William Lane Craig on parapsychology and precognition, molinism and the problem of human freedom

Christian philosophers (and philosophers, scientists and scholars in general, for that matter) have not interest (and tend to be ignorant about) parapsychology and psi research.

As a rule, the few contemporary professional philosophers interested in psi research are naturalistic-materialistic-atheistic ones, who are members of militant atheist or debunking organizations (like Paul Kurtz, Paul Edwards, Robert Caroll, Keith Augustine, etc.) who, correctly, can see that the evidence for psi (and survival) is in tension with the basic premises of the metaphysical naturalistic worldview, and hence they try to refute or undermine the evidence (or explain them in terms compatible with naturalism, e.g. as self-delusions, frauds, flawed experimental methods, tricks, etc.).

Another small group of philosophers interested in psi (smaller in comparison with "skeptics"), like Chris Carter, Stephen Braude, David Ray Griffin or Robert Almeder, are not necessarily metaphysical naturalists (in the sense in which Kurtz or Augustine are) nor materialists, and hence they tend to be more sympathetic to the scientific evidence for psi.

Christian philosphers in general, are too busy refuting atheists, or defending theism or Christianity, and most of them seem show no interest in (or knowledge of) parapsychology. Some Christian believers even consider the whole topic a "Satanic matter", not worthy of further inquiry.

So, you can imagine my astonishment when, while reading Craig's very short book "The Only Wise God: The Compatibility of Divine Foreknowledge and Human Freedom", he wrote sympathetically on parapsychological researches about precognition, for example:

Although many philosophers and scientists regard precognition as utter nonsense, the evidence for it is impressive (p. 97)

More dazzling to me was seeing Craig quoting technical articles in the Journal of Parapsychology, and showing good command and understanding of some works of people like Helmut Schmidt, Whately Carreton, Russell Targ, Alan Gauld, Michael Scriven, C.D.Broad and other informed psi researchers. (Craig's book is from 1987, so it doesn't include the lastest references on precognition).

You have to keep in mind that Craig's book is NOT about parapsychology. The reason he explores this matter (specifically regarding precognition) is that it is relevant to the topic he's discussing in the book, namely, if given God's foreknolwedge, human freedom is possible or not (a topic which is pressing for Christians, because the Bible suggests both God's precognition and human freedom).

Craig defends a position known as molinism (a position very controversial among Christian thinkers), which makes compatible God's omniscience (including foreknowledge of creaturely free decisions) and human freedom.

The importance of Craig's book for non-religious precognition studies

Regardless of each's person theological persuasion, I think Craig's book is important because the topic he's addressing is, mutatis mutandis, the same theoretical problem that any believer in precognition will face: If precognition exists, is freedom of the will possible?

This theoretical question almost never is addressed in most books on parapsychology, in part because most parapsychologists are not trained philosophically, and in part because parapsychology is still theretically weak even though it is empirically strong ("skeptics" will disagree about the latter point).

We could roughly summarize the problem like this:

-If precognition is true, then all of these future events known by precognition are already determined in advance (otherwise, no actual and present knolwedge of them would be possible by precognition or other means).

-If these events are determined in advanced, then free will doesn't exist (because the "will" is determined in advanced too).

-Precognition is true

-Therefore, free will doesn't exist.

The conclusion is counterintuitive. Moreover, if true, moral responsability is destroyed. Even logical reasoning and science are destroyed (because your beliefs would be determined in advanced too and you hold them due to that determism, not because they conform to valid canons of logic and evidence). We would be mere automata, with the illusion of having free will.

My preliminary opinion is that Craig's molinistic model provide a way out of this situation. Craig's model is relevant to theology but, in my opinion, it is also relevant to parapsychology and the problem of precognition and human freedom (note that the argument mentioned above is the same regardless of whether precognition is attributed to God or to human beings: the whole point is that if it exists, human freedom seems to be illusory).

I cannot summarize Craig's model yet, because to be honest with you, I don't fully grasp it (I've just began to read his book), and I don't known if it's correct or more plausible than the alternatives. I have to explore other possibilities too in order to make my mind on this matter.

But since I'm a believer in free will (as a precondition of my morality and rationality), I'm antecedently sympathetic to any model which makes precognition (divine or human) compatible with free will.

I'll have more to say about this problem in the future.