Philosopher Stephen Braude is particularly noted for two things: his work in certain Borderland areas in which topics within philosophy, psychology, parapsychology, and psychiatry meet, overlap, and interact (or should interact), and the clarity and pithiness of expression with which he handles abstruse and difficult issues. Crimes of Reason brings together expanded and updated versions of some of Braude's best previously published essays, along with new essays written specifically for this book. Although the essays deal with a variety of topics, they all hover around a set of interrelated general themes. These are: the poverty of mechanistic theories in the behavioral and life sciences, the nature of psychological explanation and (at least within the halls of the Academy) the unappreciated strategies required to understand behavior, the nature of dissociation, and the nature and limits of human abilities.Braude's targets include memory trace theory, inner-cause theories of human behavior generally, Sheldrake's theory of morphogenetic fields, widespread but simplistic views on the nature of human abilities, multiple personality and moral responsibility, the efficacy of prayer, and the shoddy tactics often used to discredit research on dissociation and parapsychology. Although the topics are often abstract and the issues deep, their treatment in this book is accessible, and the tone of the book is both light and occasionally combative.

Do you believe in ghosts? Chances are you're either too willing, or not willing enough, to believe that personal consciousness survives after bodily death. Some underestimate the evidence for life after death, not realizing how impressive the most convincing cases are. Others overestimate it, rejecting alternative explanations too readily. In fact, several non-survivalist explanations-hidden or latent linguistic or artistic talents, extreme memory, even psychic abilities-are as interesting as the hypothesis of survival, and may be more plausible than their critics realize. Immortal Remains takes a fresh look at some of the most puzzling cases suggesting life after death, and considers how to tell evidence for an afterlife from evidence for exotic things (including psychic things) done by the living. Author Stephen E. Braude, who has done extensive research in parapsychology and dissociation, explores previously ignored issues about dissociation, creativity, linguistic skills, and the nature and limits of human abilities. He concludes that we have some reason, finally, for believing in life after death.

The Limits of Influence is a detailed examination and defense of the evidence for largescale-psychokinesis (PK). It examines the reasons why experimental evidence has not, and perhaps cannot, convince most skeptics that PK is genuine, and it considers why traditional experimental procedures are important to reveal interesting facts about the phenomena. It then examines why PK does not pose a clear threat to the very fabric of science, as many have supposed. The major skeptical challenges to taking large-scale PK seriously and the reason why those challenges are all unsatisfactory are considered. The evidence examined most closely is the turn-of-the-century evidence for physical mediumship, with special attention given to the cases of D.D. Home and Eusapia Palladino. The author compares and evaluates the leading theories of apparitions and considers the extent to which the evidence for collective apparitions can be interpreted as a further type of psychokinetic phenomenon. Finally, the claim that PK (and psychic functioning generally) might occur in refined and extensive forms is considered. It argues that this claim is not as outlandish as many have maintained and that we might have to accept something like the "magical" world view associated with so-called "primitive" societies.

Do people with multiple personalities have more than one self? The first full-length philosophical study of multiple personality disorder, First Person Plural maintains that even the deeply divided multiple personality contains an underlying psychological unity. Braude updates his work in this revised edition to discuss recent empirical and conceptual developments, including the charge that clinicians induce false memories in their patients, and the professional redefinition of "multiple personality disorder" as "dissociative identity disorder."

This work was the first sustained philosophical study of psychic phenomena to follow C.D. Broad's LECTURES ON PSYCHICAL RESEARCH, written nearly twenty years earlier. The author clearly defines the categories of psychic phenomena, surveys the most compelling experimental data, and traces their implications for the philosophy of science and the philosophy of mind. He considers carefully the abstract presuppositions underlying leading theories of psychic phenomena, and he offers bold criticisms of both mechanistic analyses of communication and psychophysical identity theories. In addition, he challenges the received view that experimental repeatability is the paramount criterion for evaluating parapsychological research, and he exposes the deep confusions underlying Jung's concept of synchronicity.