Although science is driven by data, strong theoretical foundations must exist in order to explain that data. Otherwise, all we have is a collection of possibly related facts, and what good is that? Science isn’t merely an attempt to collect data, but rather an effort to explain that data in an accurate, coherent, and useful manner.
Every major scientific field is dominated by one or more foundational theories. Physics has relativity and atomic theory. Geology has plate tectonics. Biology has evolution. These are just a few of the many fundamental scientific theories that help scientists explain the data they study. But where are the foundational theories for parapsychology? Where are the explanations for why these alleged paranormal phenomena occur and where are the predictions necessary for constructing sound experiments that can test these explanations?
Are these phenomena caused by some transference of energy? If so, it is hard to understand what role the human brain plays. The discovery that the brain operates via electro-chemical power gave a real boost to psychic believers and their claims. However, this particular support fails to provide what is needed because the human brain simply lacks the raw power to project thoughts beyond the skull.
Moreover, it is common with psychic claims that thoughts can be transmitted or received over great distances just as readily as they can over short distances. This, however, ignores the fact that electromagnetic waves diminish in strength over distance (known as attenuation). The farther the distance, the greater the power which is needed — none of which the brain can provide.
Without a theoretical foundation, there is no way for parapsychology to become a proper science — it is, in fact, one of the things which holds it to being a pseudoscience. With an understanding about how it works, it would be possible to eliminate it as a factor and thus test for its presence. Without such an understanding, it is impossible to know when it is and is not operating. As Susan Blackmore explains it:
- “In parapsychology, what you cannot do is make a condition without psi. We don’t understand how (or even if) psi works. So you cannot have a comparison between “with ESP” and “without ESP” or “with PK” and “without PK.””
The lack of a theoretical foundation for these events is a result of the apparent fact that parapsychologists do not seem inclined to investigate the causes of supposedly psychic phenomena. They certainly spend a lot of time trying to show that such phenomena do occur by trying to amass as much evidence as they can — evidence which continually remains elusive. However, the question as to why these events occur, well, we hear nothing at all.
This is strange because a theoretical framework explaining why they occur would help point to when they would occur and this, in turn, would be a great aid in developing reliable experiments to test. Science, in order to progress, needs a sufficient body of evidence to analyze — without analysis, there is simply nothing much that can be said about what little data we might have.
Thus, the lack of such a framework and relevant explanations is fundamentally self-defeating. So why does this occur? It is almost as if parapsychologist don’t actually want to know what is really going on. All we have in place of conceptual explanations are simply ad hoc explanations which conveniently shift and morph as critics poke holes in them.
