Science and Psychic Phenomena: The Fall of the House of Skeptics

by Chris Carter, Rupert Sheldrake (Foreword)

Reports of psychic abilities, such as telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition & micro-psychokinesis, date back to the beginning of recorded history in all cultures. Documented, reproducible evidence exists that these abilities are real, yet much of the mainstream scientific community has denied the existence of psi phenomena for centuries. The battle over the reality of psi has carried on in scientific academies, courtrooms, scholarly journals, newspapers & radio stations & has included scandals, wild accusations, ruined reputations, as well as bizarre characters on both sides of the debate. If true evidence exists, why is the study of psi phenomena so controversial? Why has the controversy lasted for centuries? Exploring the scandalous history of parapsychology & citing decades of research, Carter shows that, contrary to mainstream belief, replicable evidence of psi phenomena exists. The controversy over parapsychology continues not because ESP & other abilities can't be verified but because their existence challenges deeply held worldviews more strongly rooted in religious & philosophical beliefs than in hard science. He reveals how materialist doctrine has become an infallible article of faith for many scientists & philosophers, much like the convictions of religious fundamentalists. Consequently, the possibility of psychic abilities cannot be tolerated because their existence would refute materialism & contradict a deeply ingrained ideology. By outlining the origin of this passionate debate, he calls on all open-minded persons to reach their own conclusions by looking at the vast body of evidence.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, Paranormal, Psychology, Philosophy, Physics, Research

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Chris Carter was educated at Oxford and is the author of three highly acclaimed books and several published articles dealing with controversial issues at the intersection of science and philosophy. His latest work is The Case for the Afterlife.

After working in the field of finance, Carter currently devotes his time to writing, playing racquet sports, and teaching physics.

Reviews

[Erik Graff]

As part of his continuing campaign to convince me that he is immortal, Michael Miley sent me this book as well as Carter's subsequent volume, Science and the Near-death Experience. While I remain unconvinced about Michael's immortality--or, indeed, of the perdurance of any individual personality after death--this volume goes a long way towards convincing its readers of the validity of psi-research by representing the evidence, the arguments of skeptics and the refutation of same.

After a brief history of the field usually referred to, misleadingly, as "parapsychology" and of the debates it has engendered, Carter devotes most of his attention to the allegation that such psi-phenomena as remote viewing, telepathy, micropsychokinesis and precognition are irreconcilable with contemporary science, particularly physics. This takes him into a close and unusually clear examination of quantum mechanics, which, he maintains, is entirely compatible with ESP and certain kinds of psychokinesis. While I am not expert enough in microphysics to pass judgment, I must admit that his arguments give pause to my own incredulous skepticism.

[Allen B. Lloyd]

I tried to approach this book with an open mind. I was curious to see if Carter could present compelling evidence that there is something to his claim psychic phenomena exists. And before I go any further I think it’s important to admit that I am a frequent visitor to the "house of skeptics", and a firm believer in it’s foundation, the scientific method.

Roughly 40 or so pages into this tome I realized that I was not going to be given well-reasoned arguments, or evidence, for the existence of the paranormal. Instead I found in my hands a sputtering polemic that gathered an army of straw men, ad hominem attacks, and other logical fallacies to support its questionable thesis. Carter’s attacks against skeptic/magician James Randi and the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry are particularly egregious, but easily debunked by a visit to a good library.

After finishing the book I was left with two thoughts. Carter has no idea what skepticism means, and he also seems to be in the dark about the scientific method. Perhaps he should have consulted Goggle before writing this book. No matter, **Science and Psychic Phenomena** was clearly written for folks that believe all things psychic, or at least for folks willing to put their critical thinking skills on hold; to have fun or something, like watching a bad movie for laughs.

There are a number of excellent reviews about this book online, including a few on Amazon written by readers. Curiously there is someone purporting to be Carter that challenges criticism of his book on Amazon with argumentative techniques not dissimilar to those found in the book in question. Is Carter trolling the Internet in search of naysayers? I don’t know, and I have no interest in finding out.

Carter’s book collapses under the weight of its intellectual dishonesty. I have no idea if its distortion of logic and reason was intentional, or simply because of sloppy research. This book would be an excellent tool for critical thinking classes. It could be used as an example how to not present an argument. Other then that it has no viable function, unless, of course, you’re a fan of mean-spirited screeds.

[Chip Cook]

If you want some stuff to make your conversations with angry sciency people who are always certain that they are correct about everything more fun than they used to be, here you go.

[Ahmed Abdelsattar]

يجب علينا القيام بتجارب أكثر في هذا المجال الذي يعتبره البعض مجالا علميا والبعض الآخر يصفه بأنه لا يمت للعلم بصلة و أن كل ما في هذا المجال هو من قبيل الصدفة أو الخداع أو عدم فهم النتائج الإحصائية.

بالنسبة لأسلوب الكتاب فهو مكتوب بإنجليزية سهلة واضحة المعاني 

مشكلتي كانت مع طول الكتاب فقد إستغرقت وقت طويل في قراءته وقد تعرفت على أنواع تلك الظواهر مثل التحريك عن بعد و معرفة شيء خارج نطاق الحواس.

لأول مرة أكتشف أن هناك جمعيات هدفها هدم الظواهر الباراسيكولوجية فهذا وضح لى أن هناك صراعا بين جمعيات مختلفة المؤيدة والمعارضة للباراسيكولوجي

[Dan Zarfati]

That is a not very difficult book to read, that theorizes and gives further background history to the research of the likes as Rupert Sheldrake and many others who have been investigating and practicing this sort of phenomena/activity. It displays with a method all the weaknesses of the Skeptic thinking and their dogmatic and outdated worldview. Fascinating book, I think it deserves a follow-up and more cases studied in detail, but as an introduction is a tour de force. So more books like this would make the case even more solid, very good, and clear to read.

[Bertie]

I'm a bit sad to have to give this only two stars. While some of the information was actually quite interesting to think on, the arguments were presented in such an inflammatory way I simply couldn't take them seriously. Though I consider myself quite open to the possibility of alternative phenomena, the arguments against skeptics and general skepticism were so hostile, I began to question the plausibility of the writer's own dogmatic beliefs--perhaps the opposite of what this text intends.

[Mangoo]

Actual skepticism is not dogmatic disbilief, rather suspension of belief. To maintain an open mind is hard, so much so that even Hume, who famously exposed the problem of induction, fell closely afterwards with his inconsistent argument against miracles. To discuss skepticism and his healthy role for the progress of knowledge and particularly science, one should recall some recent history of science, some philosophy of science (at least Popper's falsificationism and Kuhn's paradigm shifts that intersperse "normal" science), the psychology of cognitive dissonance and of dogmatism. The author does pretty well all of this in his attempt of removing fog from the study of psi, which is even per se considered controversial in spite of mounting evidence and the compatibility with current physical theories, essentially quantum mechanics. We get to know about evidence, anecdotes about the mala fide of CSI/CSICOP's exponents (Randi, Kurtz, Gardner and more), theories of psi, both psychological and physical (including dualistic), and how the skeptics self-appoint themselves to constantly rise the bar of sufficient evidence, though the quality of some of this research admittedly surpass that of admitted science. Carter does a good job in surveying the multiple aspects of the topic, carefully footnoting the text and providing extensive references, and structuring the book in an incremental way, moving from historical anecdotes to discussions on scientific-ness and the implications of psi for our worldview. In spite of the quality of the lean book, the text will admittedly not convince the dogmatics though, even to open to doubt, as it could be expected.

[Anthony O'Connor]

Good coverage

This was a good book. Very honest, readable and informative, and very thought provoking. The main thing I took away was that the frequent assertion that’s it’s all a fraud and that there is no evidence is itself dishonest and fraudulent. There are plenty of scientific studies raising all sorts of interesting questions. But the skeptics (aka dogmatists) dismiss it all out of hand - since it obviously must be wrong. This is not science. I’m motivated to set up some experiments of my own. We’ll see what we see.
I loved it that he took James Randi to task - explaining why his famous prize/challenge is itself to a large extant fraudulent, and not much more than a self serving self promoting publicity stunt.
The book is a bit weaker in its theoretical and philosophical discussions. No need to rehash philosophy of science 101. And Please do not keep bringing up obsolete and silly interpretations of quantum mechanics. Quantum this and quantum that. It’s not the answer to everything just because it’s weird.
The close connection between the as yet unsolved mind/body problem (consciousness) and psi phenomena was well made.
Lots to think about.

[Andy Kurzweil]

I found this to be a well written and interesting read. However, I think it is overly biased in favor of the existence of psi.

The book is divided into three sections each of which asks a question: 1) "Is there conclusive experimental evidence for psi," 2) "would the existence of psi contradict established science," and 3) "is parapsychology a science?" The author's answers are yes, no and yes.

Prior to the above, there is a "Background: The Nature of the Controversy" section which discusses skepticism of psi, especially CSICOP, The Committee for the Scientific Investigation of the Paranormal (later shortened to CSI) and is very critical of them.

[Luke]

Excellent introduction to the main issues regarding the status of Parapsychology as a science. Covers the evidence for PSI in the laboratory very well and answers the standard skeptical objections. Includes much interesting material on the Philosophy of science, as well. Carter owes a debt to Stephen Braude, but goes in a different (Quantum Mechanical) direction with the evidence. Plus, it was written by the creator of the X-Files. Recommended.

[Sylvia]

A very important book! See my long review at Amazon.com.

[Amy Romashko]

Interesting topic, somewhat boring and slow book. Didn't finish.