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Author: Paul Kurtz
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000944123
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 308
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Book Description
As we begin the third millennium there is cause for cautious optimism regarding the human prospect. Democratic revolutions and the doctrine of universal human rights have captured the imagination of large sectors of humanity, while major advances in science and technology continue to conquer disease and extend life, contributing to rising standards of living, affluence, and cultural freedom on a worldwide basis. Paradoxically, at the same time ancient authoritarian fundamentalist religions have grown in vitriolic intensity along with bizarre New Age, media-driven paranormal belief systems. Also surprising is the resurgence of primitive tribal and ethnic loyalties, unleashing wars of intolerance and bitterness. In Skepticism and Humanism, Paul Kurtz locates these threatening developments within a long-standing and largely unchallenged theological worldview. He proposes, as an alternative to religion, a new cultural paradigm rooted in scientific naturalism, rationalism, and a humanistic outlook. An estimated 60 percent of scientists are atheists or agnostics. However, the skeptical world view has been given little currency even in advanced societies, because of a cultural prohibition against the criticism of religion. At the same time, science has become increasingly narrow and specialized so that few people can draw on its broader intellectual and cultural implications. Skepticism and Humanism attempts to meet this need. It defends skepticism as a method for developing reliable knowledge by using scientific inquiry and reason to test all claims to truth. It also defends scientific naturalism-an evolutionary view of nature, life, and the human species. Kurtz sees the dominant religious doctrines as drawn from an agricultural/nomadic past, and emphasizes the need for a new outlook applicable to the postindustrial information age. At the same time, he rejects postmodernism for abandoning science and embracing a form of nihilism. There can be no doubt that as a new global civilization emerges, scientific naturalism, rationalism, and secular humanism have something significant to say about the meaning of life. Skepticism and Humanism shows how they can to foster democratic values and social prosperity. The book will be important for philosophers, scientists, and all those concerned with contemporary issues.
Author: Paul Kurtz
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000944123
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 308
Get Book Here
Book Description
As we begin the third millennium there is cause for cautious optimism regarding the human prospect. Democratic revolutions and the doctrine of universal human rights have captured the imagination of large sectors of humanity, while major advances in science and technology continue to conquer disease and extend life, contributing to rising standards of living, affluence, and cultural freedom on a worldwide basis. Paradoxically, at the same time ancient authoritarian fundamentalist religions have grown in vitriolic intensity along with bizarre New Age, media-driven paranormal belief systems. Also surprising is the resurgence of primitive tribal and ethnic loyalties, unleashing wars of intolerance and bitterness. In Skepticism and Humanism, Paul Kurtz locates these threatening developments within a long-standing and largely unchallenged theological worldview. He proposes, as an alternative to religion, a new cultural paradigm rooted in scientific naturalism, rationalism, and a humanistic outlook. An estimated 60 percent of scientists are atheists or agnostics. However, the skeptical world view has been given little currency even in advanced societies, because of a cultural prohibition against the criticism of religion. At the same time, science has become increasingly narrow and specialized so that few people can draw on its broader intellectual and cultural implications. Skepticism and Humanism attempts to meet this need. It defends skepticism as a method for developing reliable knowledge by using scientific inquiry and reason to test all claims to truth. It also defends scientific naturalism-an evolutionary view of nature, life, and the human species. Kurtz sees the dominant religious doctrines as drawn from an agricultural/nomadic past, and emphasizes the need for a new outlook applicable to the postindustrial information age. At the same time, he rejects postmodernism for abandoning science and embracing a form of nihilism. There can be no doubt that as a new global civilization emerges, scientific naturalism, rationalism, and secular humanism have something significant to say about the meaning of life. Skepticism and Humanism shows how they can to foster democratic values and social prosperity. The book will be important for philosophers, scientists, and all those concerned with contemporary issues.
Author: Primrose Cooper
Publisher: Weiser Books
ISBN: 9781578632312
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 196
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Book Description
A well-rounded discourse that demonstrates how hard science and metaphysics merge to give us an opportunity to live healthier lives. Cooper opens her discussion to a broad range of thought, including a discussion of the pioneering work of Rudolf Steiner.She delves into the Theosophical system of the Seven Rays, outlining each of the rays with its respective color association and meaning for whole health. Index.
Author: M.G. Hocking, Professor of Materials Chemistry, University of London
Publisher: 4-D Books Ltd
ISBN: 0952109948
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 235
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Book Description
There is much evidence that we have lived before, and our purpose is to progress to a more advanced state. The evidence also indicates that a ‘God’ must exist to cause such re-births – on other continents and hundreds of years later. The consequences of bad deeds done in previous lives explains present suffering, which seems otherwise unjust. Future lives lie before us and from available evidence these will be strongly influenced by our actions in our present life.
Author: Patrick Grim
Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 9781438404981
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 408
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Book Description
This book both introduces the philosophy of science through examination of the occult and examines the occult rigorously enough to raise central issues in the philosophy of science. Placed in the context of the occult, philosophy of science issues become immediately understandable and forcefully compelling. Divergent views on astrology, parapsychology, and quantum mechanics mysticism emphasize topics standard to the philosophy of science. Such issues as confirmation and selection for testing, causality and time, explanation and the nature of scientific laws, the status of theoretical entities, the problem of demarcation, theory and observation, and science and values are discussed. Significantly revised, this second edition presents an entirely new section of quantum mechanics and mysticism including instructions from N. David Mermin for constructing a device which dramatically illustrates the genuinely puzzling phenomena of quantum mechanics. A more complete and current review of research on astrology has been included in this new edition, and the section on the problem of demarcation has been broadened.
Author: Andrew Neher
Publisher: Courier Corporation
ISBN: 0486144860
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 434
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Book Description
DIVBalanced attempt to understand and evaluate paranormal experiences, including mystical states, psychic phenomena (prophecy, poltergeists, water witching), occult experiences (astrology, UFOs, Bermuda triangle) and more. Role of physiology, conditioning and cultural context in determining nature and extent of paranormal activities. /div
Author: Bruce Scofield
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1644116200
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 461
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Book Description
An in-depth examination of how astrology is a form of systems science • Shares modern biological studies offering evidence that our solar system neighbors profoundly affect and shape life on our planet • Explores the early practice of astrometeorology, revealing the links between the solar system, weather, and climate over large spans of time • Looks at the history, philosophy, and methodologies of astrology, as well as its potential future applications in medicine and the social sciences Our ancient ancestors recorded the rhythms of the Sun, Moon, planets, and stars, correlating these rhythms with weather, plant growth, and animal and human behaviors. From these early geocosmic recordings were born calendars, astronomy, and astrology. While astrology is now mostly viewed as subjective fortune-telling, Bruce Scofield argues that astrology is not only a practice but also a science, specifically a form of systems science--a set of techniques for mapping and analyzing self-organizing systems. Providing clear evidence that our solar system neighbors profoundly affect and shape life on our planet, Scofield shares modern biological and climatological studies on the effects of Earth’s rotation, the Sun, the Moon, and the rhythms of light, gravity, magnetism, and solar radiation on terrestrial processes. He explores the early practice of astrometeorology, a method of weather forecasting used from ancient times into the Renaissance, revealing the links between the solar system, weather, and climate over large spans of time. He shares his own studies on the correlations between Saturn’s position and terrestrial weather as well as presenting a wealth of evidence on astrological effects and the theories and mechanics behind them. Examining the history of astrology, he looks at its earliest foundations in Mesopotamia and its development by the classical Greeks into a mathematically informed body of knowledge. He explores the decline and marginalization of astrology during the Scientific Revolution of the Renaissance and the Enlightenment, when astrology was transformed from a credible science to a controversial practice after being attacked by the Church and then abandoned by experimental scientists. Presenting a broad look at how the cosmic environment shapes nature, the author shows how the practice and natural science of astrology can expand its applications in modern society in such varied fields as medicine, history, and sociology.
Author: Leonard Zusne
Publisher: Psychology Press
ISBN: 1317784340
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 327
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Book Description
Updating and expanding the materials from the first edition, Anomalistic Psychology, Second Edition integrates and systematically treats phenomena of human consciousness and behaviors that appear to violate the laws of nature. The authors present and detail a new explanatory concept they developed that provides a naturalistic interpretation for these phenomena -- Magical Thinking. For undergraduate and graduate students and professionals in cognitive psychology, research methods, thinking, and parapsychology.
Author: Stephen E. Braude
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226071537
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 228
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Book Description
For over thirty years, Stephen Braude has studied the paranormal in everyday life, from extrasensory perception and psychokinesis to mediumship and materialization. The Gold Leaf Lady and Other Parapsychological Investigations is a highly readable and often amusing account of his most memorable encounters with such phenomena. Here Braude recounts in fascinating detail five particular cases—some that challenge our most fundamental scientific beliefs and others that expose our own credulousness. Braude begins with a south Florida woman who can make thin gold-colored foil appear spontaneously on her skin. He then travels to New York and California to test psychokinetic superstars—and frauds—like Joe Nuzum, who claim to move objects using only their minds. Along the way, Braude also investigates the startling allegations of K.R., a policeman in Annapolis who believes he can transfer images from photographs onto other objects—including his own body—and Ted Serios, a deceased Chicago elevator operator who could make a variety of different images appear on Polaroid film. Ultimately, Braude considers his wife’s surprisingly fruitful experiments with astrology, which she has used to guide professional soccer teams to the top of their leagues, as well as his own personal experiences with synchronicity—a phenomenon, he argues, that may need to be explained in terms of a refined, extensive, and dramatic form of psychokinesis. Heady, provocative, and brimming with eye-opening details and suggestions, The Gold Leaf Lady and Other Parapsychological Investigations will intrigue both adherents and detractors of its controversial subject matter alike.
Author: Gerd H. Hövelmann
Publisher: LIT Verlag Münster
ISBN: 3643908555
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 467
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Book Description
"Dutch journalist Piet Hein Hoebens (1948-1984) held a unique position in the controversies between proponents and skeptics of parapsychology and related fields. While he described himself as a card-carrying skeptic with strong 'ecumenical' leanings, even many of his nominal opponents appreciated his work and his penetrating, open-minded criticism. Hoebens' constructive influence on the culture of responsible scientific exchange is felt to this day. The editors have collected (and mostly translated) more than 40 of Hoebens' most significant writings, about half of which were never published in English before. The editors also added editorial introductions to all chapters to elucidate their original contexts and their lasting relevance. Therefore, the book is more than a commemoration of an important author - it provides valuable insights into the history of parapsychology and its skeptical reflections"--Back cover.
Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Knowledge, Theory of
Languages : en
Pages : 660
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Book Description
The official research journal of the Society for Scientific Exploration. Provides a professional forum for presentation, scrutiny, and criticism of scientific research on topics outside the established disciplines of mainstream science. A critical forum of rationality and observational evidence for the often strange claims at the fringes of science.
