated basis for comments like Georges Rey's that 'there is no evidence for psi' and for the dismissive entries in dictionaries that the evidence for psi is insubstantial. (Price 1955 1987, p.217-218)

Flew echoes this argument in his article 'Parapsychology: Science or pseudoscience?' published in 1980, 25 years after Price. He puts a slightly different spin on the argument and maintains that it is because of the lack of repeatability in psi experiments that occurrences of psi will always be relegated to what he calls 'miracle story' status. This means that they will fall victim to the Humean 'challenge' and will never be more than something which must have another interpretation - whether it be a fluky guess attributable to coincidence or flaky experiment methodology because of their unrepeatability.

Chapter 3: What is being done with the evidence for psi? 91 At best, according to Flew, parapsychologists 'are making preparations for the future development of a future science'; (Flew 1980 1990, p.224) at worst they are all barking up the wrong tree and all such evidence that has been gathered so far must fall victim to Hume's miracle argument and be viewed as instances of flukes of chance and coincidence, fraud or misinterpretation of data. On a brighter note he does believe that it is the repeatability of psi that is the problem and if this can be solved then 'parapsychology would escape the Humean challenge'. (Flew 1980 1990, p.224)

Keith Campbell is another philosopher who advocates a modem version of this argument. He is one of the few philosophers who acknowledges that 'the Mind-Body problem requires for its solution a judgement on parapsychology, and that in tum raises general questions in philosophy, and in particular epistemology.' (Campbell 1984, p.94) He dedicates 10 pages of his book, Body and Mind, to addressing this issue and he mentions the work of J.B.Rhine, L.L.Vasiliev and the debunking work done by C.R. Hansel. It is all carried out in an even-handed tone. He acknowledges that the work of L.L. Vasiliev (from Russia) had survived even the scrutiny by Hansel, who he labelled 'that most ingenious deviser of ruses [to uncover deception in psi experiments]'. (Campbell 1984, p.95)

It was seen in the last section that a common presentation of psi phenomena is, first, to state that there has been a history of investigation into psi, second to acknowledge that it would be useful (if not crucial) in explaining current philosophical problems and then finally, to hastily dismiss this in a one-sentence statement that there is no evidence for such phenomena. The pattern is repeated here in Keith Campbell's book, although he spells his argument out more clearly and gives names and circumstances of the parapsychologists involved in current research before arguing eloquently why he is not going to use any of this information. In regard to the evidence for psi that he has just presented he says: 'We must confront the problem of how evidence can have weight, and this raises the question of fraud. The problem of fraud is that we know men can, and do, cheat and dissemble, but we do not know that they have paranormal capacities. On the contrary, the great weight of our fully attested knowledge of man's origin and constitution makes paranormal capacities extremely unlikely. So for any result in psychical research which can be explained either by

Chapter 3: What is being done with the evidence for psi? 92 appeal to paranormal powers or by the hypothesis of fraud, the explanation by fraud is the more rational one.' (Campbell 1984, p.95) Does this sound familiar? Like Flew, Campbell cites repeatability as the one thing that can eliminate the hypothesis of fraud (Campbell 1984, p.96). He also recognises that repeatability is not necessary for something to be a genuine phenomenon; only that repeatability 'is necessary for us to have a well-founded belief in its reality. The reason for this lies in human unreliability.' (Campbell 1984, p.96).

Whether or not parapsychology has achieved this state of repeatability is a question that is debatable, especially at the time that Campbell was writing this book ( 1970, but republished up until at least 1984), and Flew, at the same time, was arguing the same thing. 4 They are both a fair enough analysis given what they knew about parapsychology then. It would seem, however, that this interpretation is the one that is still dominant, despite the progress that parapsychology has made with the ganzfeld experiments and the continuing PK experiments and spontaneous evidence. The discussion of the evidence in Chapter 2 showed that the evidence for psi has become stronger over the intervening years and that the issue of repeatability has been tackled with the development of the ganzfeld experiments and the success of the remote viewing experiments and long-run PK experiments has also lead weight to the acceptance of the possibility of psi phenomena.

The current representation of psi in philosophical discourse does not reflect the contemporary developments in this field; it is reliant on an interpretation of the Humean miracle argument, first reworked by George Price in 1955, to fit a different religious and scientific atmosphere than the one for which it was originally intended. There are academics who have previously criticised the field for its unrepeatablity of data who now think that the ganzfeld experiments have provided this crucial watershed point. It is time to rethink this representation of psi phenomena and to start to present it in way that allows for

4 I have been unable to find any more contemporary citings by either of these philosophers on this subject. If they have written something I have been unable to find it. It would be interesting to see what they make of the situation now, after the ganzfeld series of experiments has provided psi with a procedure that is accepted as a replicable one by some thinkers.

Chapter 3: What is being done with the evidence for psi? 93 this traditional point of view (which will be subsequently referred to as the 'Humean­ skeptical' view) but does not rule out other perspectives such as the ones taken by academics pursuing further research into this area. The next chapter tackles this issue by looking at the current situation of psi in terms of scientific revolution and advocates a new approach to the interpretation of the evidence in current philosophy texts.

Chapter 3: What is being done with the evidence for psi? 94 Chapter 4: How can philosophy help?

I shall not commit the fashionable stupidity ofregarding everything I cannot explain as a fraud C.G. Jung (from a speech given to the Society of Psychical Research in 1919)

In the last chapter the representation of psi in mainstream texts was explored. It was shown that psi is still, even after many years of research and seemingly positive results, not being presented in a positive light in many philosophical texts - that is, if it is mentioned at all. An examination of current texts, dictionaries and general philosophy books for information about the current state of investigation into psi, reveals that the authors of these hold that there is virtually no evidence to support it. Even though there has been a great deal of research done in this area, and even though it holds immense popular interest and a growing number of academics is investigating the evidence in the field of parapsychology, there is little to reflect this state of affairs in modern philosophy texts.

There appears to be an interesting conundrum whereby there is a small but significant number of people (past and present) in university departments studying psi phenomena and its implications but to most academics these phenomena are either invisible, because most texts do not mention them, or they are considered impossible, which is the stance that underlies most statements about psi in philosophy texts.

The answers to the title of this chapter 'How can philosophy help?' will present a possible solution to this riddle. First, it will be suggested that philosophy is the best place to start to unravel this conundrum then, developments to the Humean Skeptical approach will be made and common skeptical objections to the evidence for psi phenomena will be discussed. The use of Thomas Kuhn as a possible approach to resolving these differences and the three possible stances that can be taken in regard to the current status of the evidence will be sketched out. The overarching concern is the clarification of the two main

Chapter 4: How can philosophy help? 95 positions ('believer' and 'skeptic'), this should not be confused with the three possible positions that can be taken in regard to psi possibilities mentioned previously.

Chapter 4: How can philosophy help? 96 Why use philosophy to sort this riddle out?

Philosophy has played a major role in the development of psi research, although most of this input was performed mainly in the early days of its establishment. Henry Sidgwick, the first president of the Society for Psychical Research, was a philosopher at Cambridge University and in these early days philosophers (some more famous than others, but philosophers nonetheless) such as James, Bergson, Hylsop, Broad, Balfour, Richard Hodgson (originally from Melbourne) and C.J. Ducasse (among others) were influential and active in the development of psi investigation as well as discussing the more philosophically pertinent problems raised by evidence for psi. For instance, Broad's substantial work on the ways in which psi does not concur with the scientific outlook and his subsequent development of 'basic limiting principles' in relation to psi evidence was first published in 1949. J.F. Nicol, in a paper dealing with the contributions that philosophers have made to psi research during the early years of psi investigation, has noted: 'lfwe consider the mere quantity of work published by philosophers, we need to realize that philosophy is a very small profession - compare its numbers with those of doctors, lawyers, physicists, chemists, psychologists and others; it is safe to say that philosophers have produced more research than other professions.' (Nicol 1977, pp.152- 153 & p.168). However, this initial involvement has tapered off somewhat over the intervening years. Currently the representation of philosophers to other academics involved in psi research is far outweighed by other professions, particularly psychologists and physicists. You could count only a handful of philosophers as having a long term interest and input into the philosophical aspects of psi. Stephen E. Braude and David Ray Griffin are two philosophers who continue to make philosophical contributions to this area.

At a conference hosted by the Parapsychology Foundation on The Philosophy of Parapsychology, Lawrence LeShan (1977) noted that parapsychology and philosophy had parted ways when parapsychologists started focusing on lab-oriented and data-gathering work. In his paper, 'Philosophy and parapsychology: Impossible bedfellows or the marriage

Chapter 4: How can philosophy help? 97 of the future?', he made an argument for philosophy to rejoin with parapsychology and help with further theorising and speculation on the data that was beginning to build up from the labs of the parapsychologists. He summed up the situation as he saw it at that time as follows:

Our (parapsychologists) approach has been what William James called 'radical empiricism'. We have just concentrated on experiments and trying to get facts. In this way we have become trivial. Without synoptic and synthetic functions of philosophy we have become fact collectors. And if there is one thing that philosophy has learned, it is that facts without a context are meaningless and silly ... Our work is isolated from the mainstream of science and the mainstream of our culture. It is irrelevant and trivial because we have rejected our philosophic roots and the synthetic aspects of philosophy. Without these we stand on chaos ... We are so isolated and irrelevant at a time of tremendous cultural interest in the paranormal, parapsychology libraries are deserted, financial support for serious work is terribly low, and the public interest is shunted off to Atlantis and astrology while we sit in our ivory towers and write statistics to each other. (LeShan 1977, pp.53-54)

Although psi investigation has grown subsequent to this statement, a similar situation is still apparent today. Parapsychogists are still arguing with each other over matters of statistical significance, as the Milton-Wiseman debate in 1999 (mentioned in Chapter 2) has shown. Mainstream science is still generally unaware of recent developments in psi research and when it is mentioned in a public forum (such as the Royal Mail case which will be related later in this chapter) antagonism from mainstream scientists is quite extreme. There is growing public interest in the paranormal, but not necessarily in the scientific study of it. There was a brief surge of interest in the 1970s (when most of the compendiums referred to on psi and philosophy were first published) but subsequent to this, interest from philosophy in general has waned. But, as LeShan argues further, it is a disadvantage to both disciplines for each to consider the other an 'impossible bedfellow'. (LeShan 1977, p.56) Philosophy and parapsychology should instead embrace each other and, to the mutual benefit of each, try to unravel the mysteries surrounding the evidence for psi.

Chapter 4: How can philosophy help? 98 It appears as if psi, if it is real, is an unknown and radically different set of phenomena, or at least requires a rethinking about concepts that are currently taken for granted. It also appears as if it challenges our notions of what is possible given the current understanding of time and space and causality. Scientific disciplines are already operating and functioning with these constrictions and that is why psi is such a challenge to them and the current worldview. This is also why philosophy, more than other disciplines, has often been called on to help investigate and analyse the interesting information that has emanated from parapsychology. Unfortunately, after looking at the current representation of psi in philosophy, the challenge appears to have fallen on deaf ears. Investigation into psi will continue but it would most likely continue more productively if more was known about its nature and possibilities. This kind of theorising doesn't have to come from philosophy but I think, because of the challenging nature of the phenomena and their unknown potential, that philosophy, with its broader perspective and capacity for wilder thought experimentation, rather than the sciences, is in a better position to help unravel this mystery.

Chapter 4: How can philosophy help? 99 Further developments of Price's modern miracle argument

Shortly after the Price article, discussed in the last chapter was published (1955), Paul Meehl and Michael Scriven wrote one in reply. In it they made the comment that to maintain this Humean Skeptical argument there are two points that must hold: that psi is incompatible with modem science, and that modem science is complete and correct. If either of these are not true, they maintained, then the Humean Skeptic is left without a basis for the assumption that all evidence for psi must have been obtained through fraudulent or mistaken means (Meehl & Scriven 1956, p. 230). There are not many (if any) people who would be prepared to contend that modem science is complete and correct; therefore, they believed, that they had invalidated Price's argument.

But the Humean Skeptical position has remained strong, despite this cogent argument against it. It would appear to be so entrenched that, like the example in the Georges Rey's book presented in the previous chapter, the assumptions upon which it is based are not questioned or referenced. However, I do not agree that the Humean Skeptic has to maintain something as radical as believing that science is complete and correct. The situation is even more dramatic than that.

Humean Skeptics do not have to maintain something as controversial as that science is at a stage where we know everything possible to know about the workings of the world. This is a perspective that I doubt anyone would really want to maintain and if it were that easy to refute Price's argument the matter would have been settled then and there in 1955. Although I have never seen it spelled out as such (since it may be implicit in the argument), it appears to me that Humean Skeptics need only say that science is complete and correct enough, for them to maintain that the possibility of something like psi existing is nil - or as close to nil as makes no difference. This makes their position seem more reasonable and it also allows for other interpretations of what is possible in the world - namely for those, like myself, who believe that it is possible for something such as psi to exist.

Chapter 4: How can philosophy help? 100 For the Humean Skeptic, in order to believe that the evidence for psi must have been produced by fraudulent means (wittingly or not), there is an inherent belief that psi itself will never by shown to exist - even if it looks like it does, by virtue of the very nature of the thing which claims to be psi. It is enough to state that the Humean Skeptic does not believe psi is possible because what psi is defined as is so counter to how the world appears to work that it cannot possibly exist in this world.

Conversely, in order to justify the belief that the evidence for psi points to the fact that there is what appears to be evidence for anomalous communication and anomalous action at a distance, the belief must be justified that the current understanding of how the world works is able to encompass such evidence and explain it, if not now, then in the future. It may be that the evidence for psi and how it works will be explained using the existing natural laws as we understand them today. It may also be that some of these laws will have to be revised and things that are currently perceived as certainties will not be sustained in this revised, psi-encompass, new view of the universe and how it works. It is, however, by no means certain how the mechanisms for the workings of psi will be explained or to what extent they do or do not transgress any of the laws of nature as they are currently understood.

Chapter 4: How can philosophy help? 101 Three possibilities

There are therefore three possible positions (and more if you take into account more esoteric views which will not be dealt with here) to take, all of which depend on what the individual believes to be possible in the world given what is currently known about its operations. (These are different to the potential outcomes discussed in Chapter 2 which we will return to in the conclusion) The first is that psi is not possible, the second is that psi is possible and will be explained without disturbing the current worldview and the third is that psi is possible and that the challenges it poses to the current world view seem to indicate that a revision of current scientific certainties will need to be undertaken.

The situation in academia reflects this, where a small number of people who believe that psi is possible and are investigating psi further, some of whom believe that psi transgresses many laws of nature and some of whom believe that psi will be explained with a revaluation of the laws rather than the creation of new ones. A majority of academics, however, maintain the prevailing dominant position that psi is not possible and continue their work accordingly. Many are ignorant of the history of the study of psi within academia as this is rarely taught or presented in general text books. A smaller number of these people actively work on ensuring that what I have called the 'negative position' is maintained (that is, the Humean Skeptical position that psi is not possible).

The people who uphold the negative view publicly are more commonly known as skeptics. They have already been introduced as a group interested in psi, as well as the paranormal in general, in Chapter 1 and further discussed in Chapter 2. These people have performed an important function in the continuing development and refinement of psi experiments, and have contributed to maintaining a high level of experimental design and expertise amongst those who are investigating psi as the discussions between Hyman and Honorton exemplify. This is because those investigating psi as a possibility know that they will soon be targeted by this group and their work put under a public microscope. The skeptics (as a

Chapter 4: How can philosophy help? 102 group) have been instrumental in flushing out fraudulent psi practitioners and advising psi researchers on matters pertaining to sleight-of-hand tricks and mentalist techniques. They are, however, sometimes overtly and unnecessarily hostile towards those who are genuinely investigating the possibilities of psi phenomena. It is hoped that the realisation of where these disparate views come from will help to ameliorate the situation and enable a more productive discussion of psi to be undertaken in the future in the more widely accessible forum of mainstream philosophy.

Chapter 4: How can philosophy help? 103 Defending the possibility of psi

Although there are three possible stances to take on this understanding of the evidence for psi, the kernel of the debate is between two positions: those who accept the possibility of psi and think it warrants further investigation of psi and those against it. The main arguments usually cited against the validity of the evidence are presented in this section as are the counter arguments usually put up by those who oppose this view. The purpose is to show where those who believe that there is no evidence for psi and those who believe there is evidence for psi part ways. Following is a discussion of the main points of contention between these two points of view. Unlike Chapter 2, where the nitty-gritty details of the evidence for psi were discussed, this is a more general representation of the two perspectives and a reflection of the state-of-play between these two groups. Each subsection will start with a look at some of the more commonly expressed skeptical arguments against the evidence for psi, followed by arguments why this is not necessarily the correct interpretation of the situation.

Psi research is a futile search for the soul The psychologist (and skeptic) James Alcock once wrote an article for the journal Behavioural and Brain Sciences in which he argued that 'parapsychological inquiry reflects the attempt to establish the reality of a nonmaterial aspect of human existence, rather than a search for explanations for anomalous phenomena'. (Alcock 1987, p.553) This is a common accusation made against the study of psi: that it is in some way a search for a non­ existent holy grail, a 'search for the soul' by academics disillusioned with the predominantly materialist outlook of modern science. To some extent early psi investigation did have this aspect to it: psi was seen as part of a non-physical world. This has led some thinkers to believe that psi cannot exist, because in the materialist-dominated scientific world investigating something that is non-physical is tantamount to investigating something that doesn't exist. There is a little bit of history to this point of contention, which will be relayed below.

Chapter 4: How can philosophy help? 104 The people who founded the societies that started the modem era of investigation into psi were often of the persuasion that psi was to be found in the mental realm as opposed to the physical realm. John Beloff, the psychologist who helped to found the Koestler Parapsychology unit, believes that psi effects 'mark the boundary conditions beyond which we can no longer treat the individual as a psycho-physical atom.' (Beloff 1963 1978, p.365). Explanations for psi will, in his view, be weaker than the physical explanations of the harder sciences; and psi will therefore be 'essentially to conceive of it, not as an isolated fact, but in terms of some broader perspective.' (Beloff 1963 1978, p.366) Beloff, like J.B. Rhine and many earlier psi researchers, is one of a long line of dualists who have been involved in investigating and theorising about psi.

Many of these researchers were initially drawn to psi research as a way of reconciling their loss of religious faith with a harsh materialist science. It is often noted that especially in the earlier days of psi research that many of the investigators into psi phenomena had either religious backgrounds or religious upbringings. Beloff explains Rhine's initial attraction to the study of psi as follows, and it is indicative of others interest in the area: 'However, like so many others before him who had lost their religious faith, he could not readily become reconciled to the reductionist world view which the exact sciences seemed to demand. Accordingly, like Sidgwick or Myers before him, he turned to psychical research as a possible way of challenging this bleak outlook without sacrificing an impeccably scientific approach.' (Beloff 1993, p.128).

Psi research, which is now predominantly performed under the auspices of psychology departments, started out in the main as an investigation into the non-physical realm. This does not mean, however, that the researchers were necessarily looking for a spiritual answer to psi phenomena; indeed, many would have rejected this insinuation. Rather, their approach was aligned with the idea that the phenomena produced by ESP and PK would most likely be found to be non-physical. Beloff (who turned 80 in 2001) acknowledges this when considering his life's work and continued stance as a dualist:

Chapter 4: How can philosophy help? 105 I have come increasingly to the conclusion that the possibility of a physical explanation of psi phenomena is not just doubtful, in the sense that all the existing candidates look so unpromising, but is, from the very nature of the case, an absurdity that can be ruled out on a priori considerations. I am not alone, of course, in holding this view; for one thing most scientists who reject the parapsychological evidence do so primarily because they see no way of reconciling it with physical theory. However, my position is, in a sense, the reverse of theirs: they assume that what cannot be explained in physical terms does not exist; I believe that since psi phenomena do exist not everything in nature can be explained in physical terms. (Beloff 1990, net)

Here we have the point of departure spelled out clearly between those who choose to believe that the anomalous nature of psi indicates that it does not exist (because of its unexplainable, in a physical sense, characteristics) and those who accept the evidence but believe that further research (in this case into mental realm) will enlighten us as to the nature of the phenomena associated with psi effects. There are those who maintain that psi will eventually be explained in the physical world, but these people too are making a judgement on something that is yet to be determined. This confusing aspect of psi phenomena as to whether it is physical or mental causes people to believe that it exists or not according to their already conceived beliefs about the nature of the world and its possibilities. It should be borne in mind that the nature of psi is not yet known - only that there is substantial evidence suggesting that anomalous communication and action at a distance do happen.

Chapter 4: How can philosophy help? 106 Psi is impossible because it transgresses too many strongly held tenets of modern science This is again one of the most commonly cited defences against the possible existence of psi. The work done by Broad which defined a paranormal phenomenon as one that defied one of at least nine 'basic limiting principles' was instrumental in setting out the ways in which psi defied the commonly accepted limitations of time, space and causal laws which physics dictated could not be changed. Basic limiting principles (BLPs) were stronger though than natural law: These are prior to and more fundamental than any named laws of physics: they are and have been accepted as items of basic common sense by many who have never benefited from any contact with systematic science. Like those named laws of physics, and like all other true laws of nature, these BLPs assert: not only that there in fact have been, are, and will be no occurrences incompatible with their own truth; but also, and more strongly, that such incompatible occurrences have been, are, and will be impossible. (Flew 1987, p.3 7)

The four main principles were: 1. General Principles of Causation. It is self-evidently impossible that an event should begin to have any effects before it has happened.

2. Limitations on the Action of Mind on Matter. It is impossible for an event in a person's mind to produce directly any change in the material world except certain changes in his own brain.

3. Dependence of Mind on Brain. A necessary, even if not a sufficient, immediate condition of any mental event is an event in the brain of a living body.

4. Limitations on Ways of Acquiring Knowledge. It is impossible for a person to perceive a physical event or material thing except by means of sensations which that event or thing produces in his mind.(Broad 1949, p.41)

It is true that psi does flout these BLPs. In Chapter 1 the definitions of what psi is make the point that psi is defined negatively, it is what psi is not that defines it as an instance of psi. It is therefore not enough to discount the evidence for psi on the basis that it does not fit into the expected workings of the world. If it did, it would not be psi. There must be another explanation for this - otherwise we must, as George Price did, use this information

Chapter 4: How can philosophy help? 107 to fonnulate an argument for the non-existence of psi based on its impossibility. There must be a good reason given for accepting the evidence for something which so drastically acts counter to what is expected under the current scientific world view.

The best reason that I have found is expressed by David Ray Griffin in an interesting analysis of the possibility of anomalous action at a distance (PK). He believes that the: '"modem scientific worldview" not only excludes this kind of causal influence (anomalous), but was in part created to exclude it.' (Griffin 1997, p.17) He explains further that during the time of Newton:

In the dominant thinking of the time, the connection between the desire to exclude action at a distance in physics, on the one hand, and the desire to rule out all paranonnal influence on and by human minds, on the other, was evidently something like this: given the dualism between (spiritual) mind and (physical) nature, excluding action at a distance from nature did not, strictly speaking, rule out the possibility that human minds might either receive or exert causal influence at a distance. (Griffin 1997, p.20)

In my reading of this, PK and ESP were excluded in order to keep this sort of action at a distance, in the spiritual, mental realm under a dualist paradigm. Consequently, with the development of the predominance of the materialist world view, combined with the decline of the dualist world view psi, was left out in the cold. This is by virtue of the fact that it had been deliberately left out as a possibility in the Newtonian world view which became the basis for the materialist worldview that is _currently dominant. To explain this point further: When the study of psi as a paranonnal phenomena began it was during a period when a mental realm (as in dualism) was considered a definite possibility, however, as this perspective lost supporters and the materialist perspective gained supporters, eventually dominating the realm of scientific investigation, there was no obvious place for the study of such phenomena as psi. (Griffin 1997, p.17-23)

Chapter 4: How can philosophy help? 108 Psi research is unscientific This accusation is still very much alive, but the analysis of psi research in Chapter 2, I hope, has led the reader to believe that such accusations are unfounded and that psi research is undertaken using all the normal procedures that any scientific investigation is constrained by. Indeed, because of its contentious nature it is more likely to be carefully controlled and analysed than other scientific work.

Also from personal experience (I have participated as a subject - for one session - at the Koestler Unit while attending a conference there) I can with first-hand knowledge say that the rooms used for psi research in that unit are adequate and appear to be as secure against sensory leakage as they maintain in their reports. I have met the researchers there and others from institutes and universities in the US and Europe and they appear to be articulate, intelligent people committed to their unit's aim of objective research into psi phenomena. I have also, with a group of others, managed to replicate a famous PK experiment (the Phillip experiments undertaken by a group in Canada), so I have experienced first-hand anomalous action at a distance. Because this experiment is ongoing and there is more experimentation must take place I do not want to present the experiment in detail here, but partial commentary on the procedure and results achieved to date was recently published in the Australian Journal ofParapsychology. (Williams & Lang 2002, p.37)

I also believe that the way that parapsychologists have adapted their experiments in the face of criticism shows that there is genuine effort on their part to construct convincing and methodologically sound experiments to show that psi is taking place.

Finally, the tone of the writings by prominent parapsychologists and the way in which they patiently reiterate the precautions they have taken and make their data and laboratories open for inspection to the more skeptically inclined (as well as the generally interested) seems to me to indicate that there is genuine (as opposed to fraudulent or sloppy) experimentation taking place, and thoughtful consideration given to the design and

Chapter 4: How can philosophy help? 109 implementation of such experiments. When I compare this to the tone of papers written by hardcore skeptics, which is often condescending or unnecessarily hostile, I can't help but be swayed by the more rational even-handed approach of prominent parapsychologists who do believe that the evidence for psi is indicative of something real and have published widely in the field.

There has never been a conclusive experiment that proves psi This is a major bone of contention between those who believe in the possibility of psi and those who do not, and one which many people are trying to rectify from within the parapsychology community. For instance, a parapsychologist is trying to set up a once-off event of a paranormal phenomenon in front of a board of Nobel prize winners. (PRF 2000) Other parapsychologists, however, believe that no matter how spectacular the event is those of a skeptical persuasion will continue to maintain that it had been produced through fraudulent means. They say that if the evidence gained so far is not going to convince someone of the reality of psi, then probably nothing will. Issues of statistical significance and once-off flukes will continue to be cited as reasons why an experiment has succeeded once. Instances of spontaneous PK, if they are not replicable on demand, can also be put down to fraud or memory playing tricks on witnesses by those who advocate a Humean Skeptical approach to psi. So this particular thorn in the side of psi research may have to be tackled another way. One suggestion is that people attempt to produce psi effects themselves ( something which Targ and Puthoff particularly encouraged with their remote viewing experiments) as sometimes the old adage is true: 'seeing is believing'.

Chapter 4: How can philosophy help? 110 Thomas Kuhn and scientific revolution

This section will introduce the use of Kuhn as a tool to understand how these disparate views can be resolved. It is not, however, suggested that Kuhn is required to solve these problems, only that, because he is prominent in the literature on psi, he is worth looking at. It will be advocated that one possible interpretation of the current state of the debate is to understand the evidence for psi has put science into the 'crisis' state of scientific revolution as set out in his book, The Structure ofScientific Revolutions (first published in 1962). His work is not without its critics and some of the ideas that Kuhn expounds are open to varied interpretations. Parapsychologists too are divided as to whether or not psi is an anomaly that should be seen as a potential instigator of a scientific revolution. This step will therefore take some justification.

It is considered by some to be a bit old-fashioned and quaint to use Kuhn. As Marion Schlitz mentioned in a recent paper: 'When I talk about paradigms and I talk about Thomas Kuhn, it all may sound a little old or a little like Pollyanna.' (Schlitz 2001, p.317). After Kuhn first published his book there was a spate of papers (and books) discussing the evidence for psi in this context. Most saw the Kuhnian interpretation as a boon to the emerging field of psi research (although there was no universal agreement on this point, as we will see later). Despite a few dissenters, as Gerd Hovelmann noted in 1984, 'today the vast majority of parapsychologists still highly esteem or more or less explicitly subscribe to Kuhnian opinions' (Hovelmann 1984, p. l 05).

The question might then be raised that if all of these discussions about psi in this context have occurred before, why then bother reiterating them now? The answer to this is that, although a majority of people working in the field of psi research have welcomed this interpretation, there has been no real progress ( and if anything there has been a regress) of information pertaining to the status of the evidence for psi in philosophy texts. This is most likely because the initial discussions regarding psi and Kuhn were mainly held in

Chapter 4: How can philosophy help? 111 parapsychology journals and at parapsychology conferences. These are mainly read and attended by those with established interests in psi research. Despite this lack of interest from wider academia, stronger and stronger evidence has been emanating from the slowly growing number of psi research institutes and units in the intervening 30 years. More recently, we have already seen that even some highly sceptical critics have relented and that there now seems to be repeatable evidence for what at least appears to be psi. In the last chapter we saw that both Flew and Campbell stated that if evidence for psi was to shown to be repeatable then the argument that there is no evidence for psi would not hold. Campbell also mentioned that if this evidence were to be admitted into philosophical speculation it would have major implications on current theories of mind. Some believe that this watershed point has been reached but there has been no re-evaluation of the evidence in light of this and some philosophy texts continue to maintain that there is no substantial evidence for psi. That is why a re-evaluation of these arguments in the philosophy is warranted.

Kuhn may have provided us with valuable historical lessons that deal with the progress of science when faced with anomalies. Ifhe is right then the current status of the evidence for psi suggests that we might just be in the crisis stage of a scientific revolution. Most scientists would not necessarily be aware of this at this stage but as the next chapter will show some might be, perhaps even unwittingly, partaking in such developments.

Chapter 4: How can philosophy help? 112 Summary This has been a brief rundown of the main areas where thought on psi phenomena diverge, creating the disparate views 'skeptic' and 'believer'. Until then these two predominant views are resolved in some way they will continue to be at loggerheads unless philosophy can somehow make sense of the situation and guide a way forward for a constructive means of addressing the challenge that the possibility of psi presents.

The next chapter will look at why the current situation of psi fits so neatly into Kuhn's description of a scientific revolution and also common objections to his analysis. This is followed by a short conclusion summarising the thesis and explaining, on the basis of Chapters 1-5, what psi possibilities are and how we should progress from here.

Chapter 4: How can philosophy help? 113 Chapter 5: What are the psi possibilities?

Ifyou are on the cutting edge, you are holding the knife the wrong way http://www.lhup.edu/-dsimanek/cutting/cutting.htm - Anon

This chapter is a continuation of the previous chapter. It is concerned with a more detailed analysis of Kuhn's work in relation to the evidence for psi highlighting the two main psi possibilities in this context.

Justifying revolution

According to Thomas Kuhn, a change of paradigm will occur in the following stages. First, some anomalies will arise that cannot be explained readily by the current scientific world view. Then, if evidence for the anomalies is unable to be ignored or explained in current terms a crisis stage emerges. At this stage, a small number of people will be found working with the anomalous phenomena who believe that eventually the anomalies will be somehow used to create a new paradigm based on a revised or new world view. The situation will continue until a problem in the current paradigm is solved by an explanation using the anomalous phenomena. This will show that the anomalies can be used to refine our understanding of the world even if they challenge previously accepted beliefs. After this has happened, the new paradigm will gradually be accepted until a majority of scientists are operating using the new world view, because old laws have been revised or new laws created by the explanation of the anomalies that threw the last paradigm into a state of crisis. Those who continue to maintain that the new paradigm is not workable even when a large majority of their profession is using it will cease to be able to work constructively in their field (Kuhn 1996, p.158-159).

Kuhn has been widely criticised for his interpretation of how science progresses. His most notorious detractor is Karl Popper and their points of disagreement will be detailed further

Chapter 5: What are the psi possibilities? 114 on in this chapter. Kuhn's historical analysis as a point of departure for making claims about the scientific process has also been criticised, as has his oftentimes confusing use of the word 'paradigm'. He has been accused of advocating nothing less than that 'scientific revolution is irrational, a matter for mob psychology'. (Lakatos 1970, p.136). He is in danger of slipping into that horrible quagmire of relativism and some have accused him of doing this. But I think he saves himself from this by introducing the notion of 'paradigms', a term for which he remains famous for popularising.

The reason why I think that he could be right and should be heeded is that the current status of the evidence for psi appears to fit his analysis of scientific revolution like a glove. Once the realisation was made that the skeptical position was based on the belief that psi is impossible but despite this psi research continued to grow it seemed to be the theory which accounted for the current status of the evidence for psi. I hope to show that this is so by comparing the contemporary situation with the basic elements of scientific revolution that Kuhn outlines in his book. The section is therefore divided into subsections which represent stages of Kuhn's interpretation of scientific revolution, starting with what a paradigm is within the context of scientific revolution as a whole. The subsections are divided as follows:

• what is a paradigm? • normal science • problem-solving • the emergence of anomalies • crisis stage • leap of faith • resolution to revolution .

Critics of Kuhn will be dealt with in the main after the analysis is carried out.

Chapter 5: What are the psi possibilities? 115 What is a paradigm?

For Kuhn paradigms are 'universally recognized scientific achievements that for a time provide model problems and solutions to a community of practitioners.' (Kuhn 1996, p.x). They dictate what scientists study and how. They provide a common base of knowledge that scientists use and refer to, and out of which a general picture of how the world works is formed. Paradigms change over time as new discoveries tweak old paradigms or radical discoveries change the accepted paradigm. There can be more than one paradigm at any one time. It should also be noted that specialising in different areas of science means that even scientists from the same discipline (say, physics) can be working under different small paradigms under the more general scientific paradigm. (Kuhn 1996, p.43)

During the time that there is a dominant paradigm the scientist is usually engaged in problem-solving. The problems that they are engaged in solving are dictated by the paradigm. This would also explain why psi has not been the subject of mainstream scientific inquiry. If it is perceived to be impossible by the current paradigm then it will not crop up as a potential to be explored or problem to solve during periods of normal science. Soon we will see a current example of what happens when a renowned scientist publicly declares his belief that telepathy could be real, which will help exemplify this point.

Normal science

For Kuhn normal science is 'research based upon one or more past scientific achievements, achievements that some particular scientific community acknowledges for a time as supplying the foundation for its further practice.' (Kuhn 1996, p.10). At any time when normal science is being practised scientists 'whose research is based on shared paradigms are committed to the same rules and standards for scientific practice. That commitment and the apparent consensus it produces are prerequisites for normal science, ie., for the genesis and continuation of a particular research tradition.' (Kuhn 1996, p.11) Normal science is carried out during periods when science is not in a state ofrevolution. Normal science is, as the name suggests, the norm and revolutionary science the exception. Kuhn believes that he

Chapter 5: What are the psi possibilities? 116 and Popper part ways on this point in particular. He maintains that Popper focuses his attention (and subsequent theory) on times when science is in a state of revolution rather than the longer, duller, periods when Kuhn believes 'normal' science is taking place. Kuhn suggests that this difference in understanding the progress of science is the point at which he and Popper diverge in opinion as to the nature of scientific progress. He says 'it is normal science, in which Sir Karl's (Popper's) sort of testing does not occur, rather than extraordinary science which most nearly distinguishes science from other enterprises. If a demarcation criterion exists (we must not, I think, seek a sharp or decisive one), it may lie just in that part of science which Sir Karl ignores.' (Kuhn 1970, p.125)

During a period of 'normal' science, scientists at this stage are solving problems according to an already accepted set of generally upheld rules that are gleaned from landmark books detailing the discoveries and theories that have defined that particular period of normal science. It is from these books and general textbooks that the working scientist gains knowledge of what is accepted science at any particular time.

Normal science is undertaken during times at which science has developed into a 'universally received paradigm' (Kuhn 1996, p.13). These paradigms can be both overarching between various scientific disciplines but they can also apply more locally to specific areas of inquiry (more on this issue will be detailed below). For instance, using the historical example of the era when scientists were working on developing theories of light Kuhn remarks that 'being able to take no common body of belief for granted, each writer on physical optics felt forced to build his field anew from its foundations. In doing so, his choice of supporting observation and experiment was relatively free, for there was no standard set of methods or of phenomena that every optical writer felt forced to employ and explain.' (Kuhn 1996, p.13). At this time, however, there was an umbrella paradigm dictating what constituted science and scientific inquiry. It was the as yet unknown nature of light that had no working paradigm within the larger scientific world view and consequently no mini-paradigm dictated by previous discoveries on which to base research.

Chapter 5: What are the psi possibilities? 117 Psi researchers, it can be argued, are in a similar position to those earlier scientists trying to discover the intricacies of light. Research is being carried out to investigate psi effects but the nature of psi is still a matter of dispute. There is therefore no 'psi paradigm'. Current scientific practice and methodologies are being adhered to but there is no current explanation for psi. The difference is that whereas no-one disputed whether there was such a thing as light, psi is in the difficult position of requiring proof for its existence as well.

Problem-solving

According to Kuhn's interpretation of the history of science it is during this period of normal science that scientists engage in problem-solving. The problems that they choose to solve and the methods of solving them are dictated by the paradigm under which the scientist is operating. (Kuhn 1996, p.37-42). Therefore anything that is not accepted by the current paradigm (the possibility of psi, for instance) would not be considered to be worthy of investigation by the majority of scientists.

We have already seen that most contemporary academic investigation into psi happens through the already established discipline of psychology, though there is a handful of other academics from physics, anthropology and philosophy (to name a few) who have delved into this area and brought to bear the information pertinent to their respective fields of inquiry into psi. There have been laboratory experiments performed and spontaneous cases catalogued, just as with any other subject of inquiry. They have been scrutinised using double-blind tests, and photographic and physical evidence for spontaneous cases has been verified and recorded. There is an already established scientific method that is being used to investigate psi, mainly using the commonly upheld methodologies of psychology.

Chapter 5: What are the psi possibilities? 118 Emergence of anomalies

Anomalies are discoveries of new data or new events or new evidence that are not expected to be found during periods of normal science. It is the emergence of anomalies that encourage a small group of scientists (usually, according to Kuhn, younger ones who are less loyal to the prevailing paradigm) to study something that at first challenges and in the end overthrows a world view. This can happen on a small scale and only affect the immediate area that it has been discovered in. For instance, in Western Australia there was a recent discovery of a fossil that put the earliest beginnings of life 600 million years earlier than was previously thought. (Smith 2002) This discovery will presumably affect the fields of paleontology and geology but will not radically impact on other fields within science - the paradigms guiding the study of quantum physics or the study of schizophrenic behaviour (for instance) will most likely not be affected by this discovery. It will change the paradigm under which investigation of the origins of ancient life is carried out ( and related fields) but it will not affect the scientific method in general or other disciplines.

How do scientific discoveries that radically change the way the world is seen to work come about? Kuhn believes that 'discovery commences with the awareness of anomaly, i.e., with the recognition that nature has somehow violated the paradigm-induced expectations that govern normal science. It then continues with a more or less extended exploration of the area of anomaly. And it closes only when the paradigm theory has been adjusted so that the anomalous has become the expected.' (Kuhn 1996, p.52)

It is reasonably uncontentious to maintain that the evidence for psi, if treated as an epistemic possibility, is an instance of such an anomaly. But it is more difficult to maintain that the evidence for psi has caused some science to be in what Kuhn calls a 'crisis stage' of scientific revolution. A discussion of this issue follows in the next section where the suggestion is made that the public debate between two physicists could be indicative that such a stage has been reached.

Chapter 5: What are the psi possibilities? 119 Crisis stage

Kuhn asks us to expect some cross over between the stages of the emergence of anomalies and indication that the 'crisis stage' of scientific revolution has been reached. (Kuhn 1970a, p.66) There are some indicators that Kuhn has set out that we can look for as evidence that some kind of change has taken place and that science ( or a part of it) has developed from the anomalous stage to the crisis stage of scientific revolution.

For Kuhn, the preface that Copernicus' wrote to De Revolutionibus is a 'classic description of a crisis state' (Kuhn 1970a, p.60). Kuhn says that it is indicative of the crisis stage because in the preface Copernicus realised that 'the astronomical paradigm was failing in application to its own traditional problems. That recognition was prerequisite to Copernicus' rejection of the Ptolemaic paradigm and his search for a new one.' (Kuhn 1970a, p.60). In times like these there is a 'breakdown of the normal technical puzzle­ solving activity' (Kuhn 1970a, p.60). What we can expect there to be are problems that can't be solved using the existing paradigm, or are being solved in a convoluted way. We would expect that a small number of scientists will be concerned with these issues and they will seek alternatives solutions. If it is a real crisis (there is always the possibility that it is not) then the solutions will be found by using methods or developing theories that are, at the time of crisis, outside of the current paradigm (Kuhn 1970a, pp.66-76).

With particular regard to psi the pointers that we should therefore look out for, are:

1. indication that a current problem or problems in science are unable to be solved, (or are being solved ineffectually)

2. indication that psi is being used to solve similar problems

3. indication that a new paradigm is being sought that includes the anomalies

Chapter 5: What are the psi possibilities? 120 Below a recent case of public discussion between some prominent physicists is cited and discussed with these indicators in mind.

·1n 2001 Britain's Royal Mail decided to commemorate the centenary of the Nobel prize with a special issue of six stamps. As part of the promotion some previous prize winners were asked to contribute to a brochure that would be part of a presentation package. Brian Josephson, the winner of a Nobel prize in 1973 for work on superconductors, was asked to write some thoughts on how he saw physics progressing in the future. The controversial part of his statement that was printed is as follows:

Quantum theory is now being fruitfully combined with theories of information and computation. These developments may lead to an explanation of processes still not understood within conventional science such as telepathy, an area where Britain is at the forefront of research. (Josephson 2001 b, net)

Immediately after this was published a furore broke out in the mainstream press. The debate over his statement continued in the media for a short while afterwards. An article was published in the Observer, there were letters to the editor and Josephson published a response to the uproar. There was also a radio discussion conducted by BBC Radio 4' s Today program between Josephson and a skeptical academic, Nicholas Humphries.

In the article published by the Observer titled 'Royal Mail's Nobel guru in telepathy row' Robin McKie, one of its science editors, focuses on the Royal Mail statement made by Josephson regarding telepathy. In the article comments by two scientists on Josephson statement were mentioned. David Deutsch, a physicist from Oxford University, is quoted as saying 'Telepathy simply does not exist. The Royal Mail has let itself be hoodwinked into supporting ideas that are complete nonsense.' (McKie 2001, net) Another academic, Herbert Kroemer of Santa Barbara University (sic) was quoted in the same article as saying, 'I am highly skeptical ... few of us believe telepathy exits, nor do we think physics can explain it. It also seems wrong for your Royal Mail to get involved. Certainly, if the US postal services did something like this, a lot of us would be very angry.' (Mc Kie 2001, net) The Royal Mail defended itself by saying, 'The trouble is that there are only a couple

Chapter 5: What are the psi possibilities? 121 of British physics prize winners we could have asked, and we picked Josephson.' (McKie 2001, net) And Deutsch was quoted further in the article saying, 'The evidence for the existence of telepathy is appalling. If engineers or doctors accepted the level of proof that is accepted by paranormal supporters, bridges would be falling down round the country, and new medicines would be killing more that they cure.' (McKie 2001, net)

In his defence Josephson wrote a letter which was published in the Observer letters section. In it he mentioned some points in his defence:

The problem is that scientists critical of this research do not give their normal careful attention to the scientific literature on the paranormal: it is much easier to accept official views or views of biased sceptics ...

The CIA's Stargate Project (remote viewing experiments) provided clear evidence that people can intermittently pick up with their minds images of distant objects such as military installations, sometimes with striking accuracy. The research arm of the project found that under controlled conditions the extent to which this ability exceeded chance guessing was statistically highly significant. ..

There is much other supporting research: the views you present are uninformed ones. Obviously the critics are unaware that in a paper published in 1989 in a refereed physics journal, Fontini Pallikari, and I demonstrated a way in which a particular version of quantum theory could get round the usual restrictions against the exploitation of the telepathy-like connections in a quantum system. Another physicist discovered the same principle independently; so far no one has pointed out any flaws. (Josephson 2001d, net)

He concludes with an interesting point, that is particularly pertinent to an analysis of this situation in regard to scientific revolution: he mentions that Henry Stapp, a physicist at the University of California had recently 'given strong arguments for it being necessary to take mind into account in physics, which opens up a whole field of possibilities'. (Josephson 2001d, net) Josephson further points out that Stapp 'gives strong arguments against Deutsch's many-worlds philosophy which has no experimental support whatever.' (Josephson 2001d, net)

Chapter 5: What are the psi possibilities? 122 A similar situation was apparent during a radio interview which followed shortly after the publication of the article in the Observer. Brian Josephson and Nicholas Humphries participated. In the interview a similar pattern emerges. Josephson gives the example of Stapp again and reiterates that he thinks that there is some chance that psi might be used in quantum physics. Nicholas Humphries then states, 'The issue really is whether there is any evidence for telepathy, or for psychokinesis or for any of the other phenomena which Brian thinks requires these extraordinary explanations ... but I think that Brian Josephson's attempt to apply a very sophisticated theory in a rather novel and unnecessary way is irrelevant because we haven't got any phenomena to explain.' (BBC Radio 4 2001, net)

The quotes from Deutsch and Kroemer, who seem unfamiliar with the current status of the evidence for psi, are representative of the skeptical position that we have seen perpetuated, since Price's article was published in 1955, that there can be no possibility of evidence for psi because psi is impossible. This is evidenced by their blanket statements about psi and their apparent belief that these statements do not need further support. Josephson on the other hand, gives support for his statements. However, intelligent debate about the status of the evidence for psi is short-circuited by the participants in the debate because those arguing against Josephson's use of telepathy in the Royal Mail statement believe that no case can be made for psi because they believe that the existence of such a phenomenon as psi is impossible. That is, they, like Price before them in 1955, have taken the view that there cannot be evidence for psi, no matter what it looks like and the matter should rest there.

The Josephson example is cited because it is reasonably current and also because it has high-standing, vocal representatives from the two vying parties - the 'believer' and the 'skeptic'. It was also chosen because it took place in the mainstream press which would seem to indicate that it is of interest to a wider community than a spat between two scientists would normally be, perhaps because of the topic area or the heated nature of the debate. As you would expect though, this example has a more complex history behind what was presented in the press. Josephson's interest in the area of quantum mechanics and telepathy is not new as in 1991 he and another physicist, F otini Pallikari, had published an

Chapter 5: What are the psi possibilities? 123 article in Foundations ofPhysics which addresses in more detail the problems and solutions that Josephson was obliquely referring to in his statement to the Royal Mail. The paper is called 'Biological utilisation of quantum non-locality' (Josephson & Pallikari 1991) and some excerpts will be used below to support some of the statements made during the time of the more recent and public debate between Josephson, Deutsch, Kroemer and Humphries.

Let's take a look at the indicators set out at the beginning of this section and see if this example fits into what we would expect if a crisis stage of scientific revolution had been obtained.

1. indication that a current problem or problems in science are unable to be solved, (or are being solved ineffectually)

Josephson's description of the paper that he and Pallikari published was that: Obviously the critics are unaware that in a paper published in 1989 in a refereed physics journal, Fotini Pallikari, and I demonstrated a way in which a particular version of quantum theory could get round the usual restrictions against the exploitation of the telepathy-like connections in a quantum system.

The problem that this paper addressed was set out in the introduction where Josephson says: Bell has given arguments that appear to demonstrate the existence of direct interconnections between spatially separated objects. But at the same time there are arguments that appear to show that no real physical manifestations of these interconnections actually exist. (Josephson & Pallikari 1991)

It would appear then that there is a problem requiring a solution in quantum theory and that this is a topic of concern in physics journals.

Chapter 5: What are the psi possibilities? 124 2. indication that psi is being used to solve similar problems Josephson states explicitly in his own summary of his paper that he is using an element of psi (telepathy) to apply to a particular problem in science (in his case QM physics). Another prominent physicist who has used psi in conjunction with quantum mechanics is Evan Harris Walker. He, like Henry Stapp, is concerned with introducing questions about consciousness into contemporary physics and like Josephson, believes that psi can be used to further our understanding of both of these areas. He has been developing a working explanatory theory for psi in this area. His position statement for the Parapsychology Association summarises his stance on psi phenomena as follows: Members of the parapsychological community are often asked about their belief or skepticism about the reality of parapsychological phenomena. I have this to say: the phenomena are real. I have 9 reasons for this statement. I give them in ascending order of their importance.

1. I have seen them happen. 2. I have done them-made them happen. 3. I have experimentally verified their reality in formal, reported experimentation. 4. J.B. Rhine adequately verified their reality experimentally. 5. A large number of competent experimental scientists have independently confirmed and expanded on Rhine's work. 6. The phenomena are consistent with quantum mechanical principles. 7. These phenomena can and have been incorporated into a theory known as the Quantum Observer Theory of Psi Phenomena. 8. With these phenomena included, physics provides a more complete scientific understanding than we would have in their absence. 9. Careful and competent researchers have independently tested and verified surprising and unexpected predictions of this Quantum Observer Theory of Psi Phenomena. (Walker 2003, net)

This list of reasons is supported by his list of publications and also through his engagement with the parapsychology community at large (PRF 2003). Here we have indication that a scientist has developed a theory using psi that is also being used to predict outcomes using the new theory which incorporates psi phenomena. It has however, gone fairly unnoticed by mainstream physics and philosophy of science. This is what we would expect in the early stages of a 'crisis stage'.

Chapter 5: What are the psi possibilities? 125 Other scientists have also shown interest in a similar area. Einstein famously referred to the problem of non locality as 'spooky actions at a distance' (Radin 1997, p.282) and this problem is more generally an area that has been a much vaunted place where it is considered the evidence for psi could be applied and used to help solve this contemporary problem. That we don't see much evidence of this outside of psi-specific literature is probably understandable given the reception that Josephson's Royal Mail statement attracted. (Radin 1997, pp. 282-287).

Although Brian Josephson and Evan Harris Walker might disagree with this interpretation, if Kuhn is to be used as a means of understanding how science deals with anomalous phenomena, it would appear that in the work of these two physicists we can see indications that what we would expect to happen and how we would expect scientists to progress at this stage is happening.

3. indication that a new paradigm is being sought that includes anomalies

This example could be interpreted to indicate that a new paradigm is being sought. The comment of Josephson's regarding the challenge that Henry Stapp's work makes to David Deutsch's many-worlds arguments lends some support to this assertion. Josephson states that: ... Henry Stapp of the University of California has given strong arguments for it being necessary to take mind into account in physics, which opens up a whole field of possibilities; ironically, he also gives strong arguments against Deutsch's many-worlds philosophy, which has no experimental support whatever. (Josephson 2001d, net)

Josephson seems to indicate here that the problem in quantum mechanics that has been solved by some physicists by using the many-worlds argument could be solved otherwise by those such as Stapp who have introduced mind into the area. More importantly, he refers to the 'field of possibilities' which, given his already stated interest in the area, I understand to mean the use of psi to also help solve this problem. This would indicate to me that some kind of new paradigm is being sought by those, such as Josephson, with the physics background and nous to use psi in an attempt to find other solutions to contemporary

Chapter 5: What are the psi possibilities? 126 problems in physics. In Evan Harris Walker's case he has been developing the use of psi in conjunction with his interest in the physics of consciousness. Why it is a new paradigm as opposed to a different way of finding a solution is because of the use of psi, which is a taboo under the current paradigm.

It is hoped that the benefit of this interpretation will be that if we can accept Kuhn as being correct we can then use what he has noted to help resolve this crisis. This is how this understanding of psi possibilities can help philosophy resolve the current, rather explosive, debate that occurs when psi is discussed by scientists.

The leap of faith

Given the difficulties of using psi phenomena, why is anybody at all studying psi? Why has this area of investigation continued to draw highly talented, professional people into its arena who stake their professional reputation on maintaining that something which is such an anathema to mainstream science actually exists, and further that it not only exists but requires funding and further research? Kuhn believes that it is the process of normal science itself which necessarily gives rise to anomalies. These anomalies and their potential capacity to solve problems that normal science is finding it difficult to solve are taken up during the crisis stage of a scientific revolution by just a small number of professionals. The early stage of a change of paradigm is when the anomalies which have instigated the trouble start to be resolved. We have not reached this time yet. We don't have a working new paradigm that includes the evidence for psi (although we do have some indications that one is developing). But I think we should pay attention to what Kuhn says about the acceptance of a new paradigm in this early resolution stage that comes out of crisis: it is pertinent to the situation that we find in academia in regard to the study of the possibilities of psi.

Chapter 5: What are the psi possibilities? 127 Kuhn says that the scientist 'who embraces a new paradigm at an early stage must often do so in defiance of the evidence provided by problem-solving. He must, that is, have faith that the new paradigm will succeed with the many large problems that confront it, knowing only that the older paradigm has failed with a few. A decision of that kind can only be made on faith.' Because of this faith in a new paradigm many of these scientists will be seen as following 'what may easily prove and will be widely regarded as a will-o'-the wisp' (Kuhn 1996, p.15 8). Exactly what it is that makes someone accept the evidence for psi as a possibility as opposed to an impossibility, like George Price or Anthony Flew or Keith Campbell or David Deutsch or Herbert Kroemer or Nicholas Humphries, is something that is hard to define. I think that Kuhn is on the right track when he says that the possible new paradigm 'must make at least a few scientists feel that the new proposal is on the right track and sometimes it is only personal and inarticulate aesthetic considerations that can do that. Men have been converted by them at times when most of the articulable technical arguments pointed the other way.' (Kuhn 1996, p.158) He is also quick to point out that this notion of faith is not some kind of 'mystical aesthetic' and sometimes time has proved such leaps of faith as being wrong. It is, in my reading of his analysis, more like a hunch or inkling. It is definitely not, despite the title 'leaps of faith', anything to do with a religious type of conversion and this statement clarifying this point is crucial to understanding this stage of scientific revolution. This is an important point as he is sometimes misread in this regard (as we will see a little later).

The process of the acceptance of a new paradigm is a gradual one. First there must be a new paradigm to explain the anomalies (at the moment, for psi there isn't). But pretend for a moment that one is developed. There will not be, even then, one day when every scientists and philosopher wakes up and goes to work and says 'Ah psi, of course, I must use that in my next experiment/paper/book/article'. Instead it is a gradual process whereby problem-solvers of normal science perhaps come across problems that they can't solve and then have the nous to apply what has been gained by research into psi in this regard and solve some of these troublesome matters. If this happens often and successfully enough, the new paradigm will eventually replace the old one. 'What occurs,' says Kuhn, 'is an increasing shift in the distribution of professional allegiances. At the start, a new candidate

Chapter 5: What are the psi possibilities? 128 for paradigm may have a few supporters, and on occasions the supporters' motives may be suspect. Nevertheless, if they are competent, they will improve it, explore its possibilities, and show what it would be like to belong to the community guided by it.' (Kuhn 1996, p.159).

Research into psi is increasing and theoretical considerations are developing - for instance, the ganzfeld work at Gothenburg University is now concerned with experimenting with theoretical implications in mind, rather than, as has been the emphasis for many decades, on showing psi effects were happening (Parker 2000). With the help of philosophy I believe that it will become stronger still and perhaps reach the next step - a resolution to the revolution.

Resolution of the revolution

The resolution to the revolution that the anomalies of psi phenomena pose to the current world view is not easy to predict. I will finish this analysis of psi in the context of scientific revolution with a brief look at how I think it will go from here. Most of these issues will be dealt with in more detail below in the section, 'Why philosophy is best placed to take up the challenge', after a brief look at critics of Kuhn's interpretation of the progress of science.

For Kuhn 'the decision to reject one paradigm is always simultaneously the decision to accept another, and the judgment leading to that decision involves the comparison of both paradigms with nature and with each other'. (Kuhn 1996, p. 77) Two things are important in order for this to happen. One is that a new working paradigm must be found that explains or uses the anomalies that caused the crisis in the first place. The second is that more scientists (and philosophers) must have access to both the paradigms. The notion of paradigm is problematic in Kuhn's work. I think that it is an intuitive notion which defies pinning down. Some people have interpreted Kuhn to mean that a changing of paradigms is a changing of worlds; that the world is different place once a paradigm change has occurred. (Edge 1977, p.123 ). I don't think that Kuhn is this radical. The world remains as it is; it is our understanding of it that changes and this changes according to what we are

Chapter 5: What are the psi possibilities? 129 founding our perspective on. This sort of interpretation has led him to be accused of relativism, but I don't think he falls into this trap because the perspective that he refers to is based on how well the perspective solves problems currently understood, using already well-founded methods and understandings (this will be discussed further below).

That two paradigms will contend for prominence does not mean that there are two different worlds. It means that for some (starting with a small group) there is the possibility of another perspective. The information gained from this new perspective which was created by looking at things that do not fit into the current perspective is then used in a way that is superior in its application to explaining commonly understood problems under the current perspective. In our time the nature of consciousness would be a major contender for this. For instance, for John Beloff the acceptance of psi phenomena as real and as non-physical has lead him to develop a dualist position. For others such as Ed May working in the area, an acceptance of psi phenomena and a materialist outlook has meant that they view ALL instances of psi as PK and they are developing their theories on this basis.

Chapter 5: What are the psi possibilities? 130 Problems in paradigms

It was mentioned earlier that there are critics of Kuhn. He has been criticised both for what conclusions he has drawn and for the methods by which he draws them. There are also some parapsychologists who think that it is unnecessary, and even detrimental to the future of psi research, to place the evidence for psi in the context of scientific revolution. This section will deal briefly with these criticisms. I will first deal with general criticisms of Kuhn's work by his contemporaries and then with the problems as perceived by some parapsychologists.

Kuhn's main critics

Popper is probably Kuhn's most famous detractor. It was Popper who developed the idea that falsification is the hallmark of science during his analyses of what constitutes science as opposed to a pseudo-science. They had a discussion going between them and papers were published in response to each other's perspectives of scientific progress, although both they agreed on certain points, notably that astrology was definitely a pseudo-science. Other philosophers have also weighed in on the debate and proposed solutions to the dispute between Kuhn and Popper that are different again. The area is a philosophical minefield. It also has widespread ramifications. Lakatos believed that: 'The clash between Popper and Kuhn is not about a mere technical point in epistemology. It concerns our central intellectual values, and has implications not only for theoretical physics but also for the und~rdeveloped social sciences and even for moral and political philosophy.' (Lakatos 1970, p.132). There is obviously not enough room in this thesis to analyse this debate in great detail; however, in order to justify the use of Kuhn in this thesis, the main criticisms against Kuhn should be answered.

The first is that his historical analyses as a basis for his theories means that he is describing what is the case rather than what ought to be the case. 'As many critics have pointed out', Feleppa notes, 'Kuhn's basis for inferring scientific and rational prescriptions on the basis

Chapter 5: What are the psi possibilities? 131 of his historical description is unclear: describing the genesis of a set of conventions does not alone serve to justify them.' (Feleppa 1980, p.140) In a postscript to the third edition of his book, Kuhn addresses this issue. He defends his belief by saying, 'Is and ought are by no means always so separate as they have seemed' and acknowledges that he presents 'a viewpoint or theory about the nature of science, and, like other philosophies of science, the theory has consequences for the way in which scientists should behave if their enterprise is to succeed. Though it need not be right, any more than any other theory, it provides a legitimate basis for reiterated "oughts" and "shoulds". My descriptive generalizations are evidence for the theory precisely because they can also be derived from it, whereas on other views of the nature of science they constitute anomalous behaviour.' (Kuhn 1996, p.208)

Kuhn freely admits that his approach to philosophy of science is from 'descriptive generalisations' (Kuhn 1996, p.208). To what extent then, are we able to use his understanding of the progress of science in application to the current practice of scientists? In other words - can the descriptive become normative? It seems to me that we can. Understanding how science has progressed in the past through descriptive analysis should give us a platform to understand the progress of current science and some kind of theoretical hind-sight that can be applied to current situations even when these are not fully understood.

It should also be realised that the application of this analysis is limited to understanding the particular situation that no doubt (as the example above shows) is of concern to science whereby some scientists are using anomalies in physics. It is not, however, the intention of this kind of analysis to dictate to the whole of science how scientists should be doing science.

When this is used in conjunction with a situation such as the current status of the evidence for psi, the analysis can then help us anticipate and, hopefully, circumvent some of the problems that the acceptance of new ideas and theories and paradigms has had in the past. Understanding how to aid the process of investigation is a worthwhile pursuit and do!ng

Chapter 5: What are the psi possibilities? 132 this on the basis of the process of past triumphs and mistakes would seem to also be a useful means of understanding the evidence for psi.

Another criticism often levelled at Kuhn is that he advocates relativism. The comments of his that have led to this charge are usually to do with the time of scientific revolution when two paradigms are competing with each other for dominance. At this time, Kuhn maintains, neither party is either right or wrong: the viewpoints of each however, are different and incompatible. (Kuhn 1996, p.205) They are necessarily incompatible to the extent that it is not possible for one person to hold them both at the same time because a move to one paradigm is rejection of the other.

It is this particular stage of Kuhn's analysis where he is accused of relativism, so I will take a moment to address this point. His answer to this is that, because the one of the paradigms eventually becomes dominant and this outcome is based on its superior capabilities as judged by the scientific community at large, his view of scientific progress cannot amount to a relativistic view. He comments on this issue: 'Though the temptation to describe that position as relativistic is understandable, the description seems to me wrong. Conversely, if the position be relativism, I cannot see that the relativist loses anything needed to account for the nature and development of the sciences.' (Kuhn 1996, p.207) The fact that the relativistic phase of his view of scientific revolution has an eventual outcome is why I don't think that his theories suffer from this stigma and the current situation of the evidence for psi supports this. The evidence for psi will only become widely accepted if it becomes a tool that will help solve current problems. At the moment the evidence for psi, because it is so counter to what is expected under the current world view, creates problems. All the contemporary theories of how time, space and causality would appear to be affected if anomalous communication and anomalous action at a distance were allowed into the picture. I do not believe that Kuhn's theory suffers from this label of relativism because the paradigms, even when they are in contention, are judged by their ability to explain best how the world works and they will remain or fall by the wayside on their merit.

Chapter 5: What are the psi possibilities? 133 Finally, another major criticism that he has to contend with is the reasons why certain scientists choose a paradigm, or choose to study anomalies that eventually lead to the creation of a new paradigm. Lakatos mentions: 'For Kuhn scientific change - from one "paradigm" to another - is a mystical conversion which is not and cannot be governed by rules ofreason and which faces totally within the realm of the (social) psychology of discovery. Scientific change is a kind of religious change.' As we have already seen, this is not a fair representation of how Kuhn describes this change. He makes this clear: 'This is not to suggest that new paradigms triumph ultimately through some mystical aesthetic. On the contrary, very few men desert a tradition for these reasons alone. Often those who do tum out to have been misled. But if a paradigm is ever to triumph it must gain some first supporters, men who will develop it to the point where hardheaded arguments can be produced and multiplied .... ' (Kuhn 1996, p.158) So, it is not a religious or mystical conversion. It is one that first starts off as an inkling that is sometimes wrong, but if it is right eventually convinces through sound argument and justification that the new view is better able to explain the workings of the world.

This once again reflects the current situation of psi: although there is no new working paradigm, there is enough evidence to suggest to a tiny few, like Brian Josephson, that psi combined with new physics might explain current problems such as the nature of consciousness. What makes a person a Josephson rather than a Deutsch is this hard-to­ define 'leap of faith' that Kuhn tries to describe. Despite the term it is as far from a religious type of faith - it is not blind and it is not based on dogmatic belief. It will remain or fail on its eventual ability to solve current problems. That some people see the potential for psi to be useful is indicative that psi might eventually lead to a better understanding of the world. That is why, once again, I believe that it is conducive to view the evidence for psi in this light. The final section will look at how interpreting the evidence for psi in terms of scientific revolution can help further its use as a problem-solving tool rather than a problem-creating one. Using psi as a tool would mean first undertaking an analysis of what psi is and then assessing what areas it might be able to be applied to. Current literature usually focuses on areas such as consciousness studies, the mind/body debate and backwards causation. Concerns that philosophy of science has with our understanding of

Chapter 5: What are the psi possibilities? 134 time, space and causality are also areas that psi could be applied to. The non locality problem has already been mentioned but other areas are in theories about the direction of time. Psi is often explored in conjunction with acausal theories of synchronicity and further developments in the area of causation theory can be anticipated, As it is maintained that at the moment we are only in the early stages of a crisis stage the development of psi theory is difficult to predict and lies in the future. These are just some ideas of where current work suggests that the path leads.

Chapter 5: What are the psi possibilities? 135 Parapsychology and Kuhn

In the 1970s there was a brief rush of papers that advocated the use of Kuhn's paradigms to encourage the study of psi. For some parapsychologists this was encouraging. In a recent article Marion Schlitz, who is now the Director of Research Programs at the Institute of Noetic Sciences,(an institute which focuses its research on 'frontier science')_looks back at her career in parapsychology and how she found Kuhn an inspiration in her undergraduate days. She says, 'I read the classics in the area of paradigm shifts, revolutionary in thought, and changes in worldview', and this 'was an inspiration ... an opportunity to ground what seemed like a fairly groundless form of rebellion into something that had academic merit and intellectual satisfaction.' (Schlitz 2001, p.337) She subsequently turned her interest in parapsychology into a successful career. Now, some years down the track, she states, 'When I talk about paradigms and I talk about Thomas Kuhn, it all may sound a little odd or a little like Pollyanna. It is not.' (Schlitz 2001, p.34 7) It has helped her to maintain her interest in the area of distant healing and she has instigated and successfully encouraged mainstream health centres in America to start investigating the potential use of anomalous healing, which appears to be growing field of inquiry in that country. Not everybody agrees with this analysis and some even argue that it is detrimental to the study of psi to use Kuhn in this way.

Because the scenario fits so neatly, many parapsychologists have assumed that they are dealing with the creation of a new paradigm due to the anomalous nature of psi. There are those who have published papers that caution against this interpretation and Gerd Hovelmann has some particularly harsh words to say in this regard. He believes that it is because parapsychologists so desperately want parapsychology to be accepted by science that they fervently believe that the evidence for psi must be indicative of a scientific revolution. He lists some of the major figures in parapsychology and the sources where they maintain their allegiance to this interpretation, and maintains that his research indicates that, with a few exceptions, 'The high esteem of the Kuhnian way oflooking at science appears to be almost omnipresent and unanimously shared by the people engaged in

Chapter 5: What are the psi possibilities? 136 parapsychology. It is fairly obvious that parapsychologists feel very well understood by this historian of science.' (Hovelmann 1984, p. l 08) He believes that the appeal of Kuhn's work to parapsychologists is the support it provides them in the face of antagonism by skeptical mainstream science as well as the justification it gives to continue their studies in an area that is not yet accepted by these same mainstream scientists.

Hovelmann disagrees with Kuhn on a number of counts. His paper is entitled 'Against historicism' and he first targets Kuhn's rejection of justification when he states that: 'the problem of foundation and justification of scientific propositions is solvable, Kuhn has only shifted and obscured it.' (Hovelmann 1984, p.113 ). He is also against the 'historically organized practice as that advocated by Kuhn' as being 'continually in danger of privately becoming a stylish, but cheap, defence of poor science', because 'if the quality ofa theory is not primarily judged by the justification of that theory but rather by the way it has superseded competing ones, then it becomes possible that a theory is considered a proper one simply because it superseded rivalling ones that way.' Instead he prefers to 'hold that it is well possible to reconstruct (in the sense just specified) justificatory steps of a theoretical development, instead of merely looking at the results of such a development' (Hovelmann 1984, p.113).

It is against Kuhn's historicism that Hovelmann's article is targeted and he is well versed in the literature in this regard. As the main concerns regarding the use of Thomas Kuhn have already been addressed no attempt will be made to do this again in regard to this particular paper. The focus will therefore be on how he uses parapsychology in his argument, which is more pertinent to the issues addressed in this thesis. Hovelmann discusses three areas where parapsychologists tend to look to Kuhn as a support for their studies and gives reasons why this should not be so. I will relate and then address each of these in tum.

Chapter 5: What are the psi possibilities? 137 1. Many parapsychologists seem to believe that Kuhn is picturing a pathway - and some parapsychologists may even consider this the only possible pathway - to future legitimacy of parapsychological research. Obviously, they think that Kuhn has adequately described the way science develops, and they hope that, after a future paradigm shift, they will be the adherents to the paradigm that has won the 'struggle for like'. Accordingly many seem to be less concerned with scientific truth and rational argumentation than with ways to find the most strategic position on the battlefield of science, which they hope to reach in time to avoid a Custerian Little big Hom. (Hovelmann 1984, p.107)

Although by the undercurrent of the above statement it is obvious that he does not think that Kuhn should be used in this way, he goes on to explain:

I think that this attitude involves a twofold naYvete and shortsightedness, as it is not only based on Kuhn's theory of developments in science but, even worse, on a serious misunderstanding of that defective theory. Parapsychologists, who appeal to Kuhnian historicism in this way, are courting disaster: according to Kuhn, it is by definition, impossible to predict future paradigm shifts. Because the very nature of paradigm shifts lies in their success, they can only be observed after the fact. Therefore, appeals to Kuhn cannot give any comfort to emerging scientific disciplines. (Hovelmann 1984, p. l 07-108)

In my reading of Kuhn it is not impossible to have an opinion on what paradigm will eventually become dominant. I think the point that Kuhn makes is that in times of crisis there will be a majority contending that the old paradigm will remain strong but a small group, who advocate otherwise, will be working on the basis that the anomalies that they are addressing will in the end contribute to a better understanding of the world. An understanding of the progress of science puts this situation into context. We might not be able to predict for certain which paradigm will eventually succeed but we can use the knowledge of how this situation has been resolved in the past to attempt to make more room for such investigation to take place. A complete understanding of science and the future directions its theories will take is not possible with or without a Kuhnian interpretation. That some scientists and philosophers do understand the use of psi in their work as a possible stage of Kuhnian scientific revolution is something that has occurred. Hovelmann says that the comfort that they have found in this understanding is not warranted. But, the field continues to grow and has achieved substantial benchmarks in the intervening years. It would appear however that Hovelmann's criticism is not warranted

Chapter 5: What are the psi possibilities? 138 because if Kuhn is right then this is the first time the knowledge of his analysis of scientific revolution can be acted upon. It seems that the description of what 'is' is, for a small few at least, also a description of what 'ought' to be and professional people have been acting on this since the publication of his book and they have been achieving results that would be expected given the Kuhnian understanding of the progress of science between the rise of anomalies and the step into a crisis stage of scientific revolution. How this is resolved and who was right will be something that will occur in the future.

It is also unfair to accuse adherents for the possibility of psi of sacrificing scientific method in order to be first at the post when the paradigm shifts. The accusation is easily made in the other direction, where adherents to the skeptical perspective are unable to accept the possibility of psi because it threatens to undermine the prestigious positions which they hold on the basis of work performed under the current paradigm. Josephson, it will be remembered mentioned that David Deutsch's many-world argument was threatened by the findings of physicists like Henry Stapp who is in turn used by Josephson to further their own interest in the development of psi and QM theory.

2. In the opinions of some parapsychologists, the Kuhnian conception may readily serve as a welcome excuse for the fact that, hitherto, they have constantly failed in all their attempts to establish their filed as a legitimate and well-recognized branch of science. Thus, the ways science is believed to develop can be held responsible for all such failures; and parapsychologists can consider themselves the innocent and defenceless victims of a ruthless and merciless social and/or political process. Moreover, the critics of the field can be viewed as being those people who just happen to be adherents of a fully developed paradigm that is (still) disposing of the power to successfully combat against aspiring preparadigmatic fields such as parapsychology. (Hovelmann 1984, p.109)

The main point I have to make in relation to this comment is that most parapsychologists are optimistic about the field of parapsychology and have seen it gradually grow and produce better and better data. Articles such as Marion Schlitz's 'Boundless mind coming of age in parapsychology' and Dean Radin's 'What's ahead?' are far from representative of the victim mentality to which Hovelmann refers; instead they celebrate the achievements of psi researchers, comment on the growing acceptance of the subject and project interesting

Chapter 5: What are the psi possibilities? 139 times ahead. Admittedly, these papers were written after Hovelmann published, but in all my readings I have hardly encountered this sort of negative perspective at all among psi researchers. Instead, I have been impressed by the patience and optimism of the people who have been involved long-term in psi research. I wonder which parapsychologists he is referring to since his chapter does not have references.

3. Adherents to the Kuhnian model seems to dispense scientists ( and parapsychologists, for that matter) from the obligation to advance tightly reasoned scientific propositions, because development of science and acceptance of supposed scientific truths need no longer be regarded as a question of foundation and justification but as one of social power. Thus, proper justification of scientific propositions can be viewed as being secondary or even an unnecessary accessory. (Hovelmann 1984, p.107-108)

I am not sure how he concludes that adopting a Kuhnian interpretation of the evidence for psi means that scientific obligation is any less than if such an approach is not adopted. Psi researchers, as we have seen, are adhering to the rigours that are demanded by the modem scientific method.

However, his second point is more valid. Many other people, such as Lakatos, have also had concerns that because Kuhn maintains that a paradigm will be judged successful partly on the basis of how many scientists are working under its umbrella then the supposed objective scientific process is thwarted and becomes something that could be dictated by fashion or social need. In answer to this I again refer to the fact that Kuhn also says that paradigms will be judged on their ability to explain the workings of the world- which is the general job description for a scientist. I think that this point is crucial to countering such criticisms, but I acknowledge that there are many who will not agree with me that this answers this criticism substantially enough.

In conclusion, Hovelmann' s arguments are similar to those already discussed by philosophers in the now famous disputes that ensued after the first publication of Kuhn's book. There is nothing new in his argument against historicism. I think I have pointed out that some of his attacks on parapsychology research are unwarranted, so no more will be

Chapter 5: What are the psi possibilities? 140 discussed on this matter. However, his use of parapsychology in this article is interesting and, I think, indicative that such a revolution might be in the process. Hovelmann uses parapsychology to argue that Kuhn's interpretation of the progress of science is incorrect. However he does this by making some claims about the study of psi which are patently untrue (such as psi research is conducted in an unscientific manner). On the other hand I use psi research to argue that Kuhn might be right about scientific revolutions. I do this by arguing that the evidence for psi is strong enough to be considered a possibility and I believe that it has been obtained using well accepted scientific method. Our differences are irreconcilable and we have both drawn conclusions on the basis of our interpretation of the evidence for psi. Arguments that are similar in structure to Hovelmann's are reiterated throughout the skeptical literature (eg Alcock 1981 ).

Chapter 5: What are the psi possibilities? 141 A rare perspective

John Beloff is one of the few parapsychologists who is positive towards the evidence for psi however, he thinks that it is not fruitful to discuss whether psi is indicative of a scientific revolution or not. He believes that the investigation for psi was originally undertaken with the attitude that "so far from apologizing for the inexplicability of their findings from a scientific point of view they exulted in evidence which seemed to point to an aspect of human personality that did not seem to belong to the world of mere objects where physical necessitation is paramount." (Beloff 1977 p.355). Psi research is expected to be undertaken in a realm not yet understood by current science. For Beloff the study of psi is also the study of the mental realm yet to be explored, not necessarily something which will change the way we believe the physical world to work, which is why he does not advocate the Kuhnian interpretation for the evidence for psi.

Unfortunately, I have been unable to find further discussion in his work on this issue as it is interesting that such an important figure for parapsychology (he set up the Koestler Chair at Edinburgh University) is against this otherwise well accepted interpretation of the evidence for psi. I would suggest however, that his interpretation of the evidence as indicative that a dualist account of mind should be pursued is necessary for his non-acceptance of the Kuhnian interpretation. This is not a stance that all psi researchers would want to necessarily adopt.

Summary

I don't deny that there are problems with the Kuhnian interpretation but I do find it an appropriate and useful interpretation that also seems to fit with what I know about the study of the results that the field of inquiry into psi has gained. Even the arguments against the use of Kuhn indicate to me that this kind of scientific revolution is taking place because of the, at times, irrational nature and recourse to barbed comment by advocators of this stance. Until I see the situation not fitting, I will continue to work on psi as an anomaly that has thrown the current state of science in a 'crisis stage'.

Chapter 5: What are the psi possibilities? 142 However, I hope that the work in the previous chapters of this thesis shows that I have not come to this conclusion because of the need to justify an interest in psi research. I don't use the Kuhn interpretation as a 'comforter' as thinkers like Hovelmann suggest. Instead, I find it fascinating that the status of the evidence for psi could indicate that we are in the throes of such a revolution and believe that philosophy is in a position to contribute to the development of our understanding of psi. Whether you accept the Kuhnian interpretation or not, there still remains the interesting question of what to do with the evidence that seems to indicate that psi exists. If however, you do accept the Kuhnian interpretation it is possible to then use what he has related about the process of scientific revolution and find out how best to proceed. Below is a small section looking at the ways that philosophy is in a better position than other disciplines to further investigate the evidence for anomalous communication and action at a distance.

Chapter 5: What are the psi possibilities? 143 Why philosophy is best placed to take up the challenge

Hoyt Edge presented a paper at conference on The Philosophy ofParapsychology, entitled 'Paradigms in parapsychology'. In it he maintained that: 'Parapsychology calls for a new paradigm. What we have to keep in mind is that with a new paradigm comes a new language, or at least new meanings for old words, in keeping with the rejection of the condition of meaning invariance.' (Edge 1977, p.116) In the discussion which followed, printed in the proceedings of the conference, Mauskopf made the point that 'the revolution itself only occurs when a new paradigm has come into existence.' (Edge 1977, p.121) He did not believe, and most people would accord with this, that psi has a working new paradigm which can contend with the current world view. He cautioned however that 'one thing for parapsychology is we're not going to see the revolution you talk about until somebody has actually come up with this new world.' (Edge 1977, p.122)

But where do we start? If Kuhn is correct, science textbooks will be the last place that the evidence for psi will be mentioned. For if psi is a potential instigator of scientific revolution, the textbooks will not start to present the evidence for psi when such evidence challenges so many of the theories already present in the other pages those textbooks. There has to be a dominant working model for it to get to this stage. If this is indeed the case the study of psi will remain separate for a long time to come. Instead, I propose a solution based on two of Kuhn's observations of previous scientific revolutions.

Kuhn points out two things that happen during the response to the crisis stage of paradigm changes. First, 'the decision to reject one paradigm is always simultaneously the decision to accept another, and the judgment leading to that decision involves the comparison of both paradigms with nature and with each other' (Kuhn 1996, p. 77). It is not a matter of being right or wrong; it is a matter of which paradigm is more successfully used that will ensure both its survival and wider acceptance, but the two need to be in contention with each other. If one is invisible, it cannot be used in this constructive manner. He also comments that in the past philosophy has been the discipline most able to cope with analysing the anomalies

Chapter 5: What are the psi possibilities? 144 that have given rise to the crisis. In this stage thought experiments and philosophical analysis are more useful tools than those of traditional scientific inquiry because the current worldview can no longer be used to explain them, even though a new workable worldview has yet to emerge (Kuhn 1996, p. 88). If science is unable to do this because the modem scientific view is so well entrenched, maybe it is within philosophy that this comparison could be made possible.

Thought experiments are a tool that philosophy has traditionally used. They are a way of investigating something that perhaps requires a very different understanding to that which we are accustomed to. Some philosophers have already started to such techniques to try to understand psi. For example Bob Brier has used philosophical thought experimentation to explore his interest into the nature of backwards causation and psi. In a self-confessed crude but interesting thought experiment, Bob Brier asks us to imagine our ideas about the anomalousness of psi in relation to a two dimensional being perplexed by the three dimensional nature of its world. In this way he hopes to show how psi might be conceived as part of a working theoretical model of the universe. (Thakur 1976, pp. 55-56). Attempts like these are useful and further consideration of these issues through thought experimentation in philosophy will, hopefully, aid in the development of psi theory.

Chapter 5: What are the psi possibilities? 145 Psi possibilities: Conclusion

If we are barking up the wrong tree then we shall not find what we are looking for no matter what kind ofladders we use. John Beloff

This thesis has focused on areas of philosophy that philosophers have participated in with regard to psi phenomena. The first of these was a discussion of the modern interpretation of the Hume miracle argument. The main positions that it is possible to take in regard to this argument are:

That psi is impossible so the evidence must have been produced by fraudulent means or self-delusion. (Except, as in the case of Flew and Price, if the evidence is shown to be repeatable.)

That psi is possible so the evidence requires further investigations as potentially real.

The nature of the debate is such that until more is understood about psi then these two positions will remain unresolved. This thesis took the line that the research into psi phenomena had perhaps obtained the repeatability that Flew and Price required and it was therefore time to explore the options that the acceptance of psi would entail. In the context of western science, these were that psi would eventually be explained with:

no change to current laws of nature

a modification to the laws of nature

a change of laws of nature.

Psi Possibilities: Conclusion 146 The most common view represented in psi literature is that the third option is most likely and many psi researchers have progressed on this basis. Thomas Kuhn's work on scientific revolutions has been used to support such a view and a discussion of this interpretation was undertaken. Problems with Kuhn's theories were discussed and addressed as well as the line taken against this interpretation. It was argued that the anomalous nature of psi and its use by a small number of scientists might indicate that we are in the crisis stage of a Kuhnian scientific revolution. This would seem to indicate that the third option is most likely.

John Beloff' s position was also discussed. He believes that the acceptance of psi phenomena as real means that one should adopt a dualist position and that this means that the evidence for psi should not be interpreted in terms of scientific revolution. Instead it indicates that psi challenges the physicalist interpretations in science and psychology but is compatible with a naturalist framework and does not require a reworking of the laws of nature if psi is understood in this context.

It is the contention of this thesis that the Kuhnian interpretation of the evidence for psi is the most appropriate path to take. This is because as research progresses and the study of psi grows there are indications that we can find situations that are similar to those that Kuhn would lead us to expect. However due to many as yet unknown factors which involve the anomalous nature of psi, more investigation is required. At present, it is best to acknowledge the various positions that are taken in regard to psi phenomena and then seek further answers to the questions raised at the end of Chapter 2 (reiterated below) and reassess the situation after some significant progress has been made in these areas.

Psi Possibilities: Conclusion 147 In Chapter 2 a discussion of psi in the context of naturalism took place. In the course of this discussion questions were raised in response to an outline of the four outcomes if psi is considered a possibility. Below, these questions are listed again.

I. That if psi does challenge both naturalism and physicalism what sort of mechanisms for understanding the world would be advocated?

2. If psi challenges physicalism but not naturalism what sort of world view will need to replace the materialist one?

3. What sort of developments in science would need to occur for psi to be explained according to Seager's rules for 'naturalisation'?

and finally,

4. What explanations would be sufficient to explain the evidence for psi as not posing a challenge to naturalism or physicalism?

This thesis has come part way to understanding how these questions are being addressed by those who are actively partaking in further psi research and discussion about psi in general. Some, like Beloff, have answered question 2 and taken the acceptance of psi phenomena as real to mean that a non-materialist interpretation of the evidence is warranted. Others, like Price and Flew, have addressed question 4 and believe that the issue of repeatability should be addressed before further consideration of the evidence takes place. Many have understood psi as a potential instigator for scientific revolution with consequences for the laws of nature as we currently understand them and some, such as Josephson and Walker are using psi in conjunction with quantum physics and are developing theoretical structures for psi in the process. These approaches are answering the issues raised in question 3. The Humean Skeptics continue to maintain that psi is not just implausible but impossible which can by applied to issues arising out of question 4. A picture is beginning to form but it is one which needs further detail. It is the understanding of this thesis that these issues should be further investigated through philosophy. Below is the final section of this thesis which gives an indication of areas in philosophy that are the most pertinent to the issues at hand.

Psi Possibilities: Conclusion 148 There are two main issues that are contentious in regard to psi. The first is the epistemological concerns with the evidence, the second are the larger-scale ontological and metaphysical concerns regarding theoretical development. These will be addressed in tum.

Psi and philosophy

As we have seen the evaluation of the evidence for psi is of paramount importance in dictating what direction future psi research is to take. It is a contentious area which has advocates for both the acceptance of the evidence and the rejection of the possibility of the evidence. It is unclear at the moment how those who advocate that the evidence for psi is strong enough for future theoretical development and those who advocate that psi should still be considered an impossibility should proceed to resolve their differences. It is suggested that philosophical investigati~n of the evidence for psi phenomena is warranted in regard to this issue.

Epistemological issues have been addressed in this thesis to a limited degree within the already established and accepted realm of scientific inquiry. But the larger scale problems that the philosophy of science engages in such as 'what constitutes scientific evidence' would also be applicable to further discussion of psi phenomena. Theories of explanation in relation to the anomalous could also be pursued as could current notions of 'what is a law of nature' especially in regard to anomalous phenomena.

Further investigation into the above areas will help to answer the question raised earlier in this section, particularly question 4: What explanations would be sufficient to explain the evidence for psi as not posing a challenge to naturalism or physicalism?

This thesis anticipates that the answer to that question will be that further development of explanation for psi phenomena will be required and at this stage theoretical development will need to be undertaken. Philosophy of mind and philosophy of science are obvious

Psi Possibilities: Conclusion 149 contenders for this and the issues that psi has traditionally been considered to impact on have already been mentioned in this thesis. These are issues regarding the mind/body problem and also the use of psi in the philosophy of science, particularly in regard to metaphysical theories of time, space and causation. Subsequent development of these theories will help to answer the first three questions raised above during the course of speculation on the potential of psi phenomena to impact on current science.

Attempts at theoretical development have been undertaken before. As early as 1916 the book The Law ofPsychic Phenomena (Hudson, 1916) was published. So, attempts to develop theoretical underpinnings of psi phenomena have been undertaken for almost as long as it has been considered an ostensibly paranormal subject. Subsequent attempts have been made that incorporate various new scientific discoveries as science has developed. For instance in the past telepathy has been considered akin to 'mental radio' and we have seen examples of recent attempts to combine psi with quantum theory by some physicists. No one single theory has remained dominant though and this is a problem that needs to be addressed.

The anomalous nature of psi has remained a problem and future theoretical development needs to take this into account. That is why I advocate the Kuhnian interpretation as a means of finding a way forward but other approaches are also able to be made. Discussions about the laws of nature and Broad's original work on psi and basic limiting principles will help to understand the relationship between science and psi from a philosophical perspective. These are areas that philosophy of science will be able to engage in and help to interpret the evidence that continues to emanate from the field of psi research across the disciplines.

With these final suggestions as to a way forward for the continued study of psi possibilities on philosophy this thesis comes to a close.

Psi Possibilities: Conclusion 150 Psi Possibilities: Bibliography

Audi, R. ( ed) 1999 The Cambridge Dictionary ofPhilosophy. 2nd edn, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Baldwin, J.M. (ed) 1958 Dictionary ofPhilosophy and Psychology, Vol 2, Gloucester, Massachusetts.

Alcock, J.E. 1981 Parapsychology: Science or Magic?. Pergamon Press, New York.

Alcock, J.E. 1986 Parapsychology's past eight years: A lack-of-progress report. In Frazier, K. ( ed) 1986 Science Confronts the Paranormal. Prometheus Books, New York, 20-27.

Alcock, J.E. 1987 Parapsychology: Science of the anomalous or search for the soul?. Behavioural and Brain Sciences, 10, 553-643.

Angoff, A. & Shapin, B. (eds) 1969 Psi Factors in Creativity: Proceedings ofan International Conference. Parapsychology Foundation, New York.

Armstrong, D.M. 1980 Naturalism, materialism and first philosophy. The Nature ofMind and Other Essays. University of Queensland Press, St Lucia, Queensland, 149-165.

Baum, R.G. 1974 Popper, Kuhn, Lakatos: A crisis of modern intellect. In Grim, P. (ed) 1990 Philosophy of Science and the Occult. 2nd edn, State University of New York Press, Albany, New York, 170-178.

BBC Radio 4 2001 Transcript: Could telepathy one day be explained by modern physics. Hosted by Sue MacGregor with Brian Josephson and Nicholas Humphries, Today Programme, October 2 [online] http:"www.tcm.phy.cam.ac.uk/-bdj 10/stamps/today.html on 27/10/01

Beichler, J. 1998a The search for Spock: Developing the theoretical basis of psi. YGGDRASIL: The Journal ofParaphysics, 1, 3 [online] http://members.aol.com/jebcolst/Paraphysics/searchl.htm on 8/6/02.

Beichler, J. 1998b Strange facts find a theory: A new dimension for psi. YGGDRASIL:The Journal of Paraphysics, 1, 4 [online] http://members.aol.com/yggdras/paraphysics/newdim.htm on 23/5/02.

Beichler, J. 1998c To be, or not to be? An analytical study of psi as a physical quantity. YGGDRASIL: The Journal ofParaphysics, 1, 3 [ online] http://members.aol.com/jebco 1st/Paraphysics/ispsiphy.htm on 23/5/02.

Beloff, J.1963 Explaing itne parapnormal, with Eipogue - 1977. In Ludwig, J. (ed) 1978 Philosophy and Parapsychology. Prometheus Books, New York, 353-370.

Beloff, J. 1990 Could there be a physical explanation for psi?. The Relentless Question, McFarland [online] http://moebius.psy.ed.ac.uk/-dualism/papers/physical.html on 12/6/02.

Beloff, J. 1993 Parapsychology: A Concise History. The Athlone Press, London. Bern, D. J. (1996). Ganzfeld phenomena. In G. Stein (Ed.), Encyclopedia ofthe paranormal (pp. 291-296). Buffalo, NY: Prornetheus Books. http://comp9.psych.cornel1.edu/dbem/ganzfeld.html on 7/8/02 Bern, DJ. & Honorton, C. 1994 Does psi exist? Replicable evidence for an anomalous process of information transfer. Psychological Bulletin, 115, 1, 4-27.

Psi possibilities: Bibliography 151 Bern, D.J., Palmer, J. & Broughton, R.S. 2001 Updating the ganzfeld database: A victim of its own success?. Journal ofParapsychology, 65, 3, 207-218.

Benner, D.G. (ed) 1985 Baker Encyclopedia ofPsychology. Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Bierman, D.J. & Radin, D.I. 1997 Anomalous anticipatory response on randomized future conditions. Perceptual & Motor Skills, 184, 689-690.

Bierman, D. J. 1998 Do PSI-phenomena suggest radical dualism? Toward a science ofconsciousness, Tucson 2, MIT Press, 709-713 [ online] http://www. psy. uva.nl/resedu/pn/PUB S/BIERMAN/ I 996/tucson/rpktucson2 .html on 12/6/02.

Bierman, D.J. 1999 The PRL autoganzfeld revisited: Refuting the sound leakage hypothesis. Journal ofParapsychology, 63, 271-274.

Blackbum, S. (ed) 1994 The Oxford Dictionary ofPhilosophy. Oxford University Press, Oxford.

Bohm, D. 1990 A new theory of the relationship of mind and matter. Philosophical Psychology, 3, 2, 271-286, [online] http://members.aol.com/Mszlazak/BOHM.html on l 7/6/02.

Braud, W.G. & Schlitz, M.J. 1991 Consciousness interactions with remote biological systems: Anomalous intentionality effects. Subtle Energies, 2, 1, 1-46.

Braude, S.E. 1979 ESP and Psychokinesis: A Philosophical Examination. Temple University Press, Philadelphia.

Braude, S.E. 1986 The Limits ofInfluence: Psychokinesis and the Philosophy ofScience. Routledge & Kegan Paul, New York.

Broad, C.D. 1949 Violations of basic limiting principles. (excerpts) In Flew, A. (ed) 1987 Readings in the Philosophical Problems ofParapsychology. Prometheus Books, New York, 37-52.

Broad, C.D. 1953 Religion, Philosophy and Psychical Research. Routledge & Kegan Paul, London.

Broderick, D. 1992 The Lotto Effect. Hudson Publishing, Melbourne.

Broughton, R.S. 1991 Parapsychology: The Controversial Science. Ballantine Books, New York.

Bunnin, N. & Tsui-James, E.P. (eds) 1996 The Blackwell Companion to Philosophy. Blackwell, Oxford.

Campbell, K. 1984 Body and Mind. 2nd edn, University of Notre Dame Press, Notre Dame, Indiana.

Chalmers, DJ. 1996 The Conscious Mind. Oxford University Press, New York.

Chaplin, J.P. (ed) 1985 Dictionary ofPsychology. 2nd edn, Dell, New York.

Child, I. 1985 Psychology and anomalous observations: The question of ESP in dreams. American Psychologist, 40, 1219-1230.

CSICOP homepage 2002 Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paramormal [online] http://www.csicop.org/about/CSICOPhomepage on 27/8/02

Psi possibilities: Bibliography 152 Delbridge, A. & Bernard, J.R.L. 1988 The Macquarie concise dictionary. The Macquarie Library, Sydney, Australia

Drever, J. (ed) 1974 A Dictionary ofPsychology. Penguin, Harmondsworth, Middlesex.

Duran, J. 1990 Philosophical difficulties with paranormal knowledge claims. In Grim, P. ( ed) 1990 Philosophy ofScience and the Occult. 2nd edn, State University of New York Press, Albany, New York, p.232-242.

Edge, H. 1977 The place ofparapdigms in parapsychology. In Shapin, B. & Coty, L. (eds) 1977 The Philosophy ofParapsychology: Proceedings ofan International Conference. Parapsychology Foundation, New York 106-125

Edwards, P. (ed) 1967 The Encylopedia ofPhilosophy, Vol. 6. Macmillan, New York.

English, H.B. & English, C. (eds) 1958 A Comprehensive Dictionary ofPsychological and Psychoanalytical Terms. Longman, Green and Co, Toronto.

Falk, R. 1986 On coincidences. In Frazier, K. ( ed) 1986 Science Confronts the Paranormal. Prometheus Books, New York, 43-56.

Feleppa, R. 1980 Kuhn, Popper and the normative problem of demarcation. In Grim, P. (ed) 1990 Philosophy ofScience and the Occult. 2nd edn, State University of New York Press, Albany, New York, 140-153.

Flew, A. 1980 Parapsychology: Science or pseudoscience?' In Grim, P. (ed) 1990 Philosophy ofScience and the Occult. 2nd edn, State University of New York Press, Albany, New York, 214-231.

Flew, A. 1987 Analyzing the concepts of parapsychology. In Flew, A. (ed) 1987 Readings in the Philosophical Problems ofParapsychology. Prometheus Books, New York, 87-I06.

Frazier, K. (ed) The Hundredth Monkey. Prometheus Books, New York.

Gardner, M. 1989 How Not to Test a Psychic. Prometheus Books, New York.

Good, I.J. (1987) Where has the billion trillion gone?, Nature, 389, [online] http://members.cruzio.com/~quanta/review .html on 6/4/02.

Gosling, J. 1996 Introductory Statistics. Pascal Press, Sydney.

Griffin, D.R. 1997 Parapsychology, Philosophy and Spirituality: A Postmodern Exploration. State University ofNew York Press, Albany, New York.

Gurney, E., Myers, F. & Podmore, F. 1970 Phantasms ofthe Living, Vol. 1. Scholars' Facsimiles and Reprints, Gainesville, Florida. Originally published in 1886.

Guttenplan, S.D. ( ed) 1997 Blackwell Companion to Philosophy: A Companion to the Philosophy ofMind. Blackwell, Malden, Massachusetts.

Hansel, C.E.M. 1989 The Search/or Psychic Power. Prometheus Books, New York.

Harding, M.E. 1973 Psychic Energy: Its Source and its Transformation. Princeton University Press, New Jersey.

Psi possibilities: Bibliography 153 Hardy, A., Harvie, R. & Koestler A. 1973 The Challenge of Chance. Hutchinson, London.

Harre, R. & Lamb, R. (eds) 1983 The Encyc/opedic Dictionary ofPsychology. Blackwell, Oxford.

Harriman, P.L. 1946 Encyc/opedia ofPsychology. Philosophical Library, New York.

Haslam, S.A. & McGarty, C. 1998 Doing Psychology. Sage, London.

Haynes, R. 1982 The Society for Psychical Research 1882-1982: A History. Macdonald & Co, London.

Herodotus 1954 Histories ( de Selincourt, A., translator). Penguin, Harmondsworth, Middlesex.

Honderich, T. (ed) 1995 The Oxford Companion to Philosophy. Oxford University Press, New York.

Hovelmann, G.H. 1984 Against historicism: Critical remarks on Thoams Kuhn's conception of science and its reception in parapsychology. Journal ofParapsychology, 48, 101-119.

Hudson, T. J. 1916 The Law ofPsychic Phenomena. G.P. Putnam's Sons, London.

Hume, D. 1975 [1748] An everlasting check? (excerpts) In Flew, A. (ed) 1987 Readings in the Philosophical Problems ofParapsychology. Prometheus Books, New York, 203-210.

Hyman, R. 1986 Outracing the evidence: The muddled 'Mind Race'. In Frazier, K. ( ed) 1986 Science Confronts the Paranormal. Prometheus Books, New York, 91-109.

Hyman, R. 1996 Abstract: Evaluation of a program on anomalous mental phenomena. Journal ofScientific Exploration, 10, 2 [online] http://www.scientificexploration.org/jse/abstracts/v 1On 1a2.html on 18/7 /02.

Hyman, R. & 1985 The Ganzfeld Psi Experiment. Journal ofParapschology, 49, 3-49

Irwin, H. 2001 Parapsychology as a career. Australian Journal ofParapsychology, 1, 1, 2-8.

Jenkins, H. 2001 Examining the evidence for psi in the context of scientific revolution. Australian Journal ofParapsychology 1, 2, 117-126.

Josephson, B. 1994 Article on the program Heretic. Times Higher Education Supplement, 12 August, London [online] http://www.tcm.phy.cam.ac.uk/~bdj 10/mrn/articles/heretic.txt on 18/7 /02.

Josephson, B. 2001a The 'fury' expressed by (some) scientists at the Royal Mail stamps booklet that mentioned telepathy: What implications?. Brian Josephson's website [online] http://www.tcm.phy.cam.ac.uk/~bdj JO/stamps/implications.html on 27/10/01.

Josephson, B. 2001 b Physics and the Nobel Prizes. Brian Josephson's website [online] http://www.tcm.phy.cam.ac.uk/~bdj 10/stamps/text.html on 27/10/01.

Josephson, B. 2001c Responses to 'telepathy row' articles. Brian Josephson's website [online] http://www.tcm.phy.cam.ac.uk/~bdj 10/stamps/more_responses.html on 27 /10/02.

Josephson, B. 2001d Telepathy has stamp of truth. The Observer, letters, London, October 7 [online] www.observer.co.uk/letters/story/0,6903,564641,00.html on 27 /10/01.

Josephson, B. & Pallikari, F. 1991 Biological utilisation of quantum nonlocality. Foundations ofPhysics 20, 197-207 [online] http://www.tcm. phy .cam.ac. uk/~bdj 10/papers/bell.html on 0 1/08/03.

Psi possibilities: Bibliography 154 Kennedy, J.E. 2001 Why is psi so elusive? A review and proposed model. Journal ofParapsychology, 65, 3, p.219-239.

Klarreich, E. 2001 Stamp booklet has physicists licked. Nature, 413, 339 [online] http://tcm.phy.cam.ac.uk/~bdj l 0/stamps/nature.html on 27/10/0 I.

Krippner, S. & Rubin, D. 1975 The Energies of Consciousness: Explorations in Acupuncture, Auras, and Kirlian Photography. Interface, New York.

Kuhn, T.S. 1970 Logic of discovery or psychology of research? In Grim, P. (ed) 1990 Philosophy ofScience and the Occult. 2nd edn, State University of New York Press, Albany, New York, 123-130.

Kuhn, T.S. 1970a The Structure ofScientific Revolutions. 2nd edn ( enlarged), University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

Kuhn, T.S. 1996 The Structure ofScientific Revolutions. 3rd edn, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

Lakatos, I. 1970 The Popperian versus the Kuhnian Research Programme. In Grim, P. ( ed) 1990 Philosophy ofScience and the Occult. 2nd edn, State University of New York Press, Albany, New York, 131-139.

LeShan, L. 1977 Philosophy and parapsychology: Impossible bedfellows or the marriage for the future? In Shapin, B. & Coly, L. (eds) 1977 The Philosophy ofParapsychology: Proceedings ofan International Conference. Parapsychology Foundation, New York, 52-65.

Liddell, H.G. and Scott, R. 1856 Greek-English Lexicon. 4th edn, Clarendon Press, Oxford.

Lilienfeld, S.O. 1999 New analyses raise doubts about replicability of ESP findings. Skeptical Inquirer Nov/Dec, 9-12.

Lucadou W. v. 2001 Hans in luck: The currency of evidence in parapsychology. Journal ofParapsychology, 65, l, 3-14.

Ludwig, J. (ed) 1978 Philosophy and Parapsychology. Prometheus Books, New York.

Marks, D.F. 1986 Remote viewing revisited. In Frazier, K. ( ed) 1986 Science Confronts the Paranormal. Prometheus Books, New York, 110-12 l.

Mautner, T ( ed) 1996 Dictionary ofPhilosophy.Blackwell, Cambridge, MA.

Mauskopf, S.H. & McVaugh, M.R. 1980 The Elusive Science: Origins ofExperimental Psychical Research. John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, Maryland.

McConnell, R.A. 1983 An Introduction to Parapsychology in the Context ofScience. R.A. McConnell, Pittsburgh.

McCrone, J. 1993 Line up for the telepathy test. New Scientist, 138, 1873, 29-33.

Meehl, P. & Scriven, M. 1956 The compatibility of science and ESP. In Flew, A. (ed) 1987 Readings in the Philosophical Problems ofParapsychology. Prometheus Books, New York, 230-233.

Milton, J. & Wiseman, R. 1999 Does psi exist? Lack ofreplication of an anomalous process of information transfer. Psychological Bulletin, 125, 4, 387-391.

Psi possibilities: Bibliography 155 Mishlove, J. 2000 The PK Man. Hampton Roads, Charlottesville, Virginia.

Murphy, G 1971 The problem of repeatability in psychical research. In Flew, A. (ed) 1987 Readings in the Philosophical Problems ofParapsychology. Prometheus Books, New York, 254-267.

Nicol, J.F. 1977 Philosophers as psychic investigators. In Shapin, B. & Coly, L. (eds) 1977 The Philosophy of Parapsychology: Proceedings ofan International Conference. Parapsychology Foundation, New York 145-168.

Ostrander, S. & Schroeder, L. 1977 PSI: Psychic Discoveries Behind the Iron Curtain. Abacus, London.

Parker, A. 2000 A review of the ganzfeld work at Gothenburg University. Journal ofthe Society for Psychical Research, 64, 1, 1-15.

Parker, P. 2001 Telepathy has stamp of truth. The Observer, letters, London, October 7, [online] www.observer.co.uk/letters/story/0,6903,564641,00.html on 27/10/01.

Parker, A., Persson, A. & Haller, 2000 Using qualitative ganzfeld research for theory development: Top-down processes in psi-meditation. Journal -of the Society for Psychical Research, 64, 2, 65-81.

Playfair, G.L. 1976 The Indefinite Boundary. Souvenir Press, London.

Popper, K.R. 1968 Science: Conjectures and refutations. In Grim, P. ( ed) 1990 Philosophy ofScience and the Occult. 2nd edn, State University ofNew York Press, Albany, New York, 104-110.

PRF 1998-2002 Parapsychology research forum. Email discussion list. [email protected]

Price, G. 1955 Hume's argument as a challenge to parapsychology. (excerpts) In Flew, A. (ed) 1987 Readings in the Philosophical Problems ofParapsychology. Prometheus Books, New York, 214-229.

Price, H. 1994 Poltergeist. Senate, London.

Prince, W.F. 1963 Noted Witnesses for Psychic Occurrences. University Books, New York.

Radin, D. 1997 The Conscious Universe: The Scientific Truth ofPsychic Phenomena. HarperCollins, New York.

Radin, D. 1998 FAQ for the Consciousness Research Laboratory: What are the major experiments today?. [online] http://www.parapsych.org/highlightslfaq/parafaqlpara2.htm1#Whatarethemajorpsiexperimentstoday on 15/07/02.

Radin, D. 2000 What's ahead?. Journal ofParapsychology, 64, 353-364.

Radin, D.I. & Nelson, R.D. 1989 Evidence for consciousness related anomalies in random physical systems. Foundations ofPhysics, 19, 12, 1499-1514.

Rao, D.R. & Palmer, J. 1987 The anomaly called psi: Recent research and criticism. Behavioural and Brain Sciences, 10, 539-551.

Rao, K.R. 1984 The Basic Experiments in Parapsychology. McFarland, Jefferson, North Carolina.

Reber, A. ( ed) 1999 The Penguin Dictionary ofPsychology. Penguin, Harrnondsworth, Middlesex.

Psi possibilities: Bibliography 156 Reinsel, R. 1990 Parapsychology: An emprical science. In Grim, P. (ed) 1990 Philosophy ofScience and the Occult. 2nd edn, State University ofNew York Press, Albany, New York, 187-204.

Rey, G. 1997 Contemporary Philosophy ofMind. Blackwell, Cambridge, MA

Rhine, J.B. 1950 New Frontiers ofthe Mind. Pelican, London.

Rhine, J.B. 1964 Extra-sensory Perception. Bruce Humphries, Boston.

Rhine, J.B. 1974 Telepathy and other untestable hypotheses. Journal ofParapsychology, 38, 2, 13 7-153.

Rhine, J.B. 1975 Second report on a case of experimenter fraud. In Grim, P. (ed) 1990 Philosophy ofScience and the Occult. 2nd edn, State University ofNew York Press, Albany, New York, 253-265.

Rhine, L.E. 1961 Hidden Channels ofthe Mind. William Shane Associates, New York.

Robinson, R. Parapormal means or magic without means? In Flew, A. ( ed) 1987 Readings in the Philosophical Problems ofParapsychology. Prometheus Books, New York, 53-56.

Roll, W.G. 1977 Poltergeists. In Wolman, B.B., Dale, L.A., Schneider, G.R. & Ullman, M. (eds) 1977 Handbook ofParapsychology. McFarland & Company, Jefferson, North Carolina, 382-413.

Schlitz M. 2001 Boudnless mind: Coming of age in parapsychology. Journal ofParapsychology, 65, 335-350.

Schmidt, H. & Dalton, K. 1999 PK test with repeated efforts on prerecorded targets. Journal of Parapsychology, 63, 275-283.

Schmidt, H. 1976 PK effect on pre-recorded targets. Journal ofthe American SPR, 70, 267-291.

Seager, W. 2000 Real patterns and surface metaphysics. In Ross, D. & Thompson, D. Dennett 's Philosophy: A Comprehensive Assessment. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 95-129.

Seymour, P. 1992 The Paranormal: Beyond Sensory Science. Arkana, Hannondsworth, Middlesex.

Shapin, B. & Coty, L. (eds) 1977 The Philosophy ofParapsychology: Proceedings ofan International Conference. Parapsychology Foundation, New York.

Shapin, B. & Coly, L. ( eds) 1985 Parapsychology, Philosophy and Religious Concepts: Proceedings ofan International Conference. Parapsychology Foundation, New York.

Sheldrake, R. 2001 Experiments on the sense of being stared at: The elimination of possible artefacts. Journal ofthe Society for Psychical Research, 65, 2, 122-13 7.

Sinclair, U. 1930 Mental Radio: Does it Work and How?. T. Werner Laurie, London.

Smith, D. 2002 A wriggle in time. Sydney Morning Herald Weekend Edition, May 11-12, 30.

Smith, M.D. 1999 Educating parapsychologists. The Journal ofParapsychology, 63 Sept, 235-246.

Spencer-Brown, G. 1966 The data of psychical research; a study of three hypotheses. Wolstenholme, G.E.W. & Millar, E.C.P. 1966 Extrasensory Perception. Citadel Press, New York, 73-79.

Stein, G (ed) 1996 The Encyc/opedia ofthe Paranormal. Prometheus Books, New York.

Psi possibilities: Bibliography 157 Spottiswoode, J. 1997 Apparent association between effect size in free response anomalous cognition experiments and local sidereal time. Journal ofScientific Exploration, 11, 2 [online] http://www.psy.uva.nl/ResEdu/Pn/EDU/PSlcourse/psi _library/jse _ 1st. pdf on 2/8/02.

SPR homepage 2002 Society for Psychical Research [online] http://moebius.psy.ed.ac.uk/~spr/about.html on 27/8/02

SPR research directory 2002 Society for Psychical Research [online] http://www.spr.ac.uk/resdir_ Uni UK.html on 27 /8/02

Stoeber, M. & Meynell, H. (eds) 1996 Critical Reflections on the Paranormal. State University ofNew York Press, Albany, New York.

Storm, L. 1999 Synchronicity, causality, and acausality. Journal ofParapsychology, 63, 247-269.

Targ, R. & Puthoff, H.E. 1977 Mind-Reach. Jonathan Cape, London.

Targ, R. 2000 The scientific and spiritual implications of psychic abilities. Summary of paper presented at: Subtle energies and uncharted realms ofthe mind, July 2-7 2000 [online] http://www.esalenctr.org/display/confpage.cfm?confid=8&pageid=7 5&pgtype= I on 13/6/02.

Tart, C.T. 1977 Psi: Scientific Studies ofthe Psychic Realm. E.P. Dutton, New York.

Tart, C.T. 1997 Scientific orientation of the parapsychology course: Some notes on blind faith and skepticism. Course notes for course taught in the College of Sciences at UNL V [online] http://www.unlv.edu/Colleges/Sciences/Consciousness_Studies/skepticism.html on 26/6/02.

Thakur, S.C. ( ed) 1976 Philosophy and Psychical Research. George Allen & Unwin, London.

Thalboume, M.A. 1982 A Glossary of Terms used in Parapsychology. Heinemann, London.

Thalboume, M.A. 2001 A Iayperson's guide to the theory of psychopraxia. Australian Journal of Parapsychology, 1, 2, 127-132.

Thouless, R.H. 1963 Experimental Psychical Research. Pelican, Harmondsworth, Middlesex.

Thouless, R.H. 1972 From Anecdote to Experiment in Psychical Research. Routledge and Kegan Paul, London.

Toulmin, S. 1986 The new philosophy of science and the 'paranormal'. In Frazier, K. ( ed) 1986 Science Confronts the Paranormal. Prometheus Books, New York, 13-19.

Turing, A.M. 1950 Computing machinery and intelligence. Mind, 59, 433-460. [online] http://www.loebner.net/Prizef/Turingarticle.html on 24/6/02.

Utts, J. 1991 Replication and meta-analyses in parapsychology. Statistical Science, 6, 4, 363-403.

Utts, J. 1996 An assessment of the evidence for psychic functioning. Journal of Scientific Exploration, 10, 1 3-30.

Vasiliev, L.L. 1965 Mysterious Phenomena ofthe Human Psyche. University Books, New York.

Psi possibilities: Bibliography 158 Walker, E.H. 2003 Members index: Evan Harris Walker, Parapsychology Association homepage. [online] http://www.parapsych.org./members/e_h_ walker.html on 05/08/03.

Watson, L.W. 1973 Supernature. Hodder and Stoughton, London.

Wiesinger, A. 1957 Occult Phenomena in the Light of Theology. Burns & Oates, London.

Williams, M. & Lang, R. 2002 Examining macro-psychokinetic experiments. Australian Journal of Parapsychology, 2, I, 37-43.

Wilson, C. & Grant, J. 1982 Directory ofPossibilities. Corgi Books, London.

Wiseman, R. & Morris, R.L. 1995 Guidelines for Testing Psychic Claimants. Prometheus Books, New York.

Wolstenholme, G.E.W. & Millar, E.C.P. 1966 Extrasensory Perception. Citadel Press, New York.

Zollschan, G.K., Schumaker, J.F. & Walsh, 1989 Exploring the Paranormal. Unity Press, Sydney

Psi possibilities; Bibliography 159