Are Ghosts An Illusion Of The Mind Philosophy Essay

Are Ghosts An Illusion Of The Mind Philosophy Essay Ghosts are just one of the many subtopics that reside within the topic of paranormal. Paranormal experiences are studied using parapsychology: a scientific approach to supposedly â€Å"paranormal† experiences. With the use of H. J. Irwin’s brilliant book called, â€Å"An Introduction to Parapsychology Third Edition†, and Bobby Elgee’s article called, â€Å"‘Evidence’ of the Paranormal and Ghosts†, we are able to deduce a theoretically sound explanation of what is paranormal and since when has the topic been studied. Then, we analyze the survival hypothesis and the ability of a soul to live outside the body. After, we proceed to the definition of ghosts and their usual whereabouts while setting the conditions that they usually appear in as well as to who they appear. Finally, we go on to claiming that these experiences are not really ghosts, but either hallucinations or just simply paranormal due to the witnesses’ wild conclusion that it couldn’t be anything other than a ghost. Ghosts: An Illusion of the Mind Ghosts are not what you think they are, far from it. They aren’t the friendly little ghost you see in â€Å"Casper†, nor are they the â€Å"Bloody Baron† from SpongeBob Squarepants who haunts the ocean for eternity. They might not even be anything at all, just a word people exploit to an unknown object which might have a logical explanation. Yet, most cultures in the world believe in the body having a soul which like the heart, can exist and survive in another body. Yet, even if such an idea is generally believe by a large population of the world, it may not be true. Thought or belief proves nothing, for if it were, then a group could believe in radioactive helicopter bunnies and it would be fact. Yet, people need proof, therefore, to believe ghosts, we need proof that they exist. Life isn’t neither what people see in movies, read in books nor see in pictures. Therefo re, neither are ghosts. In order to prove ghosts don’t exist, we have to analyze the parapsychological and the paranormal, the survival theory, the situations in which ghost usually appear and how most experiences are most likely fakes. According to Bobby Elgee, â€Å"the word ‘paranormal’ simply means ‘not scientifically explainable.'† (Elgee, 2009, pg 1) Meanwhile, parapsychology is known â€Å"as the study of apparent anomalies of behavior and experience that exist apart from currently known explanatory mechanisms that account for organism-environment and organism-organism information and influence flow† (Irwin, 1999, pg 1). Therefore, it is the commutation of a being to another, or a being to a surrounding. In other words, parapsychology is using a scientific approach to study experiences that may be paranormal and â€Å"to determine whether or not the evident paranormal quality of a given class of parapsychological experience is authenti c or ontologically real.† (Irwin, 1999, pg 9) According to Irwin, â€Å"recorded instances of parapsychological experiences of course may be found among all cultures and in all historic periods.† (Irwin, 1999, pg 13) Yet, the testing of such experiences for accuracy and authenticity was slower to emerge. Some, â€Å"such as Henry More and Joseph Glanvill showed themselves alert to the possibility of fraud, delusion, and unreliable observation†, but their views more religious than scientific as they were â€Å"endeavoring to ascertain the earthly presence of the devil and diabolical forces.† (Irwin, 1999, pg 14) It was later that Francis Bacon made a call â€Å"for objective scrutiny of parapsychological experiences† (Irwin, 1999, pg 14) which was more scientific than More and Glanvill, but â€Å"at the time society was not receptive to such a view and Bacon’s arguments went unheeded.† (Irwin, 1999, pg 14) Then, a center in England call ed the Society for Psychical Research where parapsychologists are â€Å"united in their conviction that the objective investigation of parapsychological phenomena was called for, despite the prevailing disinterest in such research among the established divisions of science.† (Irwin, 1999, pg 13) Even today, most of society disregards the subject as scientific, yet â€Å"parapsychology is under taken as a scientific endeavor regardless of its subject matter, flaws in any of its research procedures, and the skeptical rhetoric of its critics.† (Irwin, 1999, pg 2) Therefore, Irwin states that, â€Å"All ESP experiences thus are parapsychological, but we require proof that any of them could be paranormal.† (Irwin, 1999, pg 2)