Investigating the Supernatural | Free Book

Investigating the Supernatural | Free Book

Steven Lv12
From Spiritism and Occultism to Psychical Research and Metapsychics in France, 1853–1931
Publisher:Johns Hopkins University Press
Published:June 2011
ISBN:9781421401171
Title:Investigating the Supernatural
Author:Sofie Lachapelle
Imprint:Johns Hopkins University Press
Language:English
Number of Pages:209
“A convincing account of science’s flirtation with the marginal and the marvelous” from the author of Conjuring Science (Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences).

Séances were wildly popular in France between 1850 and 1930, when members of the general public and scholars alike turned to the wondrous as a means of understanding and explaining the world. Sofie Lachapelle explores how five distinct groups attempted to use and legitimize séances: spiritists, who tried to create a new “science” concerned with the spiritual realm and the afterlife; occultists, who hoped to connect ancient revelations with contemporary science; physicians, psychiatrists, and psychologists, who developed a pathology of supernatural experiences; psychical researchers, who drew on the unexplained experiences of the public to create a new field of research; and metapsychists, who attempted to develop a new science of yet-to-be understood natural forces.

An enlightening and entertaining narrative that includes colorful people like “Allan Kardec”—a pseudonymous former mathematics teacher from Lyon who wrote successful works on the science of the séance and what happened after death—Investigating the Supernatural reveals the rich and vibrant diversity of unorthodox beliefs and practices that existed at the borders of the French scientific culture in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

“What is science? . . . In her engaging book, Sophie Lachapelle probes for an answer by looking at the liminal realm between science and superstition and the attempt to render the supernatural explicable in naturalistic terms.” —Isis

“A welcome addition to the growing literature on spiritism, occultism and physical research in modern France.” —French History

About the Author

Sofie Lachapelle is an associate professor of history at the University of Guelph.

  • Title: Investigating the Supernatural | Free Book
  • Author: Steven
  • Created at : 2024-10-20 22:08:58
  • Updated at : 2024-10-27 04:02:59
  • Link: https://novels-ebooks.techidaily.com/210477048-9781421401171-investigating-the-supernatural/
  • License: This work is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.
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Investigating the Supernatural | Free Book