Edgar Cayce on ESP - JaKayla

JaKayla DaBera

Edgar Cayce on ESP

Fallacy	Example	How it works
Appeal to Misleading Authority	“Many of the answers to these and other questions may be found in the remarkable collection of psychic readings given by an outstanding clairvoyant, Edgar Cayce …the scope of his psychic ability and of the subjects he treated while in a self-imposed hypnotic sleep are so vast that great portions of the knowledge they contain are still, as yet untapped.” Pg. 10	This is just one example that is evident throughout the beginning of this book. The author is trying to establish credibility and belief by retelling the history of Edgar Cayce’s readings. The author is trying to set him up as a leader or a foremost authority making it harder to discredit him and his work. It strives to make him seem more authentic even though he’s really not.
	***multiple excerpts from readings done by Edgar Cayce***	All of the excerpts or explanations that the author directly quotes serves to establish some sort of credibility. By using Cayce’s writings, the author is making it seem as if he is speaking directly to the reader making him seem present and more believable.
	“According to Cayce, this universal record, the akasha, is available to anyone who has developed the ability to read it. Edgar Cayce was one of many –including Socrates, Plato, Noah and Jesus – who could do this.” (pg.37)	Attempting to establish more credibility with Edgar Cayce by equating him to Socrates, Plato, Noah, and Jesus who are typically thought of as individuals with pure ideals and relation to their spiritual self.
Appeal to Misleading Authority/Emotional Appeal	“They [the doctors] waited, now, for the results of a telephone call the child’s father had just made to Edgar Cayce’s home… Because the doctors had experienced such telephone calls in the past, and knew the good that could come from them, they’d agreed to go along with whatever they were instructed to do.” (pg. 18) “Doctors caring for the little girl applied the tannic acid bandages as prescribed by Cayce… They balked, at first, at the idea of administering such strong eliminants for a baby, but finally agreed to go along with Cayce’s reading on an “all or nothing” basis.” (pg. 21)	These quotes about the doctors are put in there to further sway those that don’t believe in the technical/science nature of ESP. Credibility is given to this argument and to ESP in general because doctors, who are kind of skeptical themselves to begin with but trust him because they have seen his miracles before, are more credible individuals. I mean come on, they have these amazingly difficult degrees and go to school for an extremely long time. So if they followed his directions and had a positive outcome, so should you.
Bandwagon	“Until a few years ago, only the most foolhardy of men… something we now generally call extrasensory perception, or ESP.” (pg. 10)	This argument is explaining why you aren’t crazy for believing in ESP. Because it is more acceptable now to believe in a “sixth sense” it is okay to do so. This lulls the readers into a false sense of security because they feel like in not believing they’re a part of the minority
Anecdotal Fallacy/Emotional Appeal	“Eight hundred miles away, Edgar Cayce was getting read to perform what some called a kind of miracle. He was going to put himself to sleep, and while he was asleep he was going to describe in detail what was wrong with the child, and what to do for her – this child he had never seen. He didn’t even know it was a child. All he knew was that a telephone call had just come in, requesting a emergency reading for someone, and that he was going to try to get ‘the information” – he always called it this—necessary to help that person.” (pg. 19)	This fallacy is present in all of the accounts given by the author. By creating a vivid picture of Edgar Cayce’s work, the author is trying to build credibility with the readers. This works because it is more easy to believe a story especially if it’s about a child burn victim.
Unrepresentative Sample/Hasty Generalization	“In view of what we now know about the working of the unconscious mind, this seems quite acceptable. No one pretends to understand the mechanics of such an accomplishment, but there are many thousands of Cayce readings, dealing with the diagnosis and suggested treatment for physical disorders of all types, that can hardly be explained in any other way. One thing is certainly clear: whatever it was that Cayce was doing, it worked – and it worked extremely well” (pg. 29)	This is an unrepresentative sample because the author is saying that because this has worked for thousands of people, it can work for everyone. This is no taking whether or not the individuals asking for these services are more susceptible than the general population. It is hasty generalization because the sample is too small to draw a conclusion from and yet they do. This works because just seeing that thousands of people have had success with what Cayce was doing seems credible because a number was used.
Analysis - material	In describing the collective conscience and opposes Cayce’s definition to Carl Jung’s: “The Cayce  readings explained that every thought, every action of mankind since its beginning has been incorporated into a universal “record”.” (pg. 37)	This is defining the collective conscience as used by Cayce and not Jung. In doing this, the author is explaining a definitional link by juxtaposing it to the old, well-known definition as well as explaining a definitional term.