Hi all,
I turn to you for wisdom in how to respond to a student...
I teach a "Weird Beliefs" course in which we critically examine
Psi/ESP, among other things. We covered the Psi portion of
the course several weeks ago, and we discussed recovered/
false memories today. Interestingly, my question involves
responding to the former issue, rather than the latter.
At the end of each class I take attendance by having everyone
spend 5 minutes writing informally about their thoughts on
the lecture, and/or any questions they might still have. Students
turn these in and I always provide written responses to any
questions.
Today a student turned in the following question at the end of
her paper, and I'd like your thoughts about how to respond to
it:
"Not to get off the subject, but I found out that there was a
prophet named Daniel in the Bible who was thrown in a
cave full of lions because he had the power to see the
future or something. My thing is if this type of stuff which is
like a psychic power is in the Bible, that must mean there
is some type of proof about the psychic world. Right !?"
In our class discussions of Psi, we talked not only about the
reasoning/perception/memory errors that might contribute to
paranormal belief, but also talked about the history of
experimental Psi research, with all its problems and weak-
nesses. So I don't think that regurgitating the facts is
going to have an impact here.
I am struggling with striking the proper balance between
respecting her religious faith and fulfilling my obligation as
a critical-thinking teacher by explaining why a Biblical story
"don't make it so" by scientific standards. I'm also not
sure whether she's claiming that because the Bible says
it it's true, or that the Bible wouldn't say it unless there were
other, corraborating sources of evidence, too.
Any advice on an approach?
-Mike
*****************************************************
Michael J. Kane
Psychology Department
Georgia State University
University Plaza
Atlanta, GA 30303-3083
phone: 404-651-0704
fax: 404-651-0753
email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
"It is morally as bad not to care whether a thing
is true or not, so long as it makes you feel good,
as it is not to care how you got your money as
long as you have it."
-- E.W. Teale
