| |
| |
| Foreword | |
| |
| |
| Preface | |
| |
| |
| |
| Introduction: Close Encounters with the Strange | |
| |
| |
| The Importance of Why | |
| |
| |
| Beyond Weird to the Absurd | |
| |
| |
| A Weirdness Sampler | |
| |
| |
| Notes | |
| |
| |
| |
| The Possibility of the Impossible | |
| |
| |
| Paradigms and the Paranormal | |
| |
| |
| Logical Possibility Versus Physical Impossibility | |
| |
| |
| The Possibility of ESP | |
| |
| |
| Theories and Things | |
| |
| |
| On Knowing the Future | |
| |
| |
| Study Questions | |
| |
| |
| Evaluate These Claims | |
| |
| |
| Discussion Questions | |
| |
| |
| Field Problem | |
| |
| |
| Critical Reading and Writing | |
| |
| |
| Suggested Readings | |
| |
| |
| Notes | |
| |
| |
| |
| Arguments Good, Bad and Weird | |
| |
| |
| Claim and Arguments | |
| |
| |
| Deductive Arguments | |
| |
| |
| Inductive Arguments | |
| |
| |
| Enumerative Induction | |
| |
| |
| Analogical Induction | |
| |
| |
| Hypothetical Induction (Abduction, or Inference to the Best of Explanation) | |
| |
| |
| Informal Fallacies | |
| |
| |
| Unacceptable Premises | |
| |
| |
| Irrelevant Premises | |
| |
| |
| Insufficient Premises | |
| |
| |
| Study Questions | |
| |
| |
| Evaluate These Claims | |
| |
| |
| Discussion Questions | |
| |
| |
| Field Problem | |
| |
| |
| Critical Reading and Writing | |
| |
| |
| Suggested Readings | |
| |
| |
| Notes | |
| |
| |
| |
| Knowledge, Belief, and Evidence | |
| |
| |
| Babylonian Knowledge-Acquisition Techniques | |
| |
| |
| Propositional Knowledge | |
| |
| |
| Reasons and Evidence | |
| |
| |
| Expert Opinion | |
| |
| |
| Coherence and Justification | |
| |
| |
| Sources of Knowledge | |
| |
| |
| The Appeal to Faith | |
| |
| |
| The Appeal to Intuition | |
| |
| |
| The Appeal to Mystical Experience | |
| |
| |
| Astrology Revisited | |
| |
| |
| Study Questions | |
| |
| |
| Evaluate These Claims | |
| |
| |
| Discussion Questions | |
| |
| |
| Field Problem | |
| |
| |
| Critical Reading and Writing | |
| |
| |
| Suggested Readings | |
| |
| |
| Notes | |
| |
| |
| |
| Looking for Truth in Personal Experience | |
| |
| |
| Seeming and Being | |
| |
| |
| Perceiving: True or False? | |
| |
| |
| Perceptual Constancies | |
| |
| |
| The Role of Expectation | |
| |
| |
| Looking for Clarity in Vagueness | |
| |
| |
| The Blondlot Case | |
| |
| |
| "Constructing" UFOs | |
| |
| |
| Remembering: Do We Revise the Past? | |
| |
| |
| Judging: The Habit of Unwarranted Assumptions | |
| |
| |
| Denying the Evidence | |
| |
| |
| Subjective Validation | |
| |
| |
| Confirmation Bias | |
| |
| |
| The Availability Error | |
| |
| |
| The Representativeness Heuristic | |
| |
| |
| Against All Odds | |
| |
| |
| The Limits of Personal Experience | |
| |
| |
| Study Questions | |
| |
| |
| Evaluate These Claims | |
| |
| |
| Discussion Questions | |
| |
| |
| Field Problem | |
| |
| |
| Critical Reading and Writing | |
| |
| |
| Suggested Readings | |
| |
| |
| Notes | |
| |
| |
| |
| Science and Its Pretenders | |
| |
| |
| Science and Dogma | |
| |
| |
| Science and Scientism | |
| |
| |
| Scientific Methodology | |
| |
| |
| Confirming and Confuting Hypotheses | |
| |
| |
| Criteria of Adequacy | |
| |
| |
| Testability | |
| |
| |
| Fruitfulness | |
| |
| |
| Scope | |
| |
| |
| Simplicity | |
| |
| |
| Conservatism | |
| |
| |
| Creationism, Evolution, and Criteria of Adequacy | |
| |
| |
| Scientific Creationism | |
| |
| |
| Intelligent Design | |
| |
| |
| Parapsychology | |
| |
| |
| Study Questions | |
| |
| |
| Evaluate These Claims | |
| |
| |
| Discussion Questions | |
| |
| |
| Field Problem | |
| |
| |
| Critical Reading and Writing | |
| |
| |
| Suggested Readings | |
| |
| |
| Notes | |
| |
| |
| |
| Case Studies in the Extraordinary | |
| |
| |
| The Search Formula | |
| |
| |
| |
| State the Claim | |
| |
| |
| |
| Examine the Evidence for the Claim | |
| |
| |
| |
| Consider Alternative Hypotheses | |
| |
| |
| |
| Rate, According to the Criteria of Adequacy, Each Hypothesis | |
| |
| |
| Homeopathy | |
| |
| |
| Intercessory Prayer | |
| |
| |
| UFO Abductions | |
| |
| |
| Communicating with the Dead | |
| |
| |
| Near-Death Experiences | |
| |
| |
| Ghosts | |
| |
| |
| Study Questions | |
| |
| |
| Evaluate These Claims by Using the Search Method | |
| |
| |
| Field Problem | |
| |
| |
| Critical Reading and Writing | |
| |
| |
| Suggested Readings | |
| |
| |
| Notes | |
| |
| |
| |
| Relativism, Truth, and Reality | |
| |
| |
| We 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 | |
| |
| |
| Notes | |
| |
| |
| |
| How to Assess a "Miracle Cure" | |
| |
| |
| Personal Experience | |
| |
| |
| The Variable Nature of Illness | |
| |
| |
| The Placebo Effect | |
| |
| |
| Overlooked Causes | |
| |
| |
| The Doctor's Evidence | |
| |
| |
| The Appeal to Tradition | |
| |
| |
| The Reasons of Science | |
| |
| |
| Medical Research | |
| |
| |
| Single Studies | |
| |
| |
| Conflicting Results | |
| |
| |
| Studies Conflicting with Fact | |
| |
| |
| Limitations of Studies | |
| |
| |
| Types of Studies | |
| |
| |
| In Vitro Experiments | |
| |
| |
| Animal Studies | |
| |
| |
| Observational Studies | |
| |
| |
| Clinical Trials | |
| |
| |
| Study Questions | |
| |
| |
| Evaluate These Claims | |
| |
| |
| Discussion Questions | |
| |
| |
| Field Problem | |
| |
| |
| Critical Reading and Writing | |
| |
| |
| Suggested Readings | |
| |
| |
| Notes | |
| |
| |
| Credits | |
| |
| |
| Index | |