Parapsychology, Philosophy and the Mind

John Beloff is one of our foremost authorities in parapsychology. He is credited with an instrumental role in the acceptance of parapsychology into academia. On April 21 and 22, 2000, a two-day international conference was held by the Koestler Parapsychology Unit of the Psychology Department at the University of Edinburgh to celebrate Beloff’s eightieth birthday.
Most of the essays in this work were presented at this conference honoring John Beloff. All of the contributors have published a number of articles in mainstream philosophy and their essays promote Beloff’s greatest interest—a philosophical interaction with parapsychology.
The book is divided into three sections and each section has three papers. The papers in the first section, “Parapsychology, Philosophy and the Mind,” explore “the mind-brain problem,” parapsychology and the principle of closure, and a cross-cultural perspective on dualism and the self. The second section, “Parapsychology, Self and Survival,” looks at parapsychological phenomena and the sense of self, chrysalid therapy, and the problem of super psi. The third section, “Parapsychology, Religion and Spirituality,” features papers that discuss parapsychology and how it relates to Hume’s view of miracles, to religion, and to the origin of the Copernican hypothesis.

Fiona Steinkamp is a research fellow both at the Koestler Parapsychology Unit, Department of Psychology, University of Edinburgh, Scotland and the Institut für Grenzgebiete der Psychologie und Psychohygiene in Freiburg, Germany.

Edited by Fiona Steinkamp
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 199
Bibliographic Info: notes, bibliographies, index
Copyright Date: 2002
pISBN: 978-0-7864-1236-5
eISBN: 978-1-4766-2180-7
Imprint: McFarland

Preface     1

PARAPSYCHOLOGY, PHILOSOPHY AND THE MIND

Body and Soul: Another Look at the Mind-Brain Problem      9

Mechanism Overruled by Mentality? Parapsychology and the Principle of Causal Closure     16

Dualism and the Self: A Cross-Cultural Perspective     33

PARAPSYCHOLOGY, SELF AND SURVIVAL

Parapsychological Phenomena and the Sense of Self     59

Could Chrysalid Telepathy Survive?     81

The Problem of Super Psi     91

PARAPSYCHOLOGY, RELIGION AND SPIRITUALITY

Hume’s “Of Miracles” and Parapsychology     115

Could Parapsychology Have Any Bearing on Religion?     127

Kant’s Criticism of Swedenborg: Parapsychology and the Origin of the Copernican Hypothesis;     146

John Beloff’s Publications     179

About the Contributors     185

Index     189