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Critical Thinking
Critical Thinking
Pseudoscience and the Paranormal
Second Edition
Jonathan C. Smith
Roosevelt University, USA
W I L E Y Blackwell
This edition first published 2018
© 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Edition History: Wiley Blackwell (le, 2010)
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Smith, Jonathan C., author.
Title: Critical thinking: pseudoscience and the paranormal / Jonathan C. Smith.
Other titles: Pseudoscience and extraordinary claims of the paranormal
Description: Second Edition. | Hoboken: Wiley, 2017. | Rev. ed. of: Pseudoscience and extraordinary
claims of the paranormal: a critical thinker’s toolkit. 2010. | Includes bibliographical references
and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017006793 (print) | LCCN 2017002367 (ebook) | ISBN 9781119029359 (pbk.) |
ISBN 9781119029489 (Adobe PDF) | ISBN 9781119029373 (ePub)
Subjects: LCSH: Parapsychology.
Classification: LCC BF1031 .S635 2017 (ebook) | LCC BF1031 (print) | DDC 130-dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017006793
Cover images: © demlO/Gettyimages; © Dynamicfoto/Shutterstock; courtesy of the author
Cover design by Wiley
Set in 10/12pt Warnock by SPi Global, Pondicherry, India
1 2018
Lovingly dedicated to
vii
Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Part I Introduction 1
1 Critical Thinking: Your Survival Kit 3
2 The Paranormal Spectrum 13
3 What's the Harm? Why Study These Things? 25
Part II The Critical Thinker's Toolkit 47
4 Sources 49
5 Logic (Bonus: The Big Four Informal Logical Fallacies) 61
6 Logic and Language: Fallacies of Ambiguity 79
7 Science 93
Part III Alternative Explanations 115
8 Oddities of Nature and the World of Numbers 117
9 Perceptual Error and Trickery 135
10 Memory Errors 755
11 The Placebo Effect 167
12 Sensory Phenomena, Hallucinations, and Psychiatric Conditions 189
viii | Contents
Part IV Paranormal Challenges 21 1
13 Claims of Extraordinary Cures 213
14 From the Paranormal Sampler: Four Claims of Consequence 229
Appendix A: Why Do You Believe? 2 5 5
Appendix B: Belief Justification Survey 261
Notes 271
References 2 7 3
Index 2 9 5
ix
Acknowledgments
I wish to acknowledge the generous support and contribution of Chicago’s Roosevelt
University, my home for decades. Special note to the University Research and Professional
Improvement Leave Committee for all that they have done.
Part I
Introduction
3
Critical Thinking: Your Survival Kit
OUTLINE
1) Critical Thinking Defined: Critical thinking is the process o f(l) evaluating a claim about objective
reality and identifying support, and (2) considering alternative hypotheses.
a) Stating a Claim, Identifying Types of Support
i) Appropriate sources
ii) Logic and clear language
iii) Science
b) Alternative Hypotheses: Going Beyond Immediate Personal Experience and Intuition
i) Oddities in nature and the world of statistics
ii) Perceptual error or trickery
iii) Memory error
iv) Placebo effect
v) Sensory phenomena, hallucinations, and psychiatric conditions
2) Bats, Balls, and Mind-Reading: Intuitive vs. Reflective Cognitive Thinking Styles
3) The Time and Place for Critical Thinking
4) Finding a Safe Practice Arena
5) The Four Challenges of the Open-Minded Critical Thinker
a) Have the Courage to Pause and Reflect
b) Question Fearlessly and Honestly
c) Recognize that There May Be More to the World than Meets the Eye
d) Admit You Might Be Totally Mistaken
Life can be a Pandora’s box of problems and mysteries. This includes all things great and
small. Everyday challenges like starting college, dating, and finding work. Threats to
society, like war, poverty, disease, and environmental disaster. Yes, even frantic internet
exposes of mind-controlling psychics, flesh-eating vampires, and invasions from other
universes. In a world full of troubles, every student needs one important survival kit - a
toolbox of powerful critical thinking skills.
Consider Alex, a college student who faces a rather complicated dating dilemma. The
first few dates went well. What to do next? Please study this carefully:
I think I ’m ready for sex, I ’m dating Jesse, who is fun to be with. But I doubt Jesse has
any interest in romance. I ’m not quite sure what I want,
I want to take Jesse to an art museum this weekend. There are two exhibits. I ’ve seen
both. Which has the more beautiful art?
Critical Thinking: Pseudoscience and the Paranormal, Second Edition. Jonathan C. Smith.
© 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Published 2018 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
4 Introduction
Figure 1.1 What's in your Pandora's Box?
Reproduced with kind permission of
Shutterstock.
I'm getting closer to both Jesse and Riley. I ’ve gone out with both. It almost feels like I ’m
dating two people. Is that OK? Should I drop one and date the other? A n d what about
Jamie, someone interesting I ju st met?
W hat does God want me to do? How can I tell the difference between God’s will and
my wishes?
Julian, my roommate wants me to take a drink he obtained from a store that specializes
in alternative medicine. Citing personal experience, Julian says it works and will help
me make choices more decisively. Should I try it?
A ll these questions! Last night I had a dream that I dropped out o f school and took a
hike on a long mountain path to clear my head. Out o f nowhere, a sage on a vintage
Harley rumbled to a dramatic stop in fro n t o f me. I was struck by what this person was
wearing - a glowing ruby eye earring delicate flowered silk scarf, and steel-studded
leather arm band. A s the dust settled, my Biker Sage whispered: “Think clearly!”blew
me a kiss, and roared away. Should I take this premonition seriously?
Critical Thinking Defined
Fortunately, Alex is taking a course in critical thinking and hopes he can find some
answers. He begins with some popular definitions. For example, his very first Google hit
(out of 53,100,000 results) is a very popular definition:
Critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully
conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating informa
tion gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reason
ing, or communication, as a guide to belief and action. In its exemplary form, it is
based on universal intellectual values that transcend subject matter divisions:
clarity, accuracy, precision, consistency, relevance, sound evidence, good rea
sons, depth, breadth, and fairness.
(Scriven &Paul, 2014)
