Crimes of Reason
On Mind, Nature and the Paranormal
Rowman & Littlefield 2014
Hb/ebook, 221pp, $70.00, ISBN 9781442235755
FORTEAN TIMES BOOKSHOP PRICE £47.95
Since the 1970s, the American philosopher Stephen Braude has set out to challenge how science and parapsychology study the mind and the paranormal. In a review of Braude’s first book, ESP and Psychokinesis (1979) in Theta (the Psychical 1963–1990), the Egyptologist Bob Brier proposed philosophy as an ideal frame of reference to debate the paranormal for “the phenomena studied do not fit in easily with our ordinary way of viewing the world and call for a revision of concepts.” He pointed out that Braude writes accessibly, a refreshing change from most philosophical scholarship. Crimes of Reason brings forth a spectrum of Braude’s essays, expanded and updated. The more speculative essays are of particular value for forteans.
Braude covers diverse ground in this collection. His overarching critique is on how theoretical models are created to explain mental states and human abilities, but their explanations are inadequate. In particular, he takes aim at mechanistic theory through which scholars and scientists represent things like human behaviour, personality traits, and the retention of memories governed by physiological and brain processes. Proponents of mechanistic theories tend to critique harshly or avoid
60 the value of folk psychology through which people are able to predict and explain others’ behaviour. They also cast doubt on conditions such as dissociation and multiple personalities – which Braude argues can advance our understanding of the nature of mind.
While relevant to the collection as a whole, these five essays will likely be more difficult to work through for most paranormal enthusiasts.
The juiciest material for forteans are the last three essays, which cover extraordinary human abilities, parapsychology, and how scholars who study paranormal things tend to be marginalised in academia – something Braude has experienced personally and reflects candidly upon. Those essays could be expanded into their own book. ‘Parapsychology and the Nature of Abilities’ contributes to a growing body of humanities scholarship which compare extraordinary claims between the sciences and religious studies (see also Jeffrey Kripal, Tanya Luhrmann, and Ann Taves). Often psi is denoted as ability, and usefully Braude challenges this notion as premature, perhaps even inappropriate. He highlights how psi experiences vary between people; they are idiosyncratic and subjective, much as a savant’s talents may be unique to them. In that respect, Braude finds value in comparing the skills and capacities of savants, with claims such as that of pianist Rosemary Brown to channel dead composers. Such comparisons guide better research.
This has implications for how people with “wild talents” are studied. Braude argues that the methodology of parapsychology, rooted in laboratory-based replication attempts such as those J B Rhine established at Duke University, is often inappropriate. Psi seems more related to human behaviour, which requires analysis based on observations of people in their natural environment.
In another essay, Braude sees parapsychology as making a significant contribution to comprehending religion, such as the efficacy of prayer, particularly when tested outside the lab. Closing his philosophical toolkit, he responds to the marginalisation of academics studying “phenomena whose existence other professionals deny”.
He looks at the “intense hostility uncharacteristic of and inappropriate to objective scientific inquiry” (p. 201) and how researchers should not waste too much time responding to that mode of criticism and focus on doing the best quality work they can. Researchers will benefit and be motivated from reading these three essays.
The publisher put a $70 (nearly £50) price tag on the book and made the ebook nearly as expensive as the library-quality hardback. This is a collection of previously published essays (many of which have versions available to read on Braude’s website) that deserve to be read by a broader audience of paranormal enthusiasts and researchers.
Hopefully, to encourage readers, a softback edition will be significantly cheaper and the publisher will implement fairer ebook prices.
Not all of Braude’s essays will deliver a punch for those interested in researching anomalies, but much of the book comprises useful ideas to advance the work of parapsychologists as well as humanities scholars looking to collaborate with the sciences. restaurant in Artillery Passage near Liverpool Street and I thought I’d check the address in the book. Sure enough there had been a restaurant murder a few doors down; in 1868 the small eating house where the psychopathic 18-year-old kitchen boy Alexander Mackay attacked his bossy employer Emma Grossmith with a rolling pin; Mackay was finally caught with one of the first ever examples of a photograph being circulated to governmental agencies.
In these three books there are 49 unsolved murders, 15 of which were of prostitutes. Five involve gay pick-ups, six are shop murders committed by careless or desperate robbers, nine are the elderly killed by burglars and three are gangster slayings. Two are apparently well-known to genre aficionados – the Bravo Mystery of 1876 (a lawyer is poisoned with antimony) and The Harley Street Mystery of 1880 (a tiny dead woman is found in a barrel in a cellar).
The best value and most recommended of the three is the basic one – Murder Houses of London.