Philosophy of Science
Prof. Stemwedel
Small Group Exercise: Science or Pseudo-science?


"Clairvoyance"

Let us focus on clairvoyance because it is a phenomenon that everyone can at least imagine thinking they have experienced.  The typical "experience of clairvoyance" resembles the following scenario.  Jack and Jill are best friends.  One day, for no apparent reason, Jill experiences a sudden fright that convinces her that something terrible has happened to Jack.  She tries to put the feeling out of her mind.  Later that day, she learns that, in fact, Jack has been badly injured in an automobile accident.  It turns out that the accident occurred right about the time she had the feeling that something terrible had happened.  Jill finds herself seriously contemplating the possibility that clairvoyance is a reality.  Does she indeed have evidence for this belief?


(From Ronald N. Giere, Understanding Scientific Reasoning (4th ed.), Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1997.)




What is Jill's hypothesis?




What evidence in this discussion supports this hypothesis?




Propose an experiment which would be a good test of this hypothesis, and explain why it would count as a good test.




"Science or Pseudo-science?"

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