Philosophy 322 – Critical Thinking about the Paranormal

For detailed examples of good and bad writing, see my booklet Student Success Guide: Writing Skills, available free online at http://www.skepdic.com/refuge/writingskills.pdf
You can also buy a copy in the bookstore.

Late papers will be downgraded one letter grade.

Topic: Experience and experiment: why experiences that seem paranormal, though powerful persuaders, must be backed up with scientific experiments.

Describe anecdotal evidence (stories) for such beliefs, and explain why anecdotal evidence, though powerful and persuasive, is not considered adequate for science.

Subtopics:

In your paper, you should demonstrate that you understand the basic terminology of parapsychology (psi, telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition, psychokinesis, anomalous cognition, anomalous perturbation, etc.).

You should demonstrate that you have a basic understanding of the perceptual and cognitive biases that hinder a fair evaluation of personal experience and eyewitness testimony (e.g., the constructive nature of perception and memory, confirmation bias, wishful thinking, innumeracy, etc.).

Finally, you should demonstrate that you understand that there are at least four types of explanations for apparently paranormal phenomena (paranormal, psychological, physical, hoax) and that properly done scientific experiments are necessary to determine which explanation best suits apparently paranormal phenomena.

note: This paper is not supposed to be about scientific experiments but about why scientific experiments are necessary to determine the reasonableness of accepting psi.

Length: 1,500 words maximum (6 pages, typed and double-spaced)

Sources: You may use other sources besides Radin and Carroll for this paper, but it is neither required nor expected.

Don't use footnotes or endnotes to reference sources. Source notes should appear in the paper immediately following the material you want to reference:

"Blah blah … blah blah" (Radin 1997: 225).

Your list of sources should follow this example:

      Carroll, Robert T. (2003). The Skeptic’s Dictionary: A Collection of Strange Beliefs, Amusing Deceptions, and Dangerous Delusions. Wiley & Sons.

      Christopher, Milbourne. (1970). ESP, Seers & Psychics. Thomas Y. Crowell Co.

Format: Use a title page and try to center it on the page. It should include the paper title, your name, your teacher’s name, the title of the course, and the date. Follow the example below:

From Experience to Experiment
by

Maria Chavez

for

Dr. Robert T. Carroll

Philosophy 322 – Critical Thinking about the Paranormal

September 8, 2005