Anomalous Phenomena and the Limits of Science

Abstract

This paper explores aspects of the scientific method which have proven inadequate to the task of producing verifiable and consistently repeatable experimental evidence for the existence of a particular category of phenomena, anomalous or psychic phenomena. The deficiencies of the method are not necessarily due to the esoteric nature of the phenomena and events being tested. Rather, the protocols of the method contribute to its inadequacy: reliance on observation, isolation of variables, and experimental controls, in short its fundamental functional criteria are perhaps its greatest impediment. The author suggests that applying the scientific method in the examination of anomalous or psychic phenomena was ill-advised from its inception because of these inadequacies, and concludes that it is quite possible that the method will never be the appropriate tool to uncover the mechanism by which anomalous phenomena manifest and operate.