The Limits of Influence Psychokinesis and the Philosophy of Science by Braude

by Stephen E. Braude

Levitations, materializations, healings, earthquake-like rocking. The evidence of large scale spontaneous psychokinesis through history is a neglected and unjustly maligned aspect of the science of parapsychology. In "The Limits of Influence" Stephen E. Braude argues that the familiar card-guessing experiments and statistical proofs' of PSI will never elicit important or revealing facts about the phenomena. Instead he turns our attention to the substantial (if sometimes bizarre) qualitative evidence. Not only does this pose no threat to the fabric of science, but it holds out hope for substantial progress in psychology, as well as in the philosophy of science and the philosophy of mind which have so far have failed to solve fundamental problems of consciousness and intentionality. This book should be of interest to students and teachers of philosophy and psychology.

Genres: Paranormal

Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

Stephen E. Braude is an American philosopher and parapsychologist. He is a past president of the Parapsychological Association, Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Scientific Exploration, and a professor of philosophy at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. He is also an accomplished jazz pianist and composer.

Braude received his Phd. in philosophy from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 1971. After working as a lecturer in the philosophy department at UMass Amherst, he found a permanent home at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, working successively as an assistant, associate, and full professor. He served as the Chair of the Philosophy department between 1998 and 2005. He has received numerous fellowships, awards, and grants including but not limited to the National Endowment for the Humanities Research Fellowship, numerous grants from the Parapsychology Foundation, and the Distinguished Achievement Award of the International Society for the Study of Dissociation. He has also received several Faculty Research Grants from UMBC.

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you're like most people, you simply dismiss the veridicality of psi claims without a second thought. "Of course that kind of stuff doesn't happen." And of course if you're honest you know that's a knee jerk response. You know you've never given any serious attention to the evidence or arguments parapsychologists have invoked in favor of psychokinetic PK ability.

Braude's book might not convince you that PK ability exists. It does convince you that your skepticism is unwarranted. It defends those abilities if they do exist, showing your objections (and those of other skeptics) have a whole lotta work to do to even rise to the level of serious, rather than knee-jerk, challenges.

He also presents some cases that have been attributed to PK abilities, and the evidence needs accounting for, not dismissing.

He defends appeals to these kinds of anecdotal evidence in a very strong and interesting way. What we normally would think, evidence from laboratory experiments, might not be the best kind of way to gather the evidence, or judge it. You'll have to read Braude for the specifics.

Besides profiting from the explicit scope of the book, there's also implicit or by-product advantages of reading this book. Many of Braude's arguments can be carried over into the realm of apologetics - particularly his defense of testimonial evidence. His comments on the philosophy of science will prove to be very helpful too. So, this book succeeds at many levels. Not for the faint of heart, though; especially if you're unfamiliar with the terrain covered and vocabulary used in parapsychology.

[Zoha Khan · Rating 1 out of 5]

My first real attempt at understanding parapsychology and I must admit I am disappointed. This book is merely a waste of paper-not at all enlightening and boring. This should be sufficient commentary on this excuse for a book, but I do not want to offend and telekinesis believers. So maybe my lack of enthusiasm for this book is due to the possibility that I am not open-minded and intelligent enough to understand whatever it is that Braude spend too many pages writing about.

[Mischke · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read this as an undergrad in the author's class entitled "Philosophy and Parapsychology"

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Excellent, reasoned, approach to ESP and related issues, but a bit of a slog to read.