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Volume 17: Number 2: Article 5
Communicating with the Dead: The Evidence Ignored. Why Paul Kurtz is Wrong
Montague Keen, 72 Southway, Totteridge, London N20 8DB, UK
A far-ranging attack on the evidence for the paranormal in general,
and the case for post-mortem survival of intelligence in particular,
was published in 2000 by Professor Paul Kurtz in the Skeptical Inquirer,
organ of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of
the Paranormal. Reluctance of its Editor to fulfil an undertaking to
publish a response has prompted this more extensive review of the deficiencies
in his argument. It points in particular to areas which Kurtz either
ignores entirely or misrepresents, notably in the extensive literature
relating to early mediumistic communications whose paranormality has
yet to be undermined by any objective examination; some of the early
examples of cross-correspondences; book tests with Mrs. Osborne Leonard;
and the Edgar Vandy case as an illustration of the unscientific manner
in which skeptics seek to mislead readers. Finally there is a summary
of more recent statistically measurable research into veridical communications
from gifted mediums.
Keywords: skeptics, mediums, survival, cross-correspondences
FULL TEXT:
Communicating with the Dead: The Evidence Ignored. Why Paul Kurtz is Wrong
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