How important is skepticism to paranormal investigation and far should one go as a skeptic when debunking?
Dave: I think skepticism gets a bad name. It is often associated with a doubting, unalterable opinion based on predisposed beliefs. But skepticism, properly dispensed, is the basis of all discovery. Without the need to prove something, experimentation is fruitless. If everything is taken at face value without debate and investigation, than we fall under a belief structure based on blind faith.
We approach every investigation as believers in the continuation of the soul. But this belief is based on past results and experimentation, not a rubber stamp of activity on the current case. Our jobs are to prove, or disprove activity at the client's site after exhausting all possible earthly causes. By proof, I mean the lack of dispute for the claims made and evidence gathered. As we may never have concrete proof of the working of the ethereal realm, best educated guesses may be as good as it gets.
Every group needs to keep a certain air of skepticism in play throughout the entire investigation. This includes analysis. I have been so excited by an EVP hit, that another team member will later disprove as an EVP and rightly so. So to jump to conclusions without review and group agreement does a disservice to the client and the field of study as a whole.
Can someone be too skeptical? I absolutely believe so. We call this the "Andy Syndrome". Most readers will know what I mean by this. These people try way too hard to disprove the paranormal. Their explanations can develop to the point where their earthly explanation is almost less believable than the activity reported. We try to bring in members that have a good balance between belief and skepticism, coupled with a deep desire to know the truth. With this mix, we feel very confident that we have delivered the best product we can to our clients.
Rex: There are extremists when it comes to the paranormal on both sides, skeptics and believers. Those labeled skeptics by the paranormal are usually on the extreme side, where they just deny anything paranormal without any investigation or study at all. Their main argument is "____ doesn't exist" which basically applies to anything they deal with. On the opposite side are the believers that just accept everything anyone tells them without question.
We approach our cases as believers who are skeptical about each claim given to us. We aim to prove the paranormal by making sure that we cannot debunk the claims. Debunking is a major part of our investigations, we look for things (within reason) that could cause these things to happen. Once all natural phenomena are exhausted we can look to the paranormal. The "Andy Syndrome" that Dave speaks about is when the ridiculous is considered as an explanation. For example a claim may be that a client hears loud banging coming from their attic after we rule out the possibility of squirrels and raccoons or tree branches blown and the only explanation possible would be if someone dropped a Buick from 100 feet onto the house, the Andys of the world would accept this.
Dave: I think skepticism gets a bad name. It is often associated with a doubting, unalterable opinion based on predisposed beliefs. But skepticism, properly dispensed, is the basis of all discovery. Without the need to prove something, experimentation is fruitless. If everything is taken at face value without debate and investigation, than we fall under a belief structure based on blind faith.
We approach every investigation as believers in the continuation of the soul. But this belief is based on past results and experimentation, not a rubber stamp of activity on the current case. Our jobs are to prove, or disprove activity at the client's site after exhausting all possible earthly causes. By proof, I mean the lack of dispute for the claims made and evidence gathered. As we may never have concrete proof of the working of the ethereal realm, best educated guesses may be as good as it gets.
Every group needs to keep a certain air of skepticism in play throughout the entire investigation. This includes analysis. I have been so excited by an EVP hit, that another team member will later disprove as an EVP and rightly so. So to jump to conclusions without review and group agreement does a disservice to the client and the field of study as a whole.
Can someone be too skeptical? I absolutely believe so. We call this the "Andy Syndrome". Most readers will know what I mean by this. These people try way too hard to disprove the paranormal. Their explanations can develop to the point where their earthly explanation is almost less believable than the activity reported. We try to bring in members that have a good balance between belief and skepticism, coupled with a deep desire to know the truth. With this mix, we feel very confident that we have delivered the best product we can to our clients.
Rex: There are extremists when it comes to the paranormal on both sides, skeptics and believers. Those labeled skeptics by the paranormal are usually on the extreme side, where they just deny anything paranormal without any investigation or study at all. Their main argument is "____ doesn't exist" which basically applies to anything they deal with. On the opposite side are the believers that just accept everything anyone tells them without question.
We approach our cases as believers who are skeptical about each claim given to us. We aim to prove the paranormal by making sure that we cannot debunk the claims. Debunking is a major part of our investigations, we look for things (within reason) that could cause these things to happen. Once all natural phenomena are exhausted we can look to the paranormal. The "Andy Syndrome" that Dave speaks about is when the ridiculous is considered as an explanation. For example a claim may be that a client hears loud banging coming from their attic after we rule out the possibility of squirrels and raccoons or tree branches blown and the only explanation possible would be if someone dropped a Buick from 100 feet onto the house, the Andys of the world would accept this.
Comments for this post
Posts
