Insights from para-psychology for international relations

Western International Relations (IR) has much to learn from the so-called ‘para-sciences’. At the one hand, they can instruct us about the role of consciousness and its connection to peace. At the other, we can learn from them that humanity is connected and not separated as mainstream ideas of individualism hold. The para-sciences in particular have so far led a life in the shadows of the Western scientific discourse. While popular with the general population, as the success of publications such as What the Bleep testify, they have not been taken seriously by mainstream science, and especially so IR. This has a number of reasons. One is that IR mainstream still attempts to present itself against the image of a ‘soft science’ and struggles to get recognition for its robustness and credibility. It competes with the natural sciences for authority, but oftentimes fails in that respect. This essay will present some of the findings of the para-sciences, in particular para-psychology. It will connect them to the less mainstream accounts in Western philosophy and IR on consciousness and unity