"Of the seven experiments, the ones that have been most investigated so far have been the pets. The dogs who know when their masters for coming home, and the sense of being stared at"
About this Quote
Sheldrake opens like a lab report and then swerves into the domestic: not particle tracks or gene sequences, but pets. That tonal shift is the point. By calling these claims "the most investigated", he smuggles fringe curiosities into the respectable rhetoric of experimental science, where "investigated" implies protocols, replication, and sober consensus. It’s a clever reversal of prestige: the closer the phenomenon sits to everyday life, the more it can be framed as empirically urgent.
The subtext is a challenge to what counts as a legitimate research question. Dogs that "know" when an owner is coming home, or the "sense of being stared at", are classic borderland experiences: widespread, hard to measure, and easy to ridicule. Sheldrake’s phrasing recruits that familiarity as evidence of significance. If millions report it, why wouldn’t scientists test it? The rhetorical move sets up an implicit indictment: mainstream science is incurious not because the questions are meaningless, but because they’re socially risky.
Context matters. Sheldrake’s career is defined by proposing "morphic resonance" and other ideas that many scientists view as pseudoscientific. In that light, the quote reads as both defense and recruitment pitch. By foregrounding pets, he bypasses metaphysics and goes straight to what feels like accessible data: behavior you can film in a kitchen, not a theory you need a new physics for. He’s also strategically choosing experiments with built-in emotional leverage. If your dog seems psychically tethered to you, skepticism can feel like an attack on intimacy. That’s how the line works: it makes the paranormal sound like a missed appointment in the scientific schedule, not a violation of the scientific worldview.
The subtext is a challenge to what counts as a legitimate research question. Dogs that "know" when an owner is coming home, or the "sense of being stared at", are classic borderland experiences: widespread, hard to measure, and easy to ridicule. Sheldrake’s phrasing recruits that familiarity as evidence of significance. If millions report it, why wouldn’t scientists test it? The rhetorical move sets up an implicit indictment: mainstream science is incurious not because the questions are meaningless, but because they’re socially risky.
Context matters. Sheldrake’s career is defined by proposing "morphic resonance" and other ideas that many scientists view as pseudoscientific. In that light, the quote reads as both defense and recruitment pitch. By foregrounding pets, he bypasses metaphysics and goes straight to what feels like accessible data: behavior you can film in a kitchen, not a theory you need a new physics for. He’s also strategically choosing experiments with built-in emotional leverage. If your dog seems psychically tethered to you, skepticism can feel like an attack on intimacy. That’s how the line works: it makes the paranormal sound like a missed appointment in the scientific schedule, not a violation of the scientific worldview.
Quote Details
| Topic | Dog |
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