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<title>The ASKE Blog</title><link>http://www.aske-skeptics.org.uk/index.html</link><description>Hot News&#x21;</description><dc:language>en</dc:language><dc:creator>m.heap@sheffield.ac.uk</dc:creator><dc:rights>Copyright 2011 ASKE</dc:rights><dc:date>2011-12-17T12:25:58+00:00</dc:date><admin:generatorAgent rdf:resource="http://www.realmacsoftware.com/" />
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<lastBuildDate>Wed, 9 Mar 2011 20:45:15 +0000</lastBuildDate><item><title>UNIVERSAL AWARENESS: A THEORY OF THE SOUL</title><dc:creator>m.heap@sheffield.ac.uk</dc:creator><category>Chairman&#x27;s blog</category><dc:date>2011-12-17T12:25:58+00:00</dc:date><link>http://www.aske-skeptics.org.uk/blog/files/universal-awareness.php#unique-entry-id-4</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.aske-skeptics.org.uk/blog/files/universal-awareness.php#unique-entry-id-4</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[I believe these answers may be broadly true (my prejudice is to say that I think they have a good possibility of being correct) but I admit they cannot be proved or put to the test in the manner of a scientific theory.


...There is no way that your personality can outlive your nervous system, since the former depends on the functioning of the latter, and once it stops functioning you, as the person you are, cease to be.  

...We can accept all of this, but then we are faced with other profound questions such as, &lsquo;Does this mean that if something had happened to prevent me from being born I would never experience being some kind of sentient entity at all?&rsquo; 

...This seems to make sense: it is inconceivable in scientific terms for there to be something called &lsquo;awareness of being&rsquo; that survives our death and, as it were, takes up residence in another sentient being.  

...But I think that there are unanswered questions and these may be addressed in a rational manner and possible answers provided, as long as we are prepared to give up some assumptions that we take for granted in our everyday way of thinking about our world.
]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Lumping everything together</title><dc:creator>m.heap@sheffield.ac.uk</dc:creator><category>Chairman&#x27;s blog</category><dc:date>2010-09-18T14:21:49+01:00</dc:date><link>http://www.aske-skeptics.org.uk/blog/files/Lumping_everything_together.php#unique-entry-id-3</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.aske-skeptics.org.uk/blog/files/Lumping_everything_together.php#unique-entry-id-3</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[The critic may go on to say, &lsquo;I agree with you that astrology is a load of bunkum and that there is no real evidence that there is a monster in Loch Ness, but homeopathy has helped many people and you have admit there must be something out there that is causing people to report all these sightings of UFOs...&rsquo;


...A second shared feature of these claims is that if any of these ideas were true, then the consequences for our understanding of the world would be enormous and important revisions would have to be made to the consensus that guide our thinking in science, history, medicine, social policy, etc. 

...If there were a prehistoric monster in Loch Ness, then this would have enormous repercussions for our understanding of how life has evolved on Earth; likewise if homeopathic preparations do have specific therapeutic effects, then the impact on our understanding of medicine, and indeed the fundamentals of physics, would be astonishing.   For example, in the latter case scientists would have to devise theories that explain how homeopathy can bring about the changes that it does in a manner that is consistent with all other knowledge and observations about the property of matter that has accumulated over centuries of scientific study. 

...Thus those people who, for the flimsiest of reasons, have asserted that there is a monster in Loch Ness have persuaded many people to devote much of their time, energy and money in attempting to obtain definitive evidence of the monster&rsquo;s existence; a similar statement can be made about those who claim that they are able to treat medical conditions by homeopathic means. ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Strange beliefs and mental illness</title><dc:creator>m.heap@sheffield.ac.uk</dc:creator><category>Chairman&#x27;s blog</category><dc:date>2011-03-24T19:42:32+00:00</dc:date><link>http://www.aske-skeptics.org.uk/blog/files/Strange_beliefsand_mental_illness.php#unique-entry-id-2</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.aske-skeptics.org.uk/blog/files/Strange_beliefsand_mental_illness.php#unique-entry-id-2</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[It is evident from research, as well as one&rsquo;s everyday experience, that there is some disconnection between the two; that is, a person&rsquo;s expressed beliefs and attitudes do not necessarily predict how he or she will behave in situations in which they are relevant.


I previously talked hypothetically about people who believe that two plus two make five and I suggested that a healthy society is one that would tolerate this belief but not, in many situations, the behaviour that would be predicted by it.  ...  (In passing it may be noted that there is a rare psychiatric disorder called Ganser&rsquo;s syndrome, or hysterical pseudo-dementia - of which I have only ever seen one &lsquo;classical case&rsquo; - whereby, amongst other things, the patient gives approximate answers to very simple questions and hence may give the answer &lsquo;five&rsquo; in reply to &lsquo;two plus two make what?&rsquo;.  

...This is reflected in the fact that criteria for establishing a psychiatric diagnosis very often include the requirement that &lsquo;The disturbance causes clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning&rsquo; (DSM-IV: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders of the American Psychiatric Association, 1994).  

...Nevertheless, I do not recall in my professional career any patients of whom it could be seriously suggested that they were having psychiatric treatment just because of their beliefs, though this is not unknown in some countries and at some periods of history.
]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Freedom to believe</title><dc:creator>m.heap@sheffield.ac.uk</dc:creator><category>Chairman&#x27;s blog</category><dc:date>2010-11-22T20:50:00+00:00</dc:date><link>http://www.aske-skeptics.org.uk/blog/files/Freedom_to_believe.php#unique-entry-id-1</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.aske-skeptics.org.uk/blog/files/Freedom_to_believe.php#unique-entry-id-1</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Some beliefs are of great personal significance for people and help them make sense of their lives, as with religious and spiritual beliefs, or they make life more interesting and exciting, as with the belief that we are being visited by extra-terrestrial beings.   In a free society people have a right to believe what they do; moreover it might be seen as arrogant and insulting to one&rsquo;s spend time and energy attacking people&rsquo;s beliefs just because one thinks that they are wrong. 


...That&rsquo;s evidence to support his declaration that he believes in astrology, but we really need more evidence, namely that he actually believes what he is reading; Fred may be one of those people who believes his horoscope when it is favourable but dismisses it when it is not. 

...After all, lack of evidence does not logically indicate that the belief is untrue since one day that evidence may present itself in indisputable form and we don&rsquo;t like changing our beliefs, particularly when we have already publicly announced them. 


...In my previous blog I pointed to a fourth characteristic of unusual beliefs, namely that those who promote them are often making the claim to possess some special knowledge in an important area of life and this represents a claim for power and influence. ]]></content:encoded></item></channel>
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