Anomalistics

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Paranormal / Parapsychology
Terminology
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Terminology: Anomalistics
Definition: The use of scientific methods to evaluate phenomona that fall outside of current understanding, with the aim of finding a rational explanation. [1]
Signature: The study of phenomena that appear to be at odds with current scientific understanding
Misc
Coined by: Robert W. Wescott (1973)
See Also: Parapsychology, Charles Fort

Anomalistics is the use of scientific methods to evaluate phenomona that fall outside of current understanding, with the aim of finding a rational explanation.[1] The term itself was coined in 1973 by Drew University anthropologist Robert W. Wescott who defined it as being "...serious and systematic study of all phenomena that fail to fit the picture of reality provided for us by common sense or by the established sciences".

Wescott credited journalist and researcher Charles Fort as being the creator of the anomalistics as a field of research, and named biologist Ivan T. Sanderson and Sourcebook Project compiler William R. Corliss as being key figures for their their work to expand it anomalistics and to introduce a more conventional perspective into the field.[2] [3] [4] [5] [6]

Henry Bauer, emeritus professor of chemistry at Virginia Tech, writes that anomalistics is "a politically correct term for the study of bizarre claims", [7] while Professor David J. Hess of the Department of Science and Technology Studies at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute describes it as being "the scientific study of anomalies defined as claims of phenomena not generally accepted by the bulk of the scientific community". [1]

Anomalistics plays an important role in scientific skepticism and debunking by providing a framework in which conventional explanations can be found for phenomena that have previously been attributed to supernatural or other extraordinary causes.

Anomalistics covers several sub-disciplines, among the two best known are ufology and cryptozoology. Scientifically trained anomalists include ufologists J. Allen Hynek and Carl Sagan [8], Christopher Chacon[citation needed], Cryptozoologist Bernard Heuvelmans[citation needed], and CSI/CSICOP founder Paul Kurtz. [9]

Contents

[edit] Field

According to Marcello Truzzi, Professor of Sociology at Eastern Michigan University, anomalistics works on the principles that "unexplained phenomena exist", but that most "can be explained" through the application of scientific scrutiny, [6]. Further, that something remains plausible until it has been conclusively proven not only implausible but actually impossible, something that science does not do. [6] In 2000, he wrote that anomalistics had four basic functions:

  1. Anomalistics seeks to aid in the evaluation of a wide variety of anomaly claims proposed by protoscientists.
  2. Anomalistics seeks to understand better the process of scientific adjudication and to make that process both more just and rational.
  3. Anomalistics attempts to build a rational conceptual framework for both categorizing and accessing anomaly claims.
  4. Anomalistics seeks to act in the role of amicus curae ("friends of the court") to the scientific community in its process of adjudication. [10]

[edit] Scope

Anomalistics has two core tenets governing its scope:

  1. Research must remain within the conventional boundaries.
  2. Research must deal exclusively with "empirical claims of the extraordinary", rather than claims of a "metaphysical, theological or supernatural" nature. [6]

These tenets mean that anomalistics is primarily concerned with physical events and that researchers traditionally avoid phenomena that are considered to be purely paranormal in nature, such as apparitions and poltergeists, or which are concerned with Psi (ESP, psychokinesis and telepathy, for example). The latter of which are covered by parapsychology. [6][5][4]

[edit] Validation

According to Truzzi, before an explanation can be considered valid within anomalistics it must fulfill four criteria. It must be based on conventional knowledge and reasoning, it must be kept simple and be unburdened by speculation or overcomplexity, the burden of proof must be placed on the claimant not the researcher, and the more extraordinary the claim the higher the level of proof required. [6]

Bauer provides a simpler answer, that nothing can be deemed as proof within anomalistics unless it can gain "acceptance by the established disciplines". [7]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c Hess David J. (1997) "Science Studies: an advanced introduction" New York University Press, ISBN 0814735649
  2. ^ Clark, Jerome (1993) "Encyclopedia of Strange and Unexplained Physical Phenomena", Thomson Gale, ISBN 081038843X
  3. ^ R. Westrum, Truzzi Marcello (1978) "Anomalies: A Bibliographic Introduction with Some Cautionary Remarks", Zetetic Scholar 2, p. 69-90
  4. ^ a b Wescott, Robert W. (1973) "Anomalistics: The Outline of an Emerging Field of Investigation" Research Division, New Jersey Department of Education
  5. ^ a b "Anomalistics: A New Field of Interdisciplinary Study", Fortean Times 36, (Winter 1982)
  6. ^ a b c d e f Truzzi, Marcello (1998) "Anomalistics: The Perspective of Anomalistics", Center for Scientific Anomalies Research
  7. ^ a b Bauer, Henry (2000) "Science Or Pseudoscience: Magnetic Healing, Psychic Phenomena and Other Heterodoxies", University of Illinois Press, ISBN 0-252-02601-2
  8. ^ Clark, Jeromne (1998). The UFO book: Encyclopedia of the Extraterrestrial. Detroit, Michigan: Visible Ink Press. ISBN 1578590299. 
  9. ^ CSI - About CSI (2007-05-05)
  10. ^ Truzzi, Marcello (2002) "The Perspective of Anomalistics" (section only) - "Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience", Fitzroy Dearborn, ISBN 1-57958-207-9

[edit] See also

  • Anomalous phenomenon
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