by Steve Lehar
I've had my share of rejections in science, in fact I 've had more than my share of them. But this one is by far the most shameful and disgraceful rejection yet! This "review", if it can be called such, is a vivid demonstration of exactly what is wrong with the anonymous peer review process! There is no accountability on the part of the anonymous reviewers to stand behind their statements, some of which are so absurd and indefensible as to be laughable!
The review process should be an exchange between the authors and the reviewers, with the editor acting as the final arbiter who takes into account the arguments of both sides. In this case however the editor, the Reverend Anthony Freeman, exhibited the most gross and egregious dereliction of his responsibilities as editor. There was never any kind of exchange between the author and the reviewers. Instead, the reviewer's word was accepted as the final judgement, even when the reviewers couldn't be bothered to actually write a review! As for the one reviewer who did (after much prodding and protestation) actually deign to write a review, his statements in that review are so absurd and indefensible that Reverend Anthony Freeman brings shame on himself and on the Journal of Consciousness Studies for allowing them to pass unchallenged!
In fact the real reason why this paper was not really reviewed at all was because the editor and the reviewers are all naive realists, and they feel threatened by this challenge to their cherished beliefs. But instead of standing up to the challenge and addressing the issues raised in this paper, they choose the cowards way out by hiding behind their anonymity and rejecting the paper outright without any kind of meaningful discussion. And the reason why they choose this cowards way out is because they have NO ANSWER to my challenge of their naive realism! And Reverend Anthony Freeman lets them get away with this perversion of the review process by not holding them accountable to provide a reasoned response, or any response at all for that matter, if they don't feel like providing one!
Steve Lehar