Dowsing and the Philosophy of Science
Dowsing and the Philosophy of Science Andrew Edgar I’d like to start by giving a brief introduction to the philosophy of science. It’s The Philosophy of Science, version 101, with some added dowsing and a bit of ley theory, which will help to illustrate some of the points it raises. One of the few academics to actually talk about dowsing is the German philosopher, George Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, who died in 1831. My wife and I went to his former house in Stuttgart. We received a rather surprised look from the receptionist at his house, as to why two people from England would want to actually visit Hegel’s house, but I found it really exciting - I’m a fan of his! In 1830 Hegel wrote that ‘ . . .this immediate knowing . . . is manifest in, so called, metal or water diviners. These are persons who, when fully awake and without using the sense of sight, perceive metal or water existing underneath the ground. The not infrequent appearances of such persons cannot