- January 18th, 2023, 11:10 pm#4977293
[EDIT: My analysis below is inconsistent with behind the scenes information (Egon's credentials) from Afterlife. Therefore, I am likely wrong (despite Egon's diplomas being unreadable on screen to my eye). However, my underlying critique of Venkman's shambolic academic background and the breakdown of expertise in the group is still correct as far as I can tell].
Call it a fan theory or just an amusing thought.
Nowhere in a live action film are the Ghostbusters referred to as parapsychologists. Only one of them is a parapsychologist with formal credentials in paranormal studies, and this fact lends itself to the cynical and ironic comedic tone of the movie.
Venkman is a parapsychologist. The others are not. Stantz is an engineer. Spengler is a physicist.
Note: The below justification is semi-technical. I did my undergrad in philosophy with an emphasis in the philosophy of science. I am proceeding under the assumption that parapsychology is not an expansive interdisciplinary field in which its practitioners somehow know the ins and outs of particle physics, human psychology, mythology and spirituality, etc. Paranormal research is, for the sake of argument, a multi-disciplinary field, but parapsychology is not. Furthermore, I will assume that parapsychology is not a proper academic discipline even in the context of the film
In the film, parapsychology is merely an area of study in psychology (similar to string theory in physics) and not a discipline in and of itself. No "department of parapsychology" exists in any college at any university, and no department would hire someone on that basis alone.
Venkman says he has a Ph.D in parapsychology, and it's reasonable to assume he is a "real" parapsychologist in the sense that his research focuses on that area...and given the knockoff Milgram experiment at the beginning of the first film. However, he does not take the subject seriously, and he almost certainly teaches under the auspices of conventional psychology. His skepticism toward the substance of his own field is explicit and obvious early in the film...evidenced by his eye rolling apathy toward what the other two are doing as they investigate the Library disturbance. Venkman says, "you guys have really gone around the bend on this ghost business...meeting and greeting every schizo in the Five Burroughs....what have you seen?"
The paranormal is an merely expedient topic from which Venkman can grift and subsist off of academia's golden tit, and maybe he finds it fascinating from the standpoint of studying human psychology more broadly. He has a second Ph.D in a generally bogus niche social science because it was easy. More specifically, he didn't know what else to do with himself after finishing his first dissertation (which happens to academics a lot). He's mildly interested in how people's crazy beliefs impact behavior, hence his studies into "effects on non-ESP ability," and he pursued a second Ph.D to stay in school as long as he could. At the beginning of the film, he is a college professor doing just enough research in a questionable area to keep up with publish or perish requirements and maybe someday get tenure. He studies people who believe in the paranormal. He himself does not believe. Venkman certainly does not appreciate the physical reality of paranormal phenomena potentially accessible to the hard sciences vis-a-vis physics.
However, Venkman is the only academic parapsychologist (as if such a thing existed) in the group and the only one with formal credentials in a subject directly related to the topic of the paranormal. Ironically, his colleagues take the subject more seriously than he does and know more about psychology-adjacent topics than he. They work together in the University's 'Paranormal Studies' lab, which is merely a space for conducting a particular kind of research irrespective of the degrees held by its faculty. In this case, 'Paranormal Studies' is a multi-disciplinary field of research much like 'international studies,' 'climate research,' 'women's studies,' etc. As an aside, I surmise the three of them are almost certainly adjunct faculty (associate professors).
Ray and Egon research and study the paranormal, but they have no formal psychology or parapsychology training. They are essentially cross-disciplinary researchers and very likely teach conventional physics and engineering in the classroom and in their respective departments. They study the paranormal (and science underlying it) from the perspectives of their own academic and technical disciplines in a Paranormal Studies lab and in the field. Moreover, no field in the natural sciences considers dabbling in quantum spookiness and supernatural mumbo jumbo to be acceptable, and it is only natural for them to be lumped in with parapsychology and Venkman (who introduced the two of them according to a deleted scene). But Ray an Egon study psyco-kinetic phenomenon as an unconventional research topic adjacent to quantum physics...not from a standpoint of a fictional psycho-physical discipline. Ray and Egon are black sheep. Where their research crosses into the psychic and psychological realms, they consult occult literature (Spates Catalogue, Tobin Spirit Guide, etc.) applying their academic hard science expertise to given questions. When Ray tells Peter, "You never studied," he's referring to the full breadth of information available across disciplines, in popular (pseudoscientific) literature, and in relevant hard science subjects relevant to paranormal investigation. Ray does not mean, "you never studied parapsychology," the content of which is largely mum in describing psychic phenomena with mathematical precision.
Ray is an engineer, and I came to this conclusion long before GB 2016 specified that for one of the characters. Ray being an engineer is consistent with his demonstrable mechanical skills, understanding civil engineering and architecture, obsession with technical details etc. Furthermore, no amount of theoretical physics knowledge necessarily gives one the technical knowhow to design and build particle accelerators or other pieces of equipment from scratch. It was engineers who turned the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) into reality. Ray designed (engineered) the Ghostbusters' equipment...with input and oversight from Egon...with raw and assembled materials; both he and Egon build their gadgets. This began with the simple detection and recording equipment they used early in the first movie and progressed to proton packs and containment units. Egon almost certainly became savvy and handy enough to assemble equipment himself (long before Afterlife), but at the end of the day...
Egon is a physicist. Only Egon knows, understands, and is able to derive the equations needed to detect and catch ghosts. Without the math, no such capabilities could exist. It's Egon's detailed understanding of physics (especially quantum field theory and electromagnetism) that allowed him and Ray to put the psychic/paranormal (mislabeled as supernatural) into physical terms reducible to natural science. With that information, they were able to devise methods and capabilities for trapping ghosts and holding them indefinitely.
That's a lot to read, but I may expand this into a YouTube video much in the Film Theorist vain. Feel free to offer counterarguments and evidence against this interpretation.
Disclaimer: I don't actually believe "quantum spookiness" has anything to do with consciousness and the existence of ghosts.
Call it a fan theory or just an amusing thought.
Nowhere in a live action film are the Ghostbusters referred to as parapsychologists. Only one of them is a parapsychologist with formal credentials in paranormal studies, and this fact lends itself to the cynical and ironic comedic tone of the movie.
Venkman is a parapsychologist. The others are not. Stantz is an engineer. Spengler is a physicist.
Note: The below justification is semi-technical. I did my undergrad in philosophy with an emphasis in the philosophy of science. I am proceeding under the assumption that parapsychology is not an expansive interdisciplinary field in which its practitioners somehow know the ins and outs of particle physics, human psychology, mythology and spirituality, etc. Paranormal research is, for the sake of argument, a multi-disciplinary field, but parapsychology is not. Furthermore, I will assume that parapsychology is not a proper academic discipline even in the context of the film
In the film, parapsychology is merely an area of study in psychology (similar to string theory in physics) and not a discipline in and of itself. No "department of parapsychology" exists in any college at any university, and no department would hire someone on that basis alone.
Venkman says he has a Ph.D in parapsychology, and it's reasonable to assume he is a "real" parapsychologist in the sense that his research focuses on that area...and given the knockoff Milgram experiment at the beginning of the first film. However, he does not take the subject seriously, and he almost certainly teaches under the auspices of conventional psychology. His skepticism toward the substance of his own field is explicit and obvious early in the film...evidenced by his eye rolling apathy toward what the other two are doing as they investigate the Library disturbance. Venkman says, "you guys have really gone around the bend on this ghost business...meeting and greeting every schizo in the Five Burroughs....what have you seen?"
The paranormal is an merely expedient topic from which Venkman can grift and subsist off of academia's golden tit, and maybe he finds it fascinating from the standpoint of studying human psychology more broadly. He has a second Ph.D in a generally bogus niche social science because it was easy. More specifically, he didn't know what else to do with himself after finishing his first dissertation (which happens to academics a lot). He's mildly interested in how people's crazy beliefs impact behavior, hence his studies into "effects on non-ESP ability," and he pursued a second Ph.D to stay in school as long as he could. At the beginning of the film, he is a college professor doing just enough research in a questionable area to keep up with publish or perish requirements and maybe someday get tenure. He studies people who believe in the paranormal. He himself does not believe. Venkman certainly does not appreciate the physical reality of paranormal phenomena potentially accessible to the hard sciences vis-a-vis physics.
However, Venkman is the only academic parapsychologist (as if such a thing existed) in the group and the only one with formal credentials in a subject directly related to the topic of the paranormal. Ironically, his colleagues take the subject more seriously than he does and know more about psychology-adjacent topics than he. They work together in the University's 'Paranormal Studies' lab, which is merely a space for conducting a particular kind of research irrespective of the degrees held by its faculty. In this case, 'Paranormal Studies' is a multi-disciplinary field of research much like 'international studies,' 'climate research,' 'women's studies,' etc. As an aside, I surmise the three of them are almost certainly adjunct faculty (associate professors).
Ray and Egon research and study the paranormal, but they have no formal psychology or parapsychology training. They are essentially cross-disciplinary researchers and very likely teach conventional physics and engineering in the classroom and in their respective departments. They study the paranormal (and science underlying it) from the perspectives of their own academic and technical disciplines in a Paranormal Studies lab and in the field. Moreover, no field in the natural sciences considers dabbling in quantum spookiness and supernatural mumbo jumbo to be acceptable, and it is only natural for them to be lumped in with parapsychology and Venkman (who introduced the two of them according to a deleted scene). But Ray an Egon study psyco-kinetic phenomenon as an unconventional research topic adjacent to quantum physics...not from a standpoint of a fictional psycho-physical discipline. Ray and Egon are black sheep. Where their research crosses into the psychic and psychological realms, they consult occult literature (Spates Catalogue, Tobin Spirit Guide, etc.) applying their academic hard science expertise to given questions. When Ray tells Peter, "You never studied," he's referring to the full breadth of information available across disciplines, in popular (pseudoscientific) literature, and in relevant hard science subjects relevant to paranormal investigation. Ray does not mean, "you never studied parapsychology," the content of which is largely mum in describing psychic phenomena with mathematical precision.
Ray is an engineer, and I came to this conclusion long before GB 2016 specified that for one of the characters. Ray being an engineer is consistent with his demonstrable mechanical skills, understanding civil engineering and architecture, obsession with technical details etc. Furthermore, no amount of theoretical physics knowledge necessarily gives one the technical knowhow to design and build particle accelerators or other pieces of equipment from scratch. It was engineers who turned the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) into reality. Ray designed (engineered) the Ghostbusters' equipment...with input and oversight from Egon...with raw and assembled materials; both he and Egon build their gadgets. This began with the simple detection and recording equipment they used early in the first movie and progressed to proton packs and containment units. Egon almost certainly became savvy and handy enough to assemble equipment himself (long before Afterlife), but at the end of the day...
Egon is a physicist. Only Egon knows, understands, and is able to derive the equations needed to detect and catch ghosts. Without the math, no such capabilities could exist. It's Egon's detailed understanding of physics (especially quantum field theory and electromagnetism) that allowed him and Ray to put the psychic/paranormal (mislabeled as supernatural) into physical terms reducible to natural science. With that information, they were able to devise methods and capabilities for trapping ghosts and holding them indefinitely.
That's a lot to read, but I may expand this into a YouTube video much in the Film Theorist vain. Feel free to offer counterarguments and evidence against this interpretation.
Disclaimer: I don't actually believe "quantum spookiness" has anything to do with consciousness and the existence of ghosts.
Last edited by Egon’s_Contraption on January 19th, 2023, 3:09 pm, edited 3 times in total.