Parapsychology in the Twenty-First Century

By now, parapsychology should have become an accepted scientific field of research. However, there is great resistance to parapsychological research despite the strength of evidence in favor of conducting it.
This collection of essays focuses on the future of the psychical research field. One essay speculates about a kind of future when psychic phenomena are studied in every university. Another identifies 10 areas of potential difficulty facing parapsychology. Other essays indicate areas where conclusions may need re-examination and refinement and presents possibilities for innovative approaches to future study. Some of the areas of study covered include altered states of consciousness, ESP, Meta-Analysis, the theory of psychopraxia, and sociological and phenomenological issues.

The late Michael A. Thalbourne worked in the Anomalistic Psychology Research Unit in the School of Psychology at the University of Adelaide in South Australia.
Lance Storm works in the Anomalistic Psychology Research Unit in the School of Psychology at the University of Adelaide in South Australia.

Edited by Michael A. Thalbourne and Lance Storm
Foreword by Brian D. Josephson
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 396
Bibliographic Info: photos, tables, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2005
pISBN: 978-0-7864-1938-8
eISBN: 978-0-7864-8446-1
Imprint: McFarland

Foreword      1

Preface      5

I. GENERAL ISSUES

1. What’s Ahead?      9

2. Parapsychology in the Twenty-First Century      21

3. The Farther Reaches of Psi Research: Future Choices and Possibilities      38

II. EXPERIMENTAL ISSUES

4. Psi and Altered States of Consciousness      65

5. The Ball Drawing Test: Psi From Untrodden Ground      90

6. Forced-Choice ESP Experiments: Their Past and Their Future      124

III. THEORETICAL ISSUES

7. The Future of Psi Research: Recommendations in Retrospect      167

8. The Theory of Psychopraxia: A Paradigm for the Future?      189

9. A Critique of the Theory of Psychopraxia      205

10. Tackling the Mind-Matter Problem from a Consciousness Perspective      220

11. Subjective Anomalous Events: Perspectives for the Future, Voices from the Past      242

IV. SOCIOLOGICAL AND PHENOMENOLOGICAL ISSUES

12. A Socioempirical Perspective on Skepticism about Psi      275

13. Language and the Study of Parapsychological Phenomena      305

14. The Ritual Healing Theory: Hypotheses for Psychical Research      337

15. Experiential Research: Unveiling Psi Through Phenomenological Enquiry      361

About the Contributors      377

Index      383

“wonderful book…useful”—Journal of Scientific Exploration; “valuable…recommend[ed]…as essential reading”—Australian Journal of Parapsychology.