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August 14, 2006
"Proof of Life After Death"
In this odd period when beliefs seem to be growing simultaneously stronger and weaker, depending where you turn, it is hard to know what you will encounter when you take a look at your favorite newspaper. Indeed, the New York Times today features a sympathetic review of a sympathetic book, Ghost Hunters: William James and the Search for Scientific Proof of Life After Death, by science writer Deborah Blum, on psychics and communication with the dead.
In "Ghost Hunters"... these "psychical researchers" are not simply a bunch of smart men (and a couple of women) obsessed with a dumb idea, but rather courageous freethinkers willing to endure the establishment's scorn. This quirky band, [Blum] argues, was more scientific than the scientists....
Sure. However, it might be noted that, while the hypotheses of traditional science are often enough confirmed by experimentation, the confirmation rate by repeatable experiment of all claims to "telepathy, telekinesis or contacts with the dead" hovers, I believe, around zero. William James stated, after his long efforts to find proof of what he wanted to be true had failed, "that at times I have been tempted to believe that the Creator has eternally intended this department of nature to remain baffling." One could come up with another explanation for James' failure.
But then here is our book-review writer, Patricia Cohen:
Ultimately what distinguished James and his colleagues from many of their scientific peers was their humbleness. To think one can divine everything in an infinite universe is an act of extreme hubris.
Once again what we don't know, which is of course an awful lot, is used to justify what we ache to believe. One might think that, from the perspective of the rationalism normally expected of news organizations like the Times, what distinguished James and others who shared his desperation to communicate with dead relatives was a simple, unscientific case of wishful thinking.
Posted by Mitchell Stephens at August 14, 2006 3:14 PM
Comments
I didn't think the review was as positive as you did; and, as always, the fact that the Times offered a review of this book is no indication of sympathy. As you say, the critic sympathized with the author's appreciation of her subjects' humility, indeed an admirable quality, and perhaps one that will not be prominent among your own heroes. Still, among the damning points was that the author was not sufficiently critical of her subjects... But then many authors fall in love with the heroes of their stories.
Posted by: george at August 15, 2006 10:44 AM
nice webpage, I believe in LIFE AFTER DEATH and by the way that picture of the ghost... THRILLING!!! Keep up the good work...
Posted by: Tiffinie at October 24, 2006 1:41 PM
nice webpage, I believe in LIFE AFTER DEATH and by the way that picture of the ghost... THRILLING!!! Keep up the good work...
Posted by: Tiffinie at October 24, 2006 1:42 PM
