Essay Review: Strange Beliefs and Why They Are Believed. The Unpersuadables: Adventures with the Enemies of Science by Will Storr
The Unpersuadables: Adventures with the Enemies of Science by Will Storr. New York: Overlook Press, 2014. 355 pp. $27.95 (hardcover).1 ISBN 978-1-4683-0818-1. Scientific Explorers might interpret this title as just another Pseudo-Skeptical2 debunking of anomalistics. It is not that at all, though...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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SSE
2015-06-01
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| Series: | Journal of Scientific Exploration |
| Online Access: | http://journalofscientificexploration.org/index.php/jse/article/view/870 |
| _version_ | 1811283926970269696 |
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| author | Henry Bauer |
| author_facet | Henry Bauer |
| author_sort | Henry Bauer |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The Unpersuadables: Adventures with the Enemies of Science by Will Storr. New York: Overlook Press, 2014. 355 pp. $27.95 (hardcover).1 ISBN 978-1-4683-0818-1.
Scientific Explorers might interpret this title as just another Pseudo-Skeptical2 debunking of anomalistics. It is not that at all, though it begins like that with a rather jocular treatment of a creationist.
I found interesting descriptions of some truly extraordinary beliefs and practices, and enjoyed much of what is said about Skeptics (and Randi in particular); on the other hand, many sections are quite naïve or misinformed about science and human behavior, and the book concludes without pointing to any significant lesson learned.
The continuing theme seems to be, how and why do people hold strange beliefs, or false beliefs? The trouble is that Storr never defines what makes a belief strange or what makes it false; though implicitly he seems to regard as strange any belief that seems strange to him, and as false any belief that contemporary science does not propound. Nor does the book ever suggest an answer to that large and ill-defined question. There is a great deal about humans being governed by emotion and not thought, by the unconscious and not the conscious mind, which might seem to be at least a partial answer-except that these lengthy disquisitions on emotion and unconscious have the same effect as extreme relativism from philosophers and sociologists: if everything we "think" is determined by genes, emotions, nerve impulses and neurotransmitters, then why should we pay any attention to anything anyone says, including Storr? |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-13T02:19:57Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-246d2cbc1c464257879b2bb5fa038418 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 0892-3310 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-13T02:19:57Z |
| publishDate | 2015-06-01 |
| publisher | SSE |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Scientific Exploration |
| spelling | doaj.art-246d2cbc1c464257879b2bb5fa0384182022-12-22T03:07:00ZengSSEJournal of Scientific Exploration0892-33102015-06-01292Essay Review: Strange Beliefs and Why They Are Believed. The Unpersuadables: Adventures with the Enemies of Science by Will StorrHenry BauerThe Unpersuadables: Adventures with the Enemies of Science by Will Storr. New York: Overlook Press, 2014. 355 pp. $27.95 (hardcover).1 ISBN 978-1-4683-0818-1. Scientific Explorers might interpret this title as just another Pseudo-Skeptical2 debunking of anomalistics. It is not that at all, though it begins like that with a rather jocular treatment of a creationist. I found interesting descriptions of some truly extraordinary beliefs and practices, and enjoyed much of what is said about Skeptics (and Randi in particular); on the other hand, many sections are quite naïve or misinformed about science and human behavior, and the book concludes without pointing to any significant lesson learned. The continuing theme seems to be, how and why do people hold strange beliefs, or false beliefs? The trouble is that Storr never defines what makes a belief strange or what makes it false; though implicitly he seems to regard as strange any belief that seems strange to him, and as false any belief that contemporary science does not propound. Nor does the book ever suggest an answer to that large and ill-defined question. There is a great deal about humans being governed by emotion and not thought, by the unconscious and not the conscious mind, which might seem to be at least a partial answer-except that these lengthy disquisitions on emotion and unconscious have the same effect as extreme relativism from philosophers and sociologists: if everything we "think" is determined by genes, emotions, nerve impulses and neurotransmitters, then why should we pay any attention to anything anyone says, including Storr?http://journalofscientificexploration.org/index.php/jse/article/view/870 |
| spellingShingle | Henry Bauer Essay Review: Strange Beliefs and Why They Are Believed. The Unpersuadables: Adventures with the Enemies of Science by Will Storr Journal of Scientific Exploration |
| title | Essay Review: Strange Beliefs and Why They Are Believed. The Unpersuadables: Adventures with the Enemies of Science by Will Storr |
| title_full | Essay Review: Strange Beliefs and Why They Are Believed. The Unpersuadables: Adventures with the Enemies of Science by Will Storr |
| title_fullStr | Essay Review: Strange Beliefs and Why They Are Believed. The Unpersuadables: Adventures with the Enemies of Science by Will Storr |
| title_full_unstemmed | Essay Review: Strange Beliefs and Why They Are Believed. The Unpersuadables: Adventures with the Enemies of Science by Will Storr |
| title_short | Essay Review: Strange Beliefs and Why They Are Believed. The Unpersuadables: Adventures with the Enemies of Science by Will Storr |
| title_sort | essay review strange beliefs and why they are believed the unpersuadables adventures with the enemies of science by will storr |
| url | http://journalofscientificexploration.org/index.php/jse/article/view/870 |
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