ABSTRACT
Parapsychology or psi research is the study of interactions between living systems and their environment that are anomalous with respect to recognized physical channels of information exchange. The problem of psychophysical interaction, or the "mind-body problem" as it is sometimes called, has traditionally been a problem for speculative philosophy rather than science. The problem of psychophysical interaction has remained in philosophical limbo only because it has been empirically inaccessible. The empirical viability of dualistic theories of mind/brain interaction, such as that of J. C. Eccles, is contingent upon evidence that mental processes are causes as well as effects of physical processes. Eccles' speculation, while in many ways an advance over earlier dualistic formulations, is based primarily upon negative evidence, i-e., our present inability to identify mind with specific brain processes or structures. The nature of mind and its relationship to the physical world remains a fundamental mystery.
