An Introduction to Critical Thinking and Creativity - always yours

124 SCIENTIFIC REASONING
13.3 Some people claim to have a special sixth sense that enables them to see
and communicate with ghosts. Since other people cannot see these ghosts, is this
an untestable claim? If not, how would you test it?
13.4 A man said he has special psychic power and can affect people's minds. He
asked a scientist to think of a number between 1 and 20, and then tell him what
it is. The scientist said he was thinking about the number 18. The man then took
off his own left shoe and his sock, and the scientist was surprised to see that the
number 18 was written on the man's foot. The man explained that he wrote it beforehand
and manipulated the scientist's consciousness to make him think about
the number 18. The scientist found this difficult to believe but there was no way
the man could have written the number down while they were talking. Assuming
all these facts, how would you explain the successful prediction if it was not due
to the man's psychic power? How would you test these various explanations?
13.5 Discuss and evaluate these claims about science.
a) We accept lots of things in science even though they cannot be proven.
That shows that faith is also an essential part of science, just like religion.
It is therefore wrong to criticize a religion by saying that it has no solid
proof.
b) Psychology is not a science because psychologists cannot predict human
behavior with 100% accuracy.
c) Science uses induction. On the other hand, logic uses deduction.
13.6 Kl In testing a theory it is important to think about its consequences. Consider
the biblical theory that there was a huge flood on Earth about 5,000 years ago,
wiping out all animals and people except Noah, his seven family members and the
animals he carried on the ark. If this were true, what consequences might we be
able to observe? For example, think about what the geological data might say, and
how the devastation would affect human history and archaeological records. If all
humans and animals came from the survivors on the ark, what might this mean
for genetic diversity and the geographical distribution of animal species?