argument top image

Are psychics real?
Back to question

There is no scientific evidence backing psychics

The work carried out by psychics is not rooted in science, so psychics are not real. After conducting numerous research studies, scientists at both Berkeley and Harvard could not find any scientific evidence to support the validity of psychic powers.
Psychics
< (4 of 4)

The Argument

Although there have been many studies exploring the ideas that psychics are rooted in, none have come up with any scientific evidence for it. In many studies carried out by scientists at Berkeley, the result of their experiments showed that "...receivers [weren't] particularly accurate in these experiments; no evidence of mind reading or any other sort of ESP [was] found."[1] In multiple studies carried out by Harvard's School of Psychology, a test based in neuro-imaging found no support for the claims of participants having ESP.[2] Whilst there may be certain support to the claim that seeing isn't always believing, there is no scientific basis for psychics and their abilities. What they claim to be able to do cannot be supported factually.

Counter arguments

Perhaps the psychic ability is beyond science. Perhaps ESP and the predictions of the future are just phenomena that cannot be understood by scientists, and cannot be proved in a lab or a test tube.

Proponents

Premises

[P1] There is no scientific evidence backing psychics. [P2] What they claim to be able to do cannot be real.

Rejecting the premises

References

  1. https://undsci.berkeley.edu/article/esp
  2. https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2008/01/neuroimaging-fails-to-demonstrate-esp-is-real/
This page was last edited on Wednesday, 11 Nov 2020 at 15:17 UTC

Explore related arguments