ABSTRACT
Let’s assume that there are no gods, demons, spirits, or other non-natural agents. Let’s assume, too, that the phenomenon of spirit possession has an entirely natural explanation. Could spirit possession still be a source of knowledge? Could the utterances of those thought to be possessed tell us something we would be unlikely to know in other ways? Drawing on the psychological literature regarding unconscious cognition, this chapter argues that such utterances could yield valuable insights. But a practice can yield valuable insights without being a reliable source of such insights. Whatever insights this practice yields will be only within a limited domain. Even within that domain, the deliverances of those thought to be possessed have, at best, heuristic value. They should be considered knowledge (in the sense of justified true belief) only if they are accompanied by corroborating evidence.
