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Occult and Supernatural Phenomena

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This book is a look at occult and supernatural phenomena (a.k.a. 'the paranormal') from a psychological perspective. Rawcliffe concludes that there is no reason to resort to any paranormal, occult explanation for the various phenomena he looks at (including dowsing, telepathy, ESP, automatic writing, etc.). These phenomena are explained as the results of psychological abberations, delusions, or charlatanism. The problem is that he far too often resorts to another sort of occult explanation-- psychodynamic psychology. While he quite rightly rejects any explanation in terms of the supernatural, he cheerfully and credulously attributes nearly anything to 'the subconscious,'hysteria,' 'trance,' 'automatism,' and so on, often ignoring much simpler explanations. For instance, the success of water dowsers is explained as the result of subconcious perceptions of nearly invisible clues as to the presence of subterranean water-- rather than the more obvious explanation that the reports of their successes shouldn't be taken seriously. The psychology is at best shallow, at worst on an epistemological par with the occult explanations he's debunking. From that perspective, this otherwise very mediocre book is quite fascinating-- a mid-century attempt at debunking the occult by the equally occult. If you're interested in a serious exploration of the occult, anything by James 'The Amazing' Randi would be good. If you're interested in the history of psychiatry or psychology, this might be of some minor interest.