Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
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Nederlandse Vereniging Voor Parapsychologie
Leading parapsychological organization in the Netherlands. The Nederlandse Vereniging Voor Parapsychologie (Dutch Society for Parapyschology NWP) was formed in 1960 as a result of an internal controversy in the studievereniging voor psychical research (SVPR). In the early decades of the 20th century, the Netherlands had been the single most-receptive country in continental Europe to the…
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Nebular hypothesis
A theory of the formation of the Sun’s planetary system advanced by Pierre Simon Laplace (1749-1827) in his Exposition du Systeme du Monde (1796). He theorized that gravity would condense a rotating disc of matter with most of its mass near the center into a massive central body and a number of much smaller orbiting…
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Nazi racism
An increasingly extreme racial policy that was carried out by the Nazi regime (1933-45), culminating in genocide. Nazi ideologists produced a coherent and systematic body of thought that drew on a number of older racist themes. Right-wing political theory had earlier emphasized the dangers of mixing the blood of different races. The Aryan race, which…
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Nazca lines
Amazing ancient tableau of gigantic figures and lines drawn on the desert floor about 402 kilo meters (250 miles) southwest of Lima, Peru; brought to prominence with the 1970 publication of Erich Von Daniken’s best-selling book Chariots of the Gods? The several hundred drawings of birds, animals, humans, geometric shapes, and straight lines cover about…
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Natural theology
The belief that religious knowledge can be obtained by human reason by working upon information gained by observing the world and all its wonders, as opposed to the more usual revelation by faith or reading the Scriptures. It was Thomas Aquinas (c. 1225-74) who formulated the distinction between natural and revealed theology, as opposed the…
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Natural law
The concept that there is a system of justice inherent in the world that is more certain, more just, and superior to the written laws of any society, which are always specific to time and place and made by imperfect human beings, and therefore fallible. The idea that there is an objectively discoverable set of…
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Mystery hill
American structure of mysterious origins possibly predating the Columbian contact. Outside Newport, Rhode Island stands a round tower built of held stones. It is about 25 feet in diameter and stands about 25 feet high. Referred to as the Old Stone Mill, it is supported by eight round columns, which in turn support Romanesque arches.…
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Frederic William Henry Myers
A member of the Committee on Thought Reading (CTR) of the British society for psychical research. Myers and his colleagues made a determined effort to assess many claims of paranormal phenomena, especially thought reading. Some of his books are still referred to today. In his most notable work, Human Personality and Its Survival after Bodily…
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Mutual Ufo network
Largest of the several UFO organizations to survive into the 1990s. The Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) was founded in 1969 as the Midwest UFO Network. The name was later changed to reflect its growth into an international organization. MUFON holds an annual symposium that provides the largest regular gathering of ufologists and their supporters, and…
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Elaine Morgan (1920-)
British author and lecturer on evolutionary theory who holds scientifically unorthodox opinions, and who started to write at the end of the 1960s at the height of the women’s movement. She saw the story of creation and similar male myths of the past, as well as evolutionary explanations of the development of humankind to have…
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