Charles Tart

[[File:Charles Tart.jpg|thumb|right|165px|Charles T. Tart]]
{{Paranormal}}
'''Charles T. Tart''' {{lived|29 April 1937|5 March 2025}} was an [[United States|American]] [[psychologist]] and [[parapsychologist]] known for promoting [[pseudoscience]].<ref>[http://archive.is/3K4F Charles T. Tart]. Archived from the original at psychology.ucdavis.edu.</ref>

==Biography==
He earned his Ph.D. in psychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1963. As of 2005, he was a Core Faculty Member at the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology (Palo Alto, California) and a Senior Research Fellow of the [[Institute of Noetic Sciences]] (Sausalito, California), as well as Professor Emeritus of Psychology at the University of California, Davis.<ref>[http://archive.is/N2vo Charles Tart's Faculty Profile]. Archived from the original at www.itp.edu.</ref>

==Paranormal==
Tart was more dogmatic than most other parapsychologists on the existence of the [[paranormal]]; he repeatedly stated in his publications that [[science]] has confirmed the existence of [[remote viewing]], [[psychokinesis]], [[precognition]] and [[ESP]] and attacks those who are [[skeptical]] of such phenomena. He usually set up [[straw man]] arguments against those who he terms "materialistic skeptics" for ignoring his cited data. 

He was critical of [[materialism]] and "material science" and is the author of the book ''The End of Materialism: How Evidence of the Paranormal is Bringing Science and Spirit Together'' (2009) which claims evidence from the [[paranormal]] is bringing science and [[spirituality]] together. Tart's definition of science was obviously different than the rest of the scientific community as he rejects "material science". He claimed to have deep interests in [[Buddhism]] and [[spirituality]], making it clear these things gave him a bias to the paranormal data he reported on. Most of the data he reported on are made up of [[Anecdotal evidence|personal reports or testimonials]]; despite this he still claimed they have been scientifically proven.

Even though Tart was a psychologist, he rejected [[psychological]] explanations for the paranormal. He actually believed people can remote view out of their physical bodies into the past, present, and future and that people can predict future events whilst ignoring any psychological explanation for such phenomena.

==Criticism==
Tart was criticised for ignoring natural explanations for cases of paranormal phenomena and for ignoring and rejecting the known laws of science.<ref>[http://skepdic.com/tart.html Charles Tart at the Skeptic's Dictionary]</ref> Tart wrote in his books that [[psi]] is real, that it is non-physical in basis and that is does not operate to known scientific laws; despite all this he still said that psi has been proven by science in repeatable experiments. 

What he claimed was contradictory and the scientific community didn't take his ideas seriously. If psi is non-physical then it would be [[metaphysical]] and outside of the realm of empirical science to study. Tart was one of those parapsychologists who misused science to try and appeal to a wider audience and sell more copies of his books.

Tart claimed that fraudulent [[medium]]s such as [[Eileen Garrett]] and [[Leonora Piper]] were genuine. His book, ''The End of Materialism'', embraces all kinds of pseudoscience and woo.<ref>[http://www.skepdic.com/refuge/tart.html The End of Materialism by Charles Tart]</ref>

==Selected publications==
*''Symposium on Consciousness'' (1975) With P. Lee, R. Ornstein, D. Galin & A. Deikman
*''Learning to Use Extrasensory Perception'' (1976)
*''Psi: Scientific Studies of the Psychic'' Realm (1977)
*''Mind at Large: Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers Symposia on the Nature of Extrasensory Perception'' (1979, with Harold E. Puthoff & Russel Targ)
*''Body Mind Spirit: Exploring the Parapsychology of Spirituality'' (1997)
*''The End of Materialism: How Evidence of the Paranormal is Bringing Science and Spirit Together'' (2009)

==See also==
*[[Chris Carter]]

==External links==
*[https://www.paradigm-sys.com/ Official website]

==References==
{{reflist|2|80%}}

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[[Category:Authors]]
[[Category:California]]
[[Category:Parapsychology]]
[[Category:Pseudoscience promoters]]
[[Category:Psychologists]]

Categories: Authors, California, Parapsychology, Pseudoscience promoters, Psychologists