The Transcendental Temptation: A Critique of Religion and the Paranormal

516 Pages·2013·3.74 MB·English

by  Paul Kurtz

Published 2013 by Prometheus Books The Transcendental Temptation. Copy © 1986 by Paul Kurtz. All
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The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows:
Kurtz, Paul, 1925-2012.
The transcendental temptation : a critique of religion and the paranormal / by Paul Kurtz.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-61614-827-0 (pbk.) -- ISBN 978-1-61614-828-7 (ebook)
1. Skepticism. 2. Religion--Controversial literature. 3. Parapsychology. 4. Occultism. I. Title.
BL2775.3.K87 2013
210--dc23
2013022404
Printed in the United States of America
Once every people in the world believed that
trees were divine, and could take a human or
grotesque shape and dance among the shadows;
and that deer, and ravens and foxes, and
wolves and bears, and clouds and pools, almost
all things under the sun and moon, and the
sun and moon, were not less divine and
changeable. They saw in the rainbow the
still bent bow of a god thrown down in his
negligence; they heard in the thunder the sound
of his beaten water-jar, or the tumult of his
chariot wheels; and when a sudden flight of wild
ducks, or of crows, passed over their heads,
they thought they were gazing at the dead
hastening to their rest; while they dreamed
of so great a mystery in little things that they
believed the waving of a hand, or of a sacred
bough, enough to trouble far-off hearts, or
hood the moon with darkness.
—W. B. YEATS
Foreword: Paul Kurtz and the Transcendency of Skepticism
by Michael Shermer
Preface to the paperback edition
Preface: The skeptic versus the believer
Introduction: Not for philosophers only
Philosophy and the new media
The need for reflective wisdom
PART ONE: SKEPTICISM AND THE MEANING OF LIFE
I. Meaning and transcendence
The value of life: Things left unsaid
Why has secular humanism failed to take hold?
The quest for transcendence
II. Skepticism
Skepticism as unlimited doubt
Skepticism as selective doubt
III. The scientific method
What is science?
Subjectivistic methodology
Testing truth-claims in science
Evidence
Logical coherence
Pragmatic consequences
Vindication of the scientific method
IV. Critical intelligence
Rationalism
What is critical intelligence?
A catalogue of intellectual skills
The role of education
V. The justification of belief
Deferring to custom
The appeal to emotion
The appeal to authority
Subjectivism and intuition
Faith as justification for belief
PART TWO: MYSTICISM, REVELATION, AND GOD
VI. The appeal to mysticism
What is mysticism?
Some naturalistic explanations
Hallucinogens and mysticism
Evaluating the mystical-psychedelic experience
VII. The Jesus myth
The appeal to revelation and miracles
Biblical criticism
Did Jesus exist?
Who was the historical Jesus?
The critics of Jesus
The ministry of Jesus
The ethical teachings of Jesus
Was Jesus disturbed?
Was Jesus a magician?
Miracles attributed to Jesus
Objections to miracles
Some alternative naturalistic explanations
The crucifixion and death of Jesus
The resurrection: What is the evidence?
Conclusion
VIII. Moses and the chosen people
Was Moses an Egyptian?
What do pagan sources say?
The revelations of Moses
Was Moses a magician?
Moses the lawgiver
The promised land
Postmodern postscript
Summary: Some humanistic reflections
IX. Mohammed: The prophet of Islam
Background
Historical documents
First revelations
A psychophysiological diagnosis
The first converts
Medina: The sword of Islam
Prophet of Allah
Obedience to God—the highest virtue
X. Sundry prophets: Greater and lesser
Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon
Joseph Smith, money-digger
Joseph Smith, the prophet
Building a new church
Polygamy
The Book of Abraham
William Miller and doomsday prophecy
Ellen G. White: Inspired prophet
Revelations and visions from on high
Was Ellen White a plagiarist?
False prophets
Conclusion: The argument from revelation reappraised
XI. Does God exist? Deity and impermanence
Why disorder and chaos?
Is there an underlying order?
The cosmological argument
The inflationary-universe scenario
The argument from design
The ontological argument: What is God?
The meaning of the concept of God
What is left? Natural piety
PART THREE: SCIENCE AND THE PARANORMAL
XII. Scientists, spiritualists, and mediums
The Fox sisters: Who's that rapping on my floor?
D. D. Home: He floats through the air with the greatest of ease
Levitating over London
The Society for Psychical Research
Eusapia Palladino
Science, deception, and the predisposition to believe
XIII. The paranormal: psychics, ESP, and parapsychology
Parapsychology and paranormal religion: J. B. Rhine
Does ESP exist?
The Soal scandal
Uri Geller: Superpsychic
Conclusion
XIV. Is there life after life?
Logical objections
Evidential questions
Reincarnation: Past lives
The argument from value
XV. Space-age religions: Astrology and UFOlogy
Astrology
Historical assumptions
Scientific criticisms
Sun-sign astrology
Horoscopes
Conclusion: Why does astrology persist?
UFOlogy and extraterrestrial life
Abductions
The extraterrestrial hypothesis and UFOs
Typical examples of UFO sightings
Other monsters, other seas, other galaxies
PART FOUR: BEYOND RELIGION
XVI. The transcendental temptation
Magical thinking
Is magical thinking acausal?
The role of creative imagination
Does religion have a biogenetic basis?
The moral function of religion
The quest for ethnicity
Celebrating the rites of passage
Can we transcend the transcendental temptation?
Notes
Index