Is it possible to conclude with assurity whether any form of parapsychology exists or not?

Question

Is it possible to conclude with assurity whether any form of parapsychology exists or not?

Answer 1

No. There is not.  And anyone who tells you there is full of it.

Nothing paranormal has ever been proven under scientifically controlled conditions.

Some people claim that they have seen paranormal happenings, but what they have done is taken a seemingly innocuous event, and then perceived it as something paranormal, when there could be many logical explanations.

Some of there so called explanations are almost comical.

If psychics were real for example, it would be easy to test their ability.  But no one seems to be able to prove their ability.

The ghost hunters say there are ghosts everywhere, but yet we cannot prove their existence.  And no, there kind of evidence is evidence of nothing.

People claim to be able to move thing with their minds.   But no one can demonstrate it in a scientific setting.

I think I have a very good explanation as to why that no one can prove paranormal scientifically.  And that is most likely because there isn't any such thing.

Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.  And I'm sorry, but the evidence is just not there.

The James Randi educational foundation offers a one million dollar reward to anyone who can prove anything paranormal.  So far the prize has remained unclaimed, and I have a very strong suspicion that it will remain that way.

http://www.randi.org/joom/challenge-info...

Answer 2

NO

Answer 3

Not with absolute certainty.With thousands of years of no evidence and so much fraud.You can say with virtual certainty it does not.

Answer 4

Is it possible to conclude with certainty?  No.  But if that were a standard for science, then we would also have to question whether much of what science believes exists.  Science deals in evidence, not proof.  Most scientific theories (and the word 'theory' means something stronger in science than it does in everyday conversation) are open to revision, extension, addition, or even outright replacement based on possible new discoveries, or new evaluation of old discoveries.  The fact is that there is very strong evidence for the existence of certain parapsychological phenomena based on the normal standards of scientific evidence.  Whether someone who has objectively examined the evidence for these parapsychology effects decides to accept or reject their reality seems often to boil down to a personal decision, based often on emotional rather than logical criteria, rather than on how strong the evidence is.

Answer 5

I'm sure you're asking about parapsychological phenomena, not specifically the study of it (parapsychology). While assurity or assurance might be in the eye of the beholder to some extent, it is true that parapsychological claims are not generally accepted by the scientific community. If this were not so, parapsychology would be a degree commonly offered at colleges and universities. As it stands, no universities (at least in the US) offer it as a major. From my research into the subject, I think there are some key weaknesses in the methodology that needs to be shored up, and positive results obtained within individual studies that are also replicated by independent research groups, before this situation changes.

Answer 6

Since the 1880's scientists have been studying Psi phenomenon such as clairvoyance, telepathy, psychokinesis, and the survival of the human consciousness after death.  As is true in any scientific endevour, the experimental designs, analysis, and results have been questioned since the research began.  This is an important part of advancing the science and improving the acceptance of the work in the scientific community.

The most recent work has provided the best evidence of psi abilities in humans.  In the US, this work has come from Princeton University, Stanford University, the Rhine Research Center, and the US intelligence agencies.  Noted scientists have examined the experimental designs and analysis done in these trials and have been convinced that the results were statistically significant and have demonstrated the existence of Psi abilities.

There are still many scientists who are not convinced or who do not feel that the experiments are worthy of further investigation.  You will find this type of dispute to be common within the social sciences since the phenomenon being studied is not as easy to reproduce as experiments performed in the physical sciences.  Physical scientists often look at psychology and sociology as "inexact sciences" and the results of social science experiments are often dismissed by physicists and chemists.  

In addition, there are numerous professional "skeptics" who dismiss the research being done without performing a thorough examination of the experiments.  In some cases, the skeptics are more interested in popularizing their own names more than they are interested in contributing to the science.  Though there are legitimate skeptics who help the science to progress, the "psuedo-skeptics" are obstuctionists who are only interested in generating publicity and making money.

Current parapsychology research is moving beyond proving the existence of Psi and trying to determine how it works and what applications it can have in daily life.  

Review the links below for information about the research being done in parapsychology.  Though science cannot state anything with certainty, it can provide evidence and produce results that are statistically significant.  The research results have convinced many scientists that Psi is real. It is up to each individual to decide for himself.

Answer 7

If something within what we now consider paranormal is shown to have significant evidence, then that would become part of the body of knowledge and would no longer be paranormal.

Paranormal really just means not scientifically explainable (yet).

Answer 8

parapsychology par`a*psy*chol"o*gy n.

The field of study concerned with psychological phenomena not

explainable by the laws of physics, especially extrasensory

perception, telepathy, psychokinesis, precognition, and

clairvoyance.

So yes it does exist, to say that the phenomena doesn't exist you would be calling every practitioner of any religion a liar and a hypocrite. Do you want to rephrase the question?

Answer 9

I'll answer your question as it stands, first: yes, there are actually ongoing studies in parapsychology. As such, parapsychology does, in fact, exist. The primary purpose of real parapsychology is in studying people who make claims of paranormal events, and in determining the truth of whether or not there is any reason to believe that any paranormal phenomena are possible.

However, looking at the responses, I'm wondering if people are responding to the idea that the paranormal exists, instead. Having been a paranormal investigator for 15 years, including my having delved a little into parapsychology, I can firmly say that there is no way to conclude anything about any phenomena, other than that there is a definite phenomenon happening. It's not a questions of if, but what is happening.

Since the year 2000, there has been a median annual rise of about 14% in paranormal sightings. That's 14% per year, projected to be roughly doubling the raw number of sightings at the decade mark.

There are lots of explanations that might account for why this is, from people going spontaneously crazy to actual space aliens in the sky causing us all to believe things, but so far there isn't any validity to either conclusion (being validity or invalidity of any phenomenon), largely because mainstream science refuses to actually investigate and lay to rest what is actually occurring.

That's why we need parapsychology: to assess the validity or invalidity of anything paranormal.