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Adventures in Philosophy |
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Some Important Issues in Philosophy |
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Page 3 by Celestine N. Bittle, O.F.M.Cap.
The problem of extrasensory perception is a much-discussed question. "Extrasensory perception" is defined as a perception obtained through channels other than those of the known senses. Psychologists speak of the extrasensory perception of objective events, i.e., knowledge of objects or occurrences not obtained from another mind, and of subjective events, i.e., knowledge of objects or occurrences obtained from another mind. The extrasensory perception of objective events is termed clairvoyance, while the extrasensory perception of subjective events is termed telepathy. The distinction between clairvoyance and telepathy can be clarified by a simple illustration. A playing card, picked at random from a shuffled deck and no one having seen its face, is placed in an opaque envelope or box; the clairvoyant person has the ability to name the card correctly, because he perceives the card as it is, although it is impossible to perceive it with the ordinary senses. A person thinks of a certain verse, without pronouncing a single syllable; the telepathic person, perhaps miles away, perceives what is going on in the other person's mind and mentions or writes down the verse correctly. In the first instance there is an extrasensory perception of an external or "objective" event (clairvoyance), and in the second instance an extrasensory perception of a mental or "subjective" event (telepathy). Extrasensory perception is such an extraordinary phenomenon that scientists, who as a matter of principle refuse to accept anything as a fact which cannot be verified by the senses in some form or other, derided its possibility. In the course of time, however, so many cases were recorded by reliable witnesses that the accumulated evidence could no longer be ignored. A number of eminent scientists thereupon founded the Society of Psychical Research in England in 1882. Prominent names are found on the roster of its membership; among them are Henry Sedgwick, the first president, A.J. Balfour, W.F. Barrett, Balfour Steward, Edmund Gurney, Frederic W.H. Myers, Oliver Lodge, William Crookes, Lord Rayleigh, and Alfred Russell Wallace. Similar societies were established in America (1884) and other countries. These societies did heroic service in checking available material. The result of the investigation was a residue of fact which seemed to prove definitely the existence of clairvoyance and telepathy. After some time, the investigation was placed on an experimental basis. Here, too, the result was positive. Some scientists became convinced, but very many were still skeptical. In 1930 a group of psychologists of Duke University, inspired by William McDougall, head of the psychology department there, began a systematic experimental investigation of extrasensory perception. These men were Helge Lundholm, Karl E. Zener, and Joseph B. Rhine. Their aim was to discover whether parapsychological ("unconventional," extranormal) phenomena actually occur and to find an explanation for their occurrence. The laboratory experiments were to be conducted with strictly scientific precautions, so as to exclude both fraud and unconscious sensory perception. The method selected was "card calling." Zener devised a set of cards with symbols -- a circle, a cross or plus sign, a rectangle, a star, and three wavy lines. A pack consisted of twenty-five such cards, each symbol appearing five times in the deck. These are the famous "Zener" or "ESP" ("extrasensory perception") cards. Since each symbol appears five times in the deck of twenty-five cards, the average change of the symbols being called correctly must be one in five or one fifth of the total. A score considerable beyond this average, especially when the experiments runs into hundreds and thousands, must be adjudged "significant"; persistent high scores would furnish scientific proof for the existence of extrasensory perception. The experiments begun in the Duke Parapsychology Laboratory are not being conducted in many other universities. The methods vary. The technique, however, is similar. Neither the subject nor the experimenter knows the order of the cards. The subject must call the top card; his call is recorded, the card is placed aside, and the next card is called and recorded. After all have been called, the cards are checked with the record, to see how many "hits" have been made. Or, a sample card of each of the five units is placed before the subject, and he must match them by placing the cards of the deck in front of the five key cards in such a manner that the suits agree; none of the cards of the deck are allowed to be turned face up until the entire deck has been called. Only then are the hits and misses checked. Or, the five key cards, one of each suit, are placed face down, no one knowing their order; the entire deck is placed face down before the subject and he must match the unknown key cards with the corresponding cards of the desk. Or, a screen having been set up between the subject and the experimenter, the subject is required to call the cards of the deck hidden from him by the screen or he must match them with the key cards placed in front of himself; in no case does either the subject or the experimenter know the sequence of the cards until the experiment is finished. Or, the entire deck, face down, is set before the subject and, without disturbing or touching the deck in any way, the subject must call each card down through the deck; after all the cards have been called, the hits and misses are checked. Such are some of the standard types of experiments made to determine the presence of extrasensory perception. Mechanical shuffling devices are sometimes used, so that no personal idiosyncrasy in shuffling can give the subject any sensory clues. Naturally, only those persons are used for experiments who show signs of extrasensory perceptivity. Once they are chosen, however, they are made to go through hundreds and even thousands of trials. The results of these trials, whether favorable or unfavorable, are recorded in detail, checked and double-checked, and filed away for reference. Utmost precautions are taken to prevent error, loss, or tampering. In this way scientific accuracy is obtained. The very simplicity of the method reduces the number of extraneous factors, which might vitiate the result, to a negligible quantity and makes mathematical evaluation a relatively easy matter. Ever since the parapsychological laboratory of Duke University began its research in 1930, the number of tests made there and in other places runs into the millions. What are the conclusions to be drawn from these experiments in extrasensory perception? The card-calling experiments just described are tests for clairvoyance, provided no one knows the actual sequence of the cards beforehand. If somebody knows the sequence beforehand, the possibility cannot be eliminated that the subject was able to "read the mind" of the person possessing this knowledge and discovered the sequence in this fashion; that would be telepathy, not clairvoyance. But if no one knows the sequence, it is evident that the subject must "read the cards themselves," in order to know their sequence; and this would be clairvoyance. At present there can hardly be a reasonable doubt that clairvoyance is a scientifically demonstrated fact. According to all the mathematical laws and calculations concerning probability, the results are significantly above the level of chance. In some instances the odds against the results having been obtained by chance run into the billions and even much higher. Averages of 10 or more hits out of a possible 25 are not uncommon; a score of this kind is far beyond the expected chance results, particularly when one considers the fact that these averages cover perhaps hundreds of tests for the same subject. Scores for individual tests sometimes run as high as 15, 20, and more. In more than one case the subject performed the astounding feat of calling all 25 cards correctly; on one occasion a child of 12 years of age called all cards correctly. While most card-calling tests were made in a manner which would either prove or disprove the existence of clairvoyance, a certain amount of tests were made by Rhine and his associates to discover instances of pure telepathy. In the very nature of the matter, such tests are far more difficult to control scientifically than those of clairvoyance. In telepathy the subject must be able to read the mind or thought of the experimenter; hence, nothing can be used that exists in printed, written, or spoken form, otherwise clairvoyance would not be positively and definitely excluded from the test. While the number of tests made concerning pure telepathy are relatively meager, those made gave positive results. The experimenter would arrange in his thoughts a sequence of symbols to his own liking, and the subject would be asked to name the sequence. In order to insure scientific accuracy, the experimenter and the subject would be placed in different rooms or buildings. The procedure was regulated by a stopwatch arrangement. At the appointed time, the subject had to call the sequence, and his calls were recorded. After the time for the test had elapsed, the experimenter wrote down the sequence he had in mind during the test. Thereupon the subject's calls were checked against this list for hits and misses. In one series of early tests, with Miss Ownbey (a staff member of Duke) as "sender" and Miss Bailey as "receiver," Miss Bailey made an average of 9.7 out of 25 in 450 trials, both being in separate rooms; she also made an average of 12.0 in 150 trials, both being in separate rooms, a distance of something like 30 feet away. On one occasion tests were made by Miss Ownbey as sender and Miss Turner as receiver over a distance of 250 miles. The daily tests called for a run of 25 calls, to be made at a specified time, with five-minute intervals between each call. Miss Turner made an average of over 17 correct calls out of a possible 25 during the three-day period of the tests. More tests were made. While she did not achieve the phenomenal success of the first tests, her over-all average was 10.1 for the entire series. Tests made by other psychological laboratories have substantiated the findings of the Duke experiments. The Nature of Extrasensory Perception Accepting clairvoyance and telepathy as factual occurrences demonstrated by scientific methods, what is their nature? The first question which must be answered is: Are they fundamentally sensory or extrasensory? For some reason or other, many critics simply cannot conceive of extrasensory perception as possible and insist that sensory cues, imperceptible to ordinary persons or under normal circumstances convey the necessary information to the clairvoyant and telepathic subjects. They are supposed to be gifted with "hyperesthesia," or in plain words, with extreme sensitivity to minute visual, auditory, or tactual stimuli. This theory, however, does not seem to cover the facts. So far as visual cues are concerned, they are, to all appearances, definitely excluded. No doubt, each card has peculiarities which, if known, might serve as a visual cue for the symbol printed upon it. The circumstances of the tests, however, make such cues useless. All decks are changed frequently; new decks are introduced continuously. The decks, in most tests, are screened, so that the subject cannot see them. Many subjects have their backs turned toward the cards; some walk back and forth in the room during the tests; others close their eyes; others lie on a couch at some distance form the cards, etc. Considering the properties of light, since light is essential for vision, it should be physically impossible for subjects to obtain visual cues, when they are separated from the cards by rooms, walls, and buildings, or when the cards are placed in sealed opaque containers. Blind-from-birth subjects have made significant scores, even when the cards were placed in opaque envelopes behind screens. In the "down-through" tests, where the subject must call all cards down through the entire screened deck before the check is made, the cards beneath the top card are invisible to the eye, so that visual cues are excluded. Under the conditions surrounding the tests in modern psychological laboratories, the precautions taken against the use of visual cues are so stringent, that the sense of sight cannot explain the phenomena of clairvoyance and telepathy in an adequate manner. It has been suggested that unconscious whispering on the part of the experimenter might give the subject auditory cues, so that clairvoyance and telepathy are nothing more than cases of supersensitive hearing. This theory supposes that the experimenter possesses the information in advance of the test. In many modern card-calling experiments, however, no one, not even the experimenter, knows the actual sequence of the cards until each card of the entire deck has been called by the subject. Auditory cues are simply impossible under such test conditions. Hence, clairvoyance and telepathy cannot be explained by the sense of hearing. Tactual cues are also excluded in many of the methods employed in the tests. The subject, as a rule, is not allowed to handle or even touch the cards. Oftentimes, new decks are used in successive tests, so that the subject cannot associate any peculiarities of individual cards with the respective symbols. In the "down-through" test, the subject cannot touch, even if permitted to do so, any card but the one on top of the deck. In distance tests tactual cues are entirely absent, because the subject is nowhere dear the cards. Olfactory or gustatory cues can hardly come into consideration at all, and no one advances a theory based on them. Some critics speak of a "sixth sense," but no such sense has ever been discovered. It is possible, even probable, that clairvoyance and telepathy have a sensory basis of some sort. The real question, however, is: Can these phenomena be explained as the results of sensory stimuli affecting the known, recognized senses, such as sight, hearing, feeling, tasting, smelling, etc.? The evidence is against such an explanation. All indications point to the "extrasensory" character of clairvoyance and telepathy. That clairvoyance and telepathy are extrasensory in the meaning defined, is borne out by a comparison of this type of perception with that experienced through the channels of the ordinary senses. Organic structures act as organs of sensation in ordinary perception. Perception thus involves a definite localization of the respective stimuli and their effects in the nervous system of the body. Nothing resembling organs and definite localization has been observed in extrasensory perception. The subjects are unable to specify any particular organ of the body as the reception center of their extrasensory impressions. They simply know or do not know what the symbols on the cards happen to be. Another important difference is the angle or position of the objects for the two types of perception. It seems to make no difference in clairvoyance and telepathy whether the cards be held edgewise or broadside to the person of the subject, whether they be flat or folded, whether they be near or far away, whether they be placed openly in the presence of the subject or screened by walls, whether the symbols be large or minute, etc. Such factors, however, influence ordinary sense perception to a large degree. Furthermore, none of the recognized senses are capable of perceiving directly what thoughts or images are present in another person's mind; visual or auditory signs are required. No such signs are required in telepathy. Distance, too, seems to be no effective barrier between mind and mind in telepathic communication. Finally, science enumerates the various kinds of energy which are the stimuli for the ordinary senses: light energy for vision, sound energy for hearing, chemical energy for smell and taste, mechanical energy for pressure, etc. But science, so far at least, has been unable to point out what kind of energy, if any, is the causal agency involved in extrasensory perception. No known energy seems to fit the facts of clairvoyance and telepathy. Radiant energy appears to be the necessary stimulus. X-rays, radio waves, gamma rays, etc., have been advanced as a possible cause for the phenomena in question. However, all these types energy lose efficiency through distance and are affected by intervening objects, conditions which seem to have no appreciable influence on extrasensory perception. Besides, no wave theory seems adequate as an explanation of how a "thought" can be transferred from one mind to another, as occurs in telepathic messages. Then, too, if waves or rays are the efficient cause, how does it happen that the waves or rays emanating from the mind or brain of the sender, located perhaps a hundred miles away, are received by the subject, while those emanating from other persons much nearer are not received? To say that these minds are "attuned" to each other, is a facile phrase, but it is merely an analogy and explains nothing. We may as well face the fact that the science of physics at the present time has contributed little to an adequate understanding of the nature of extrasensory perception. Is then extrasensory perception a purely intellectual operation? It does not seem so. There is, without question, a close relationship between the higher mental operations and extrasensory perception. Judgment, volition, attention, and mental concentration are required for good results in both types of activity. And yet it would seem that clairvoyance and telepathy belong essentially to the sensory order of cognition. Practically all experiments in clairvoyance and telepathy have objects and images as the materials which form the basis of the tests. Both types of perception seem to meet with the greatest success, when the experimenter attempts to "send" geometrical figures, words, melodies, etc. Apparently, then, the imagination plays the dominant role in clairvoyant and telepathic perception. Again, whatever lowers the efficiency of the higher centers of the sensory nervous system, interferes with extrasensory perception. Illness and fatigue bring about a decrease in the scoring averages. A dissociating drug, like alcohol or sodium amytal, does the same. On the other hand, a stimulant, like caffeine, increases perceptiveness, when applied to a subject affected by drowsiness or fatigue. These facts are indications that a good state of nervous integration is required for successful work in extrasensory perception. Experiments in psychometry corroborate the view that clairvoyance and telepathy are of the sensory order. In experiments of this kind, an object is placed in the hand of the subject. Sometimes the subject is blindfolded; sometimes the object is in an opaque container; sometimes the subject is allowed to see and handle the object. In any case, the psychometrizing subject gives the past history of this particular object. The interesting feature about the whole matter is the fact that this history comes to the subject in pictorial scenes of the imagination. These scenes, perhaps indistinct at first, become clear, and then fade out, other pertinent scenes following succession. Psychometry is a variant of clairvoyance, but a clairvoyance that reaches into the past. Tischner conducted a number of such experiments and claimed that they are genuine. Others have made similar experiments with the same results. If genuine, they bear out the hypothesis that clairvoyance is sensory in nature. And since modern experimenters are convinced that both clairvoyance and telepathy derive their origin from the same fundamental faculty, the conclusion is logical that all extrasensory perception is essentially sensory in nature and not purely intellectual. According to all indications, it is the imagination which is directly involved in extrasensory perception. The images present in another mind seem to rise up spontaneously in the imagination of the subject. In that case, though; what sort of energy acts as the stimulus for extrasensory perception? At this point, we do not know. Like the states of hypnosis, extrasensory perception is a mystery of the human mind. The facts are there, but no theory so far has been able to give us anything like a fair and adequate understanding of the phenomena of these extranormal mental states. |
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