Is the spirit willing? A pentalogue on parapsychology

The Psychologist T HIS article started life as a review of Test Your Psychic Powers by Susan Blackmore and Adam Hart-Davis (1995). The author of the review, Andrew Colman, felt that one of the issues he wished to raise was not only controversial but also of sufficient importance and general interest to warrant an open discussion incorporating more than one opinion, so he approached the editor of The Psychologist with the suggestion of an article-length propaedeutic exchange of views, along the lines of Bronfenbrenner, Kessel, Kessen, and White (1986), in which the fundamental issue could be aired and discussed among several psychologists with an interest in parapsychology. The editor agreed to the suggestion, and this article is the result. The opening remarks by Andrew M. Colman were sent to Susan Blackmore for a response, and then both Colman's and Blackmore's contributions were sent to Robert L. Morris for further comment, and so on, so each of the separate contributions to the discussion was written in the light of all the ones that preceded it.