Notis 252, 2012-06-15. Fortsatt debatt om frågan om nära-döden-upplevelser har paranormala inslag. Ganska märkligt eftersom det är ganska uppenbart att så är fallet, flera brister har redan påpekats i denna rapport, och den ledande parapsykologen Caroline Watt har mycket naiva bortförklaringar.
/Adria
n Parker + GB
Originalartikeln är Mobbs, D., & Watt, C. (2011). There is nothing paranormal about near-death experiences: how neuroscience can explain seeing bright lights, meeting the dead, or being convinced you are one of them. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, se också notis 218.
Caroline Watt har givit en ”Wiseman-typ” naiv bortförklaring till prekognitiva drömmar som inte blev särskilt uppskattad på BIAL-mötet våren 2012, nämner Adrian. ”Det är olyckligt med hennes svängning mot naiva bortförklaringar med tanke på att hon numera är Bob Morris’ efterträdare på BIAL”, påpekar han.
Janice Holden har noga påpekat flera brister i denna artikel på skeptiko.com, se länk nedan, och intervjuade sedan Caroline Watt i en avslöjande intervju. Hon menar att artikeln var avsiktligt skriven för att provocera – den skulle inte vara balanserad….
Mobbs, D., & Watt, C. (2011). There is nothing paranormal about near-death experiences: how neuroscience can explain seeing bright lights, meeting the dead, or being convinced you are one of them. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 15(10), 447–449.
Adrian: Recently Janice Holden did a nice job pointing out the paper’s many flaws in an interview with Alex Tsakiris at skeptiko.com, the interview and full transcript (March 13th, 2012) are here:
http://www.skeptiko.com/there-is-nothing-paranormal-about-near-death-experiences-jan-holden-disagrees/
Following this, Alex interviewed Caroline (March 20th, 2012), and very revealing it was too. The interview and full transcript are here: http://www.skeptiko.com/165-dr-caroline-watt-defends-there-is-nothing-paranormal-about-near-death-experiences/
Excerpt #1: Dr. Caroline Watt: … Our paper didn’t deal with this question of veridicality at all. Alex Tsakiris: Why not? Dr. Caroline Watt: Why not? Because it wasn’t actually [listed] as one of the core features. Kenneth Ring doesn’t list that as a core feature of a near-death experience; out-of-body experience, yes, but the veridical experiences don’t happen that often. They’re actually relatively rare. [Comment: As Bruce Greyson said last year, “If you ignore everything paranormal about NDEs then it’s easy to conclude that there is nothing paranormal about them.” ]
Excerpt #2: Alex Tsakiris: …There seems to be a little lack of balance… Dr. Caroline Watt: As I said, it was intended to be a provocative piece. It’s not claiming to be balanced.
[Comment: If one deliberately creates an opportunity to committ a sin of omission, does that amount to a sin of commission? I think so, even if one is ‘merely’ sinning against the epistemic virtues… ]