Critique of Arthur Koestler's "The Roots of Coincidence"

2007

Parapsychology plays a major role in Arthur Koestler’s life: not only did he entertain a life-long interest in parapsychology, he wrote several books or book-chapters on parapsychology and/or related topics, and he bequeathed the major portion of his estate to parapsychology by endowing a chair at a university. Parapsychology, on the other hand, has a poor reputation among the ill-informed of the scientific community, and there are many misconceptions and misunderstandings about parapsychology within the public at large. Thus it may not be inappropriate to commence by a short chapter on what parapsychology is, and, perhaps more importantly, was parapsychology not is.

2015

This article was published in The Australian Journal of Parapsychology, June 2015, Vol. 15, No. 1, pp. 53-79. A coincidence can be broadly defined as ‘a notable co-occurrence of events’ which may have causal or non-causal origins. Some coincidences have discernible causal connections, though these may be quite subtle and complex. Others are clearly attributable to the random play of chance or luck, while certain ostensibly random coincidences can be distinguished by the numinosity and meaning they hold for the individual involved. C. G. Jung coined the term synchronicity for such coincidences. However, there is currently no generally accepted overarching theoretical framework that deals comprehensively and inclusively with the several disparate categories under which different sorts of coincidences might be appropriately classified. Just as planets and stars appear as points of light in the night sky and are indistinguishable to the untrained eye, so coincidences may seem on the surface to be all of one kind. This, unfortunately, has led to a tendency towards either/or explanations to account for them, a situation exacerbated by the ideological and metaphysical presumptions that have historically been equated with particular explanations. This state of affairs is not made any easier by the very real difficulties that occur both in terms of accurate gathering of information in regard to coincidences and also to the analysis itself. Some of the pertinent issues involved will be explored in this article, with a particular focus on synchronicity, for it is with respect to this intriguing concept that much of the confusion lies.

Journal of Scientific Exploration

Sharon Rawlette’s offering to those appreciative (even enamoured) of the fickle, unpredictable, and mystifying world of coincidences, is a mammoth tome of 600+ pages ambitiously bearing the title The Source and Significance of Coincidences. As the title suggests, Rawlette seeks to explain who or what might cause coincidences (these explanations are far-ranging), and she endeavours to point out what they mean (usually they only have a positive spin). Right from the outset, Rawlette gives the term coincidence its own special definition, but anyone steeped in the Jungian tradition cannot help but see that Rawlette’s brand of coincidence runs parallel with Jung’s (1952/1969) meaningful coincidence, better known as synchronicity. The many examples she gives fit the bill, and they don’t require an overly flexible turn of mind to see it, but Rawlette insists on distinguishing her type of coincidences from paranormal experiences (‘telepathic messages’), after-death (discarnate) communicatio...

PsycCRITIQUES, 2010

Parasol , 2019

Different explanations for synchronicity are reviewed and a case is made for the unshakeable nature of the phenomena as suggesting reality weirdness (by modern standards). This does not entail the actuality of any such claims merely the inability to eradicate the appearance of the phenomena as anomalous.

2010

Christoph Schröder was born on March 3rd, 1871, in Rendsburg, Holstein, (Northern Germany). He was trained as a zoologist at the university in Kiel, specializing in experimental biology, especially entomology; and later in animal psychology. (It was the question of ‘thinking animals’, sometimes interpreted in terms of telepathy between man and beast, that later on triggered Schröder’s interest in parapsychology.) Moreover, he studied mathematics, physics, chemistry, psychology, and philosophy. In 1894, he received his Ph. D. from the university of Berlin. Back in Germany after World War I, he reassumed his teaching work; however, having started parapsychological experiments by 1919; in 1920, still suffering from his injuries, he resolved to retire prematurely in order to devote himself entirely to his scientific interests which were – at that point in time – still twofold: biology and Psychical Research. In the course of the years, biology receded into the background, whereas parapsychology became his main interest and, from 1930 onwards, his sole occupation where he developed an intense activity that is the topic of this article. . In 1941, all parapsychological activity came to an end in Nazi Germany1. Not only Schröder survived World War II in Berlin, also at least part of his collections did. However, Schröder, then seriously ill, could not support himself in Berlin of post-war Germany, so in his old age he left everything behind and moved back to Northern Germany, where he died in his native Rendsburg on Dec. 22nd, 1952.

Journal of Consciousness Studies, 2020

In "The Meta-Problem of Consciousness", David Chalmers briefly raises a problem about how the connection between consciousness and our verbal and other behavior appears "lucky". I raise a counterexample to Chalmers's formulation of the problem. Then I develop an alternative formulation. Finally, I consider some responses, including illusionism about consciousness. Chalmers' meta-problem about consciousness concerns the explanation of our problem responses to consciousness, where those responses are characterized in physical-functional terms. For instance, why are we disposed to utter sentences like "consciousness is irreducible" and "the quality red is distinct from any physical property"? Given the causal closure of the physical realm, there are bound to be computational processes in the brain that explain such verbal reports, as Chalmers notes (p.8). What, then, is the problem? Chalmers suggests that one problem is that it is lucky that these processes are accompanied by consciousness. I will first raise some questions about Chalmers's luck problem. Then I will develop a problem in the vicinity, the normative harmony problem. Finally, I will consider some responses, including illusionism about consciousness. 1. What is Chalmers's Luck Problem? Here is Chalmers's most general characterization of his luck problem: As long as we have modal independence, so that the meta-problem processes [the computational processes that explain our reports-AP] could have come apart from consciousness, it can seem lucky that they have not. . .Where realization is concerned, it seems lucky that the * Thanks to David Chalmers, François Kammerer, Brad Saad and an anonymous referee for very helpful discussion or comments.

New Blackfriars, 1991

's piece in New Bfuckfriars, March 1991, raised a number of fascinating themes. In this article, inspired by his, I would like to bring together two areas of thought not usually connected: the study of chance and coincidence and the study of the function of the human mind in the construction of its own perceptions. The link between the two will be a consideration of the metaphysical status of literature. McDermott quotes Jacques Monod on coincidence: 'The convergence of two totally-independent causal chains of events, the convergence itself being causeless.' There is nothing unusual about either chain considered in itself. It is in the bringing together of the two chains that the coincidence lies. A coincidence only springs into existence when perceived by an appropriate, a 'skilled' observer. For example Leicester's Moslems were recently excited by the discovery of the word 'Allah', in Arabic script, formed by the seeds on the inside of an aubergine. Many were the speculations about what this article portended. Had that aubergine instead been opened in the Leicester of 1931, few would have realised that they were in the presence of wonders. Coincidence is a subject which many find fascinating and delightful. Arthur Koestler was overwhelmed with responses when he requested examples of coincidence stories from the public. Countless articles on coincidence have been written. Jung even attempted to establish a principle of acausal causation for coincidences, which he called synchronicity. Coincidence is a grey area of human experience. Obviously coincidences happen. Yet they are unpredictable in their

Significance