One of the obstacles to progress in psychical research is irrational resistance to the phenomena. Among eighteenth-century Enlightenment writers, one type of resistance was evident that has persisted until present times. To illustrate, the present paper looks at David Hume’s discussion of miracles in his An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding (1748/1955). Hume’s essay actually lays out a goo...

this paper explores people’s behavior when they are facing financial risks. through the setting of an economics experiment, people’s willingness to bear financial risks and their tendency to impose risks on others are investigated. the experiment result shows that most people are risk-neutral or risk-averse when making decision under financial environment, and their tendency to impose risks on ...

The application of probabilistic arguments to rational decisions in a single case is a contentious philosophical issue which arises in various contexts. Some authors (e.g. Horgan, Philos Pap 24:209–222, 1995; Levy, Synthese 158:139–151, 2007) affirm the normative force of probabilistic arguments in single cases while others (Baumann, Am Philos Q 42:71–79, 2005; Synthese 162:265–273, 2008) deny ...

The application of probabilistic arguments to rational decisions in a single case is a contentious philosophical issue which arises in various contexts. Some authors (e.g. Horgan 1995; Levy 2007) affirm the normative force of probabilistic arguments in single cases while others (Baumann 2005, 2008) deny it. I demonstrate that both sides do not give convincing arguments for their case and propos...

Some persons who claim to have had near-death experiences (NDEs) fail research criteria for having had NDEs ("false positives"); others who deny having had NDEs do meet research criteria for having had NDEs ("false negatives"). The author evaluated false positive claims and false negative denials in an organization that promotes near-death research and in psychiatric outpatients. The frequency ...

JosEPH LIsmR's research on the neural control of the calibre of smaller blood-vessels was informed by two important, though unrelated discoveries, which had been engaging his attention for some time before his first surgical appointment in Edinburgh.1 These were the discoveries of (1) plain muscle-fibre, which had been observed and minutely described by Albert K6lliker, and (2) syndromes in the...

In his “Principles of Political Economy and Taxation” [9], Ricardo cautioned that the deficit-financing of public expenditures sets back the growth of capital. The reference was to economies with rapid adjustment to “full-employment” equilibrium. While the Keynesians denied the rapid-equilibration assumption, the postwar reevaluation of monetary policy led to a modern restatement of Ricardo’s d...