The Demarcation of Parapsychology: History, Controversies and Future Prospects

Abstract

Parapsychology has not only a long history, but also its enthusiastic proponents and detractors within the scientific community. With the professionalization of parapsychology in 1927, criticism of the discipline soon began to be heard. This history includes many controversies that led to the rejection of parapsychology as a social science. This rejection resulted mostly from poor scientific standards that did not meet the requirements for inclusion among the social sciences, and reflected a process of demarcation within the social sciences. However, this process leads to what could be called "a demarcation problem." There seem to be a number of different criteria for distinguishing pseudo-sciences from what are considered legitimate sciences. In light of this demarcation problem, few social scientists support parapsychology and they provide a variety of reasons for their rejection. Concerning the future of parapsychology, opinions remain divergent. While some scientists believe that parapsychology can never become a science without improving its scientific methods, others plead for the integration of parapsychology into the social sciences. All in all, it seems that parapsychology would have to vastly improve its scientific standards before receiving wide acceptance as a social science.