Extra-sensory perception

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Extra-sensory perception (abbreviation ASW ; English extrasensory perception , abbreviation ESP ) is a collective term for a hypothetical type of perception that cannot be explained by known sensory experiences or sources of knowledge. There is no scientifically proven evidence for such perceptions.

The scientific community predominantly rejects ASW. Reasons for this are the lack of an evidence-based fact base and the lack of a theory that could explain ASW.

In science fiction, people with such a perception are referred to as esper .

Forms (modalities)

The parapsychology are three modalities of extrasensory perception:

  • Telepathy : Transmission of information between living beings without the involvement of the known sensory channels
  • See Hell (or more rarely Clairvoyance ): extra-sensory perception of a simultaneous event
  • Precognition : the experience of future events (ranging from seconds to years)

The auditory form of clairvoyance is clairaudience , the extra-sensory perception of words or noises without an objective acoustic event. The form of precognition directed into the past is retrocognition , the extra-sensory experience of a past event.

Extra-sensory perceptions should occur both in waking consciousness and in other states of consciousness, e.g. B. in trance or in sleep or dream . According to the intensity of extrasensory perceptions, certain knowledge, vague suspicions or a pseudo-sensory impression (hallucination or dream, realistic or encrypted) are differentiated.

The phenomenon of extra-sensory perception should not only be limited to humans, but is supposedly also possible in animals. The behavior of cats, dogs and ducks is also observed during examinations by parapsychologists. B. the restlessness of animals before an earthquake. To what extent animal extrasensory perceptions can be distinguished from instinct is unclear.

Historically transmitted reports about ASW

Alleged extra-sensory perceptions have already been documented from antiquity. According to the report of Philostratus , the philosopher Apollonius of Tyana , staying in Ephesus, is said to have witnessed and described the murder of Emperor Domitian , which took place in Rome at the same time .

The Swedish scholar Swedenborg is said to have seen in a vision in Gothenburg in 1756 a fire taking place simultaneously in Stockholm . The German philosopher Immanuel Kant had this incident checked by a friend on site in Sweden with positive results, which he reported in a letter dated August 10, 1763 - but Kant met Swedenborg's alleged visions from the spirit realm with mockery and rejection (in: Träume einer Ghost Seer , 1766).

Rudolf Steiner , the founder of anthroposophy , claimed to be clairvoyant, to see into the future and to be able to read the Akashic Chronicle , a kind of ethereal world memory in which all knowledge about the past should be stored. This ability, which is inherent in every human being, can be achieved through systematic practice under the guidance of a spiritual teacher. In August 1923, Steiner gave lectures in Torquay that mainly dealt with clairvoyance in theory and practice. The Swedish philosopher Sven Ove Hansson points out, however, that no other anthroposophist has so far achieved this ability; Steiner's prophecies, according to which natural science would confirm his supernatural insights into atomic physics , special relativity and syphilis therapy , were not fulfilled either.

The Italian Padre Pio , who was later canonized , was examined several times for ASW. At confession he is said to have reproached the believers for their hidden sins . In addition to stigmatization , bilocation (simultaneous presence in two places) is ascribed to him.

In a 2011 study published in the American put social psychologist Daryl Bem evidence scientifically inexplicable foreknowledge of his subjects and "time-reversal" ( time-reversing ) before, about precognitive response to erotic stimuli or better performance in a knowledge test for the participants learned only after testing. However, these results could not be replicated in later reviews .

literature

  • Eberhard Bauer , Michael Schetsche (Ed.): Everyday miracles. Experiences with the supernatural, scientific findings (exceeding boundaries; Vol. 2). 2nd edition Ergon-Verlag, Würzburg 2011, ISBN 978-3-89913-845-0 .
  • Werner F. Bonin: Article Extra Sensory Perception , in: Ders .: Lexikon der Parapsychologie , Munich 1988, pp. 49–51
  • Hergovich, A. (2005). Belief in psi. The Psychology of Paranormal Beliefs (2nd completely revised and expanded edition). Bern: Huber, ISBN 978-3456841908

Web links

supporting documents

  1. a b Bonin, extra-sensory perception (see literature), p. 50
  2. Werner F. Bonin: Article Hellhör , in: Ders., Lexikon der Parapsychologie , Munich 1988, p. 224
  3. Werner F. Bonin: Article Retrokognition , in: Ders., Lexikon der Parapsychologie , Munich 1988, p. 429
  4. Werner F. Bonin: Article Tierparapsychologie , in: Ders., Lexikon der Parapsychologie , Munich 1988, pp. 491-493
  5. Werner F. Bonin: Article Apollonios von Tyana , in: Ders., Lexikon der Parapsychologie , Munich 1988, p. 31f.
  6. Werner F. Bonin: Article Swedenborg, Emanuel , in: Ders., Lexikon der Parapsychologie , Munich 1988, p. 475. Kant's letter to Charlotte von Knobloch is online here
  7. Rudolf Steiner: How do you get knowledge of the higher worlds? ( online , accessed June 19, 2016); Helmer Ringgren: Anthroposophy . In: Theologische Realenzyklopädie , Vol. 3, De Gruyter, Berlin 1978, p. 12 (accessed via De Gruyter Online).
  8. Miriam Gebhardt : Rudolf Steiner. A modern prophet. DVA, Munich 2011, p. 322.
  9. ^ Sven Ove Hansson: Is Anthroposophy Science? . In: Conceptus 25 (1991), issue 64, pp. 40-47 ( online , accessed June 17, 2016).
  10. Werner F. Bonin: Article Forgione, Francesco , in: Ders., Lexikon der Parapsychologie , Munich 1988, pp. 184f.
  11. ^ Daryl J. Bem: Feeling the future: Experimental evidence for anomalous retroactive influences on cognition and affect. In: Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 100, Issue 3 (2011), pp. 407-425.
  12. Sebastian Hermann: Steep theses, nothing happened. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung of December 1, 2018, p. 35.