Psychic
From The Book of THoTH (Leaves of Wisdom)
A psychic is a person who claims or who is believed to possess extra-sensory abilities, including: Clairvoyance, Psychometry and Precognition. These claims are widely disputed by mainstream science, and are regularly attacked by skeptics. However supporters do exist within the field of Parapsychology, including for example figures such as Cornell University's Daryl Bem who argues for a mild but significant phenomena based upon his Ganzfeld experiments.
The ability to affect or move objects through the power of the mind alone is known as psychokinesis.
Mediums, like psychics also claim to have extra-sensory abilities but claim to obtain their information through spirits or dead people. Some mediums also claim to possess psychic abilities.
James Randi has offered $1,000,000 to anyone who could prove themselves to posses psychic abilities. No one has yet claimed this prize. Randi's widely-promoted claims, however, suffer from several logical fallacies, as listed below.
- Argument from ignorance: a logical fallacy in which it is claimed that a premise is false only because it has not been proven true to the querant's satisfaction.
- Burden of proof: another logical fallacy. Certain "psychic" practitioners have made claims as to their abilities, and they may be challenged as to those claims. But Randi and his followers attempt to turn logic on its ear by asserting that, because Randi has purportedly offered a "million dollar prize" to anyone who can demonstrate psychic ability (under Randi's own strict conditions, and subject to Randi's rejection), and no one has done so yet, then psychic abilities do not exist.
- Non sequitur: another logical fallacy. Example: It does not logically follow that no one has psychic abilities from the fact that no one has claimed the "million dollar prize" purportedly offered by Randi of proof (under Randi's strict conditions, and subject to his rejection) that they have psychic abilities.
See also
External links
- The Society for Psychical Research - Founded in 1882 to examine paranormal phenomena in a scientific and unbiased way
- James Randi Educational Foundation - An Educational Resource on the Paranormal, Pseudoscientific, and the Supernatural
- Skeptic's Dictionary - Psychic
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