Psi Wars: Getting to Grips with the Paranormal

Journal of Parapsychology, The, Spring, 2004 by Caroline Watt

PSI WARS: GETTING TO GRIPS WITH THE PARANORMAL Edited by James Alcock, Jean Burns, and Anthony Freeman. Exeter, UK: Imprint Academic, 2003. Pp. viii 246 14.95 [pounds sterling]/$24.95 (paperback). ISBN 0-907845-487.

Since its modest beginning with two issues in 1994, the Journal of Consciousness Studies (JCS) has grown and now publishes 12 issues per year, with occasional special double-issues. In summer 2003, the JCS published such an issue on the topic of "Psi Wars: Getting to Grips with the Paranormal." This book appears to be a hasty republication of that issue, even duplicating the original JCS cover art depicting a bent rifle: a less-than-subtle indication of the themes of conflict and macro-PK.

A casual inspection of the book is rather disorienting, because the outside cover (front, back, and spine) does not reveal that the contents are a special issue of the JCS. This jars somewhat with the inside, which appears to be a complete duplication of the Journal contents. The first editorial introduction, from theologian Anthony Freeman, "A long time coming: A personal reflection," describes the ups and downs in his attempts to bring this special JCS issue on the paranormal to fruition. The reader has to put two and two together to deduce that the contents of this book are that issue--not a difficult task, but mildly irritating and leaving the reader with the impression of something that has been parachuted into book form without any further editorial intervention.

Freeman's contribution (more about that shortly) is accompanied by articles from the other two editors, physicist Jean Burns and psychologist James Alcock. These introductory chapters set the context for what is to follow, with Burns striking a sympathetic note towards physical theories of psi while Alcock's contribution is decidedly more skeptical in tone. The book is then divided into three sections, with five articles on "experiments concerning psi," two on "views about anecdotal accounts of psi," and two on "theoretical perspectives."

Because Freeman has been managing editor of JCS since 1994, his introduction makes interesting reading from a sociological point of view. He notes that although he wished to be balanced in publishing pro-psi and skeptical articles, he received many more pro-psi submissions than skeptical ones. He states, "There was a continuing degree of editorial unease where psi-related submissions were concerned, and they were handled differently from other papers for the remainder of the 1990s. The result was a protracted review process and consequent delays ..." (p.2). The journal editors decided the best way to give a balanced picture would be to solicit articles for an "even-handed" special issue. After delays and false starts (during which several psi papers had been received), for some reason the editors decided to wipe the slate clean and discard the papers that had previously been submitted (this must have been rather annoying for the authors concerned). In January 2002, JCS circulated a new call for papers for the special issue and this call is given in full in Freeman's chapter. There would be an attempt to achieve a balance between pro-psi and skeptical contributions, though the call indicates that due to the JCS having previously published pro-psi articles, "the page count and/or number of articles (would be) skewed toward the skeptic side" (p. 4, my parentheses). As it turned out, excluding Freeman's contribution, which says little either for or against the paranormal, my count is that there is an even balance of articles, and my page count indicates that actually more pages are devoted to the pro-psi papers. So, although parapsychologists' hackles might have risen when reading the call, in fact on the basis of these crude indicators of balance, they have come out of it quite well. In what follows, although I will mention every contribution, I will focus on papers that particularly caught my attention.

The editors' attempt to achieve a "balanced" special JCS issue raises the more general question of the dynamics of the debate about the paranormal. Too often this debate is polarised into pro and anti camps, and this book does not help in this regard. Debates that frame the argument as an "us and them" issue are particularly unhelpful in that they foster division rather than dialogue. A few of the articles in this book perpetuate this polarisation, as do the "Psi Wars" title itself and Freeman's differentiation between "pro-psi" and "skeptical" papers. It is an oversimplification to suggest that contributors might readily fall into one camp or another. Some do have a particular position, and their aim seems to be to persuade the reader that their position is the "right" one. Others seem to be trying hard to maintain a neutral and moderate tone.

Alcock's editorial introduction lists 11 "reasons to remain doubtful about the existence of psi," reasons that should persuade parapsychologists to "give the null hypothesis a chance." (p. 29) Alcock makes some very strong points and I think his chapter should be required reading for any student who is thinking of embarking on parapsychological research. However, at times his tone slips towards rhetoric. For instance, when discussing the recent failure to replicate Jahn's original Princeton PK-RNG studies (Jahn, et al., 2000), Alcock notes that "they did, however, on a post-hoc basis--as is so often the case in parapsychology--find some 'anomalies' in the patterning of the data" (pp. 37-38). Alcock's aside is a sweeping statement made without presenting any supporting evidence.