The objection to Psychical Research is not a verbal one;
it is an objection to the separation of a class of problems from
their natural habitat, an objection to the violent transplanting
of a growth from its own environment. It is a protest against the
notion that while the psychologist may be listened to with respect
and authority in one portion of his topic, the layman and the member
of the Society for Psychical Research are equally or more competent
to pronounce judgments in a closely allied field. It is a protest
against the view that for the comprehension of such processes as
sensation and perception a course in Psychology may be useful, but
that telepathy may be established by any moderately intelligent but
not specially informed percipient and agent; or that the study of
hallucinations is indeed a complex and difficult subject, but haunted
houses, and phantasms of the living, offer a proper occupation for a
leisure hour. All this is wrong and absurd; and yet it is hardly an
exaggeration to declare that a majority of those who profess a deep
interest in, and express an opinion about the one group of topics,
would be surprised to have demanded of them a familiarity with the
data of Psychology as a prerequisite to an intelligent coöperation in
Psychical Research. If the problems of Psychical Research, or that
portion of the problems in which investigation seems profitable, are
ever to be illuminated and exhibited in an intelligible form, it
will only come about when they are investigated by the same methods
and in the same spirit as are other psychological problems, when
they are studied in connection with and as a part of other general
problems of normal and abnormal Psychology. Whether this is done
under the auspices of a society or in the psychological laboratories
of universities is, of course, a detail of no importance. It is
important, however, what the trend, and the spirit, and the method,
and the purpose of the investigation may be; as it is equally
important, what may be the training, and the capabilities, and
the resources, and the originality, and the scholarship of the
investigators.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account