I swear by those magnetic bracelets though! :) --Mike --- On Fri, 8/29/08, Allen Esterson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
From: Allen Esterson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: [tips] Mesmer To: "Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)" <tips@acsun.frostburg.edu> Date: Friday, August 29, 2008, 12:52 PM Re the history of Mesmerism, Chris makes a good point when he writes that one should not take an account such as that of Mackay's as definitive, and that it is all too easy to succumb to the "post hoc ergo propter hoc" syndrome. Still, the various chapters in Mackay's *Extraordinary Popular Delusions* are a joy to read for anyone fascinated by what he calls the "moral epidemics" to which numerous members of the human race are prone from time to time. In his Introduction the historian Norman Stone writes that the book is as relevant today as it was when it was written more than 150 years ago, "because human folly changes only in detail and not in scale". And it is worth remembering that none of us is completely immune to intellectual or psychological fashion. Allen Esterson Former lecturer, Science Department Southwark College, London http://www.esterson.org --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
