The Problems of Psychical Research: Experiments and Theories in the Realm of the SupernormalCarrington, Hereward
Science
The Problems of Psychical Research: Experiments and Theories in the Realm of the Supernormal
Carrington, Hereward
Parapsychology
1. _The Law of Conservation of Energy_ tells us that no energy can be
added to or abstracted from the total stock of physical energy in the
universe. If the will be a non-physical energy (as it is conceived to
be, by psychologists), it cannot affect the physical world, for if it
did the law of Conservation of Energy would be overthrown. Hence, the
will cannot affect the material world: hence, it cannot be a true cause.
2. _Biology_ contends that heredity and environment alone are capable of
explaining the actions and movements of the lower organisms, without
postulating any "will." Inasmuch as man is connected with these lower
organisms by an unbroken line of descent, why should not these factors
explain man's actions also?
3. _Physiology_ teaches that in-coming nerve stimuli give rise to
certain physical changes in the nerve cells or centres, which, in turn,
give rise to out-going (afferent) currents. There is here an arc or loop
of unbroken physical causation; and there is no "room" for
consciousness, save as an "epiphenomenon," as postulated by Huxley.
4. The _Law of Causation_ tells us that an effect must have a cause, and
that the cause must, in a certain sense, resemble the effect--since the
effect _is_, in a sense, the cause translated. But, inasmuch as the
effect is a physical event, the cause must also be physical in its
nature; hence will (supposedly a non-physical event) cannot possibly
play a part, or be a true cause.
5. _Philosophical Science_ contends that Nature is a "closed circle."
Mechanical causation holds supreme sway. Everything happens according to
law and order. If Free Will were allowed a place in the scheme of
things, chance and caprice would immediately be introduced into our
world--which could never be tolerated for a moment!
6. _Psychology_ holds that every mental state has its equivalent or
counterpart in a corresponding brain-state. But each brain-state is not
caused by the state of consciousness, but by the preceding brain-state.
Here, again, there is no room for "free will" to play any part.
(Inasmuch as we are approaching this subject from a purely scientific
point of view, the arguments drawn from sociology, ethics, and theology
need not here be discussed. The interested reader is referred to
Professor H. H. Horne's excellent little book, _Free Will and Human
Responsibility_, for an extremely clear summary of this problem.)
The reply of the Libertarian to these problems is usually somewhat as
follows:
1. The doctrine of Conservation has not been experimentally proved with
regard to the relation of mind and brain; it is only assumed. Still,
granting it to exist, all energy may, in its ultimate analysis, be
psychical, instead of physical, in its nature--the doctrine of idealism,
which is today gaining wider and wider acceptance, seeming to support
this view.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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