Editing Soul (section)

==Parapsychology==
[[File:Duncan MacDougall physician.png|thumb|Duncan MacDougall was a physician from [[Haverhill, Massachusetts]], who wished to scientifically determine if a soul had weight]]
Some [[parapsychologists]] attempted to establish, by [[scientific]] experiment, whether a soul separate from the brain exists, as is more commonly defined in religion rather than as a synonym of psyche or mind.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Alcock |first=James E. |date=1987 |title=Parapsychology: Science of the anomalous or search for the soul? |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/behavioral-and-brain-sciences/article/abs/parapsychology-science-of-the-anomalous-or-search-for-the-soul/148CDBF5AF083F0048341FE81708F6BC |journal=Behavioral and Brain Sciences |language=en |volume=10 |issue=4 |pages=553–565 |doi=10.1017/S0140525X00054467 |doi-broken-date=16 April 2025 |issn=1469-1825|url-access=subscription }}</ref> 

One such attempt became known as the "[[21 grams experiment]]".<ref>{{cite journal |last1=MacDougall |first1=Duncan |author-link=Duncan MacDougall (doctor) |year=1907 |title=The Soul: Hypothesis Concerning Soul Substance Together with Experimental Evidence of the Existence of Such Substance |journal=American Medicine |series=New Series |volume=2 |pages=240–43}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=December 2012 |title=How much does the soul weigh? |url=http://www.livescience.com/32327-how-much-does-the-soul-weigh.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160428081819/http://www.livescience.com/32327-how-much-does-the-soul-weigh.html |archive-date=28 April 2016 |website=[[Live Science]]}}</ref> In 1901, Duncan MacDougall, a physician from [[Haverhill, Massachusetts]], who wished to scientifically determine if a soul had weight, identified six patients in nursing homes whose deaths were imminent. Four were suffering from tuberculosis, one from diabetes, and one from unspecified causes. MacDougall specifically chose people who were suffering from conditions that caused physical exhaustion, as he needed the patients to remain still when they died to measure them accurately. When the patients looked like they were close to death, their entire bed was placed on an industrial sized scale that was sensitive within two tenths of an ounce (5.6 grams).<ref name=karl>{{cite book |last=Kruszelnicki |first=Karl |year=2006 |title=Great Mythconceptions: The Science Behind the Myths |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YIfEO4nvvLUC |publisher=Andrews McMeel Publishing |pages=199–201 |isbn=9780740753640 |author-link=Karl Kruszelnicki}}</ref><ref name=mary>{{cite book |last=Roach |first=Mary |author-link=Mary Roach |date=6 September 2012 |title=[[Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers]] |publisher=Penguin |isbn=978-0241965016}}</ref>  One of the patients lost "three-fourths of an ounce" (21.3 grams), coinciding with the time of death, which led MacDougall to the conclusion that the soul had weight.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kruszelnicki |first=Karl |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YIfEO4nvvLUC |title=Great Mythconceptions: The Science Behind the Myths |date=2006 |publisher=Andrews McMeel Publishing |isbn=978-0-7407-5364-0 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Mikkelson |first=David |date=2003-10-27 |title=Was the Weight of a Human Soul Determined to Be 21 Grams? |url=https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/weight-of-the-soul/ |access-date=2025-04-16 |website=Snopes |language=en}}</ref> 

The physicist [[Robert L. Park]] wrote that MacDougall's experiments "are not regarded today as having any scientific merit", and the psychologist [[Bruce Hood (psychologist)|Bruce Hood]] wrote that "because the weight loss was not reliable or replicable, his findings were unscientific".<ref>[[Robert L. Park|Park, Robert L]]. (2009). ''Superstition: Belief in the Age of Science''. [[Princeton University Press]]. p. 90. {{ISBN|978-0-691-13355-3}}.</ref><ref>[[Bruce Hood (psychologist)|Hood, Bruce]]. (2009). ''Supersense: From Superstition to Religion – The Brain Science of Belief''. Constable. p. 165. {{ISBN|978-1-84901-030-6}}.</ref>