DANGEROUS PURSUITS

What’s So Dangerous?

Dangerous Pursuits is a wry allusion to philosopher Stephen Braude’s obstacle-strewn career path over the past several decades—to the vindictive hostility, ridicule, and condescension he’s encountered for his decision to look carefully at the data and theoretical issues of parapsychology. The diverse chapters, which are incisive but not without humor, focus on the topic of mediumship, and in the process address major parapsychological themes, including the evidence for postmortem survival and the unsettling question of the limits of paranormal influence. In the end, it turns out the real danger is the widespread ignorance of how these issues impact our understanding of reality.


Stephen E. Braude is Emeritus Professor and former Chair of Philosophy at the University of Maryland Baltimore County, and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Scientific Exploration. Prof. Braude is the recipient of numerous grants, fellowships, and awards, including Research Fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the BIAL Foundation in Portugal, as well as the Distinguished Achievement Award from the International Society for the Study of Dissociation, and the F.W.H. Myers Memorial Medal from the Society for Psychical Research. He has published six other books and more than 100 book chapters and essays in philosophical and scientific journals.


“Stephen Braude’s books are known for their original and penetrating insights; Dangerous Pursuits is no exception. Ranging from mediumship and parapsychology to multiple personality and jazz, Braude is an equal opportunity challenger, taking on unconventional thinkers as well as conventional paradigms. Although his topics are weighty, his clarity of expression and his wry sense of humor make every chapter a delight to read and to contemplate.” — Stanley Krippner, Ph.D., co-editor Varieties of Anomalous Experience


“Stephen Braude has excellent factual knowledge of the psychic, the mind, mediumship and related areas, and then shares his clear and deeper thinking about what they might be, how they work, and what are dead ends in our thinking that we can avoid. He’s not afraid to wrestle with complexities others skim over…like mediums who cheat sometimes, or just what is this “person” that we think might survive death. You can read a lot of Dangerous Pursuits for the pleasure of satisfying your curiosity, but you’re also going to be thinking a lot more deeply as you read along. Excellent!” — Charles T. Tart, Ph.D., author of Altered States of Consciousness and Transpersonal Psychologies