What are the myths concerning skepticism of Parapsychology?
There are numerous myths presented by skeptics of Parapsychology to discredit the science. For example, many people say that Parapsychology is not taught in universities while a number of universities provide a Parapsychology focus as part of their degree programs.
I am interested in reading specific myths or statements that are presented as a skeptical perspective on Parapsychology. If you make a general statement like "All of this stuff is real", I will thumbs down you and you will not get a best answer from me. I want specific statements, and I am not interested in reading about your personal experiences.
On the other hand, I am looking for honest and thoughtful opinions without any regard to which position they are supporting. Please try to keep the responses respectful.
2010-10-17T10:12:43Z
Chainlightning, I don't understand your answer. Is the need for a verification test a myth that skeptics use?
Eri: First thumbs down - with warning. I asked for specific myths and not a general statement that no evidence exists. Answer my other question with specifics. I think it suits your perspective better.
wilds_of_virginia2010-10-19T08:37:41Z
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Documented myths are hard to come by, Tunsa. I will fall back on human nature. There is the logical fallacy of circular logic which have pointed out before (to a blizzard of thums down). "Since ghosts don't exists, what you saw must have been automobile lights, a dream, or a trick by one of your friends."
One of my favorites is any information from a skeptic site is automatically believed to be true. The so-called skeptics uncritically believe anything from Snopes.com or other similar sites. In a similar vein, scientists, eager to tear down the work of a paranormal researcher will cherry pick the data to show there is really nothing going on. Since the burden of proof is on the paranormal researcher, and most scientists don't want their precious world view disturbed, it is easy to believe the skeptic poking holes in a hypothesis involving the paranormal. These same scientists usually don't take the time to see if the criticism is valid. Here is one example. http://www.sheldrake.org/D&C/controversies/shermer.html
You've come up with a difficult question. I'm sure there are some examples of anti parapsychology myth created by skeptics, but I can't think of any. History tells us that scientists can be as disagreeable and deceitful as anyone else. Tesla vs Edison in the late 19th and early 20th century for example. Any honest skeptic is aware of that. Still, myth creation seems much more prevalent from the pro parapsychology side then the skeptical. While your statement about Universities may be true technically. It's no myth, when I say it's virtually impossible to find a university where a career minded student can receive a degree, masters or doctorate in parapsychology
Myths? To begin with, although it is not entirely true that universities are not completely devoid of parapsychological courses, there has been a remarkable decline in the numbers for them since the 1980's, and most of the funding is from private donations.
As for what the "believers" often tout as being myths propagated by skeptics, I suppose the truths of the failure of the para psychological field to provide real evidence for life after death experiences, auras, telekinesis, remote viewing, etc. While at the same time, the field has been rife with fraud-for example in the Soal/Goldney experiments-as well as being the victims of cleverly conceived exposes' of the field from skeptics (see Project Alpha). Not to mention the extreme methodological flaws in the research methods and the lack of reproducibility of their "positive" results.
Somehow, I think you may not feel I've "followed the rules" as you've laid them down, but perhaps I failed to understand the question...
OK, come up with a university that offers an accredited degree in parapsychology. Keep in mind that a few used to, but the parapsychology programs that used to be associated with, say, Edinburgh and Utrecht are no long considered part of the universities (they have gotten rid of them).
Simply put, parapsychologists never found any evidence of the paranormal. All the tests that were done correctly were negative, and all the ones with a positive result were meddled with and could not be reproduced (which is a basic hallmark of a real science).