Chapter 11—Conjurors and the Paranormal 


Мы поможем в написании ваших работ!



ЗНАЕТЕ ЛИ ВЫ?

Chapter 11—Conjurors and the Paranormal



The Republic, Book 111—413. Translation by Benjamim Jowett.

Some library classification schemes use the term magic to subsume the occult and anthropological uses of the term while reserving conjuring to designate that which explicitly involves tricks. General usage does not make this distinction.

Even librarians do not escape the ambiguity though, and I have been amused at the number of times I have found books on magic and conjuring misclassified.

A number of writers on parapsychology often refer to magicians who perform tricks as “stage magicians” to distinguish them from those who practice the occult kind of magic. The use of such terminology reveals a writer as having little knowledge of legerdemain. Stage magic is only a small branch of conjuring. Additional types include close-up magic, parlor magic, mentalism, and bizarre magic,

among others.

Birdsell, 1989; Hansen, 1990a, 1990b, 1992c; Truzzi, 1997.

Dawes, 1979; Francesco, 1939.

The very few counterexamples such as the Magic Castle in Hollywood, several long-running shows in Las Vegas, the Le Grand David production in Beverly, Massachusetts, and Paul Daniels’ television program, only serve to highlight the general situation. These exceptions are of some interest. Hollywood is a “city of dreams,” and Las Vegas is devoted to gambling, Hermes being the god of dice and gambling. Le Grand David is centered around the person of Cesareo Palaez. For a few words on his background see Commitment and Community: Communes and Utopias in Sociological Perspective by Rosabeth Moss Kanter, pp. 196—198, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1972.

The one exception that I am aware of is the diploma thesis by John Granrose The Archetype of the Magician, 1996, C. G. Jung Institute, Zurich.

For discussion within the conjuring literature see Brady, 1966; Burger & Neale, 1995; Rauscher, 1983.

Nardi, 1988.

Carroll, 1984.

Stebbins, 1983/1984.

Hero of Alexandria, 62/1851/1971.

Minch, 1991.

Minch, 1992.

Rauscher, 1984, 1998.

Price, 1983.

17 Rhine, 1944.

Truzzi, 1997. See also Truzzi’s interview with Bluemle, 1994.

Hyman, 1977.

For some comments on Hyman’s career see Hansen, 1991.

E.g., see Ruthchild, 1983; McGill, n.d.; Thomas, 1989; Weber, 1953a,

1953b.

Newmann, 1923.

Carrington, 1920.

One of Kreskin’s outspoken supporters is University of Kentucky psychologist Robert Baker, who is an active member of CSICOP. For more on the Kreskin-CSICOP connection, see Skeptical Inquirer, Vol. 16, No. 1, Fall 1991, pp. 4—6. For Baker’s endorsement of Kreskin, calling him a “public educator and benefactor” see Baker’s They Call it Hypnosis, 1990, p. 142.

For an introduction to the controversies, see the 1986 and 1987 volumes of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, Vol. 9, pp. 449-502, and Vol. 10, pp. 519-531. That journal carried a target article on hypnosis by Nicholas Spanos along with a wide range of commentaries.

Bernstein, 1956. For a discussion of the case, see C. J. Ducasse, 1960.

See Secret Report on Mesmerism, or Animal Magnetism by Jean Sylvain Bailly and others (August 11, 1784), which is the first chapter of The Nature of Hypnosis: Selected Basic Readings edited by Ronald E. Shor and Martin T. Orne, New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1965.

For some literature on faking hypnosis see H. J. Burlingame, Leaves From Conjurer’s Scrap Books or, Modern Magicians and Their Works. Detroit: Singing Tree Press, 1971 (Originally published 1891); Ernest Hart, Hypnotism Mesmerism & Witchcraft, Toronto: Coles (Originally published 1893); Karlyn [J. F. Burrows], Secrets of Stage Hypnotism: Stage Electricity: and Bloodless Surgery, London: The Magician Ltd, n.d.; William B. Meeker & Theodore X. Barber, 1971; Nelmar [Anthony Nelmar Albino], Twenty Hypnotic Tricks, Chicago: Nelmar System, 1933; Wesley R. Wells, 1946.

Wells, 1946, p. 146.

Ghostmasters by Mark Walker, 1991.

See Hansen (1992c) for a list of his books.

Randi, 1975, 1982.

For discussions of Project Alpha see Truzzi, 1987; Thalbourne, 1995.

See On Being Sued: The Chilling of Freedom of Expression by Paul Kurtz, Skeptical Inquirer, Vol. 16, No. 2, Winter 1992, pp. 114-117.

Truth’s Bodyguard, Interview with James Randi by Stanley Wiater, Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone Magazine, June 1988, pp. 32-35, 45, see p. 35.

36 Moseley, 1993.

Moseley, 1991. Moseley has known Randi for many years, and together they were involved in “archeological exploits” in South America in the 1960s. Moseley’s zine Saucer News (Vol. 12, No. 2, June 1965, p. 21) carried pictures of Randi. See also Beware of False Prophets Peddling False-Memory Hype by Michele Landsberg, Toronto Star, February 11, 1996, p. A2, Final Edition. Randi has admitted to tape-recording his explicit homosexual conversations with boys. Copies of tapes were circulated, played in court, and transcripts were posted on the

Internet. Randi’s explanations of them have been contradictory.

Hansen, 1992a, p. 47.

Minch, 1991.

40 Shiels, 1989, p. 48.

Shiels, 1990, p. 15.

Letter from Tony Shiels, Fab (sic) 2, 1999.

See Shiels, 1990, p. 15.

Femina Libido Sexualis: Compendium of the Psychology, Anthropology and Anatomy of the Sexual Characteristics of the Woman by Herman Heinrich Ploss, Max Bartels, & Paul Bartels; edited by Eric John Dingwall, arranged by J. R. Brosslowsky, New York: The Medical Press, 1965.

Dingwall, 1974, p. 284.

West, 1987.

Dingwall, 1974, p. 284.

48 Gauld, 1987.

Dingwall did eventually resign from CSICOP because of the scandal and cover-up of Paul Kurtz’s astrology study.

Responsibility in Parapsychology by E. J. Dingwall, A Century of Psychical Research: The Continuing Doubts and Affirmations: Proceedings of an International Conference Held at Le Peol, St. Paul De Vence, France September 2, 3, 4, 1970 edited by Allan Angoff and Betty Shapin, New York: Parapsychology Foundation, 1971, pp. 37-52. See p. 37 for quote.

For a biographical sketch, see Eric Dingwall, Devil’s Advocate by Guy Lyon Playfair, Fate, Vol. 40, No. 4, April 1987, pp. 73-81.

A few parapsychologists have suggested that researchers need to understand the theoretical principles of magic tricks, claiming that would help them avoid being deceived. That proposal is misguided. A more enlightened approach to teaching, by skeptic Ray Hyman, an acknowledged authority on conjuring, uses case studies involving concrete examples (Goldstein, 1994).



Поделиться:


Последнее изменение этой страницы: 2017-01-26; просмотров: 142; Нарушение авторского права страницы; Мы поможем в написании вашей работы!

infopedia.su Все материалы представленные на сайте исключительно с целью ознакомления читателями и не преследуют коммерческих целей или нарушение авторских прав. Обратная связь - 44.192.16.60 (0.007 с.)