How to Think About Weird Things: Critical Thinking for a New Age

ForewordPrefaceChapter 1. Introduction: Close Encounters with the StrangeThe Importance of WhyBeyond Weird to the AbsurdA Weirdness SamplerNotesChapter 2. The Possibility of the ImpossibleParadigms and the ParanormalLogical Possibility Versus Physical ImpossibilityThe Possibility of ESPTheories and ThingsOn Knowing the FutureStudy QuestionsEvaluate These ClaimsDiscussion QuestionsField ProblemCritical Reading and WritingSuggested ReadingsNotesChapter 3. Looking for Truth in Personal ExperienceSeeming and BeingPerceiving: True or False?Perceptual ConstanciesThe Role of ExpectationLooking for Clarity in VaguenessThe Blondlot Case"Constructing" UFOsRemembering: Do We Revise the Past?Judging: The Habit of Unwarranted AssumptionsDenying the EvidenceSubjective ValidationConfirmation BiasThe Availability ErrorThe Representativeness HeuristicAgainst All OddsThe Limits of Personal ExperienceStudy QuestionsEvaluate These ClaimsDiscussion QuestionsField ProblemCritical Reading and WritingSuggested ReadingsNotesChapter 4. Relativism, Truth, and RealityWe Each Create Our Own Reality Reality Is Socially Constructed Reality Is Constituted by Conceptual Schemes The Relativist's Petard Facing Reality Study Questions Evaluate These Claims Discussion Questions Field Problem Critical Reading and Writing Suggested Readings NotesChapter 5. Knowledge, Belief, and EvidenceBabylonian Knowledge-Acquisition TechniquesPropositional KnowledgeReasons and EvidenceExpert OpinionCoherence and JustificationSources of KnowledgeThe Appeal to FaithThe Appeal to IntuitionThe Appeal to Mystical ExperienceAstrology RevisitedStudy QuestionsEvaluate These ClaimsDiscussion QuestionsField ProblemCritical Reading and WritingSuggested ReadingsNotesChapter 6. Arguments Good, Bad and WeirdClaim and ArgumentsDeductive ArgumentsInductive ArgumentsEnumerative InductionAnalogical Induction Hypothetical Induction (Abduction, or Inference to the Best of Explanation)Informal FallaciesUnacceptable PremisesIrrelevant PremisesInsufficient PremisesStudy QuestionsEvaluate These ClaimsDiscussion QuestionsField ProblemCritical Reading and WritingSuggested ReadingsNotesChapter 7. Science and Its PretendersScience and DogmaScience and ScientismScientific MethodologyConfirming and Confuting HypothesesCriteria of AdequacyTestabilityFruitfulnessScopeSimplicityConservatismCreationism, Evolution, and Criteria of Adequacy Scientific CreationismIntelligent DesignParapsychologyStudy QuestionsEvaluate These ClaimsDiscussion QuestionsField ProblemCritical Reading and WritingSuggested ReadingsNotesChapter 8. How to Assess a "Miracle Cure"Personal ExperienceThe Variable Nature of IllnessThe Placebo EffectOverlooked CausesThe Doctor's EvidenceThe Appeal to TraditionThe Reasons of ScienceMedical ResearchSingle StudiesConflicting ResultsStudies Conflicting with FactLimitations of StudiesTypes of StudiesIn Vitro ExperimentsAnimal StudiesObservational StudiesClinical TrialsStudy QuestionsEvaluate These ClaimsDiscussion QuestionsField ProblemCritical Reading and WritingSuggested ReadingsNotesChapter 9. Case Studies in the ExtraordinaryThe Search FormulaStep 1: State the ClaimStep 2: Examine the Evidence for the ClaimStep 3: Consider Alternative HypothesesStep 4: Rate, According to the Criteria of Adequacy, Each HypothesisHomeopathyDowsing UFO AbductionsCommunicating with the DeadNear-Death ExperiencesGhostsStudy QuestionsEvaluate These Claims by Using the Search MethodField ProblemCritical Reading and WritingSuggested ReadingsNotesEpilogue Mysteries in PerspectiveCreditsIndex