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Common Phantoms: An American History of Psychic Science - Ingram Academic — Occult Philosophy

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Common Phantoms: An American History of Psychic Science - Ingram Academic

Name: Common Phantoms: An American History of Psychic Science - Ingram Academic
Price: 120.00 USD
Availability: InStock
ISBN: 9781503608375

✍️ Puglionesi, Alicia

Reader Score

4.6

(1 review)

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📚 WHAT THE BOOK IS ABOUT

Step into a fascinating, forgotten chapter of American history where the supernatural collided with burgeoning science. Alicia Puglionesi masterfully resurrects the era from the 1850s onward when phenomena like clairvoyance and telepathy weren't just folklore, but subjects of serious—and often domestic—investigation. This book unveils how ordinary citizens and pioneering researchers alike sought to understand the mind's hidden depths, using new technologies to bridge the gap between material reality and elusive psychic experiences. It's a vital re-examination of how America once embraced a democratic approach to exploring the limits of human consciousness.

Puglionesi, Alicia

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Occult Philosophy

Praise for this book

“A fresh perspective on the goals and failures, friendships and rivalries, methods and dreams of those who investigated the interconnected powers of the human mind.”

— Pamela Klassen

🏛 Stanford University Press 📅 2020 📖 336 pages 📔 Hardcover ISBN: 9781503608375

Fun Fact

Alicia Puglionesi's 'Common Phantoms' is a revelatory work, meticulously re-examining the often-caricatured history of psychical research. It excels at portraying the earnest, democratic spirit behind these investigations, elevating participants from mere believers to active contributors to a nascent science. While it won't satisfy those seeking proof of the paranormal, nor a simple debunking, it offers a nuanced, vital contribution to the history of American science, psychology, and spirituality, challenging us to rethink what constitutes valid inquiry.

📝 Description: Common Phantoms: An American History of Psychic Science - Ingram Academic

Séances, clairvoyance, and telepathy captivated public imagination in the United States from the 1850s well into the twentieth century. Though skeptics dismissed these experiences as delusions, a new kind of investigator emerged to seek the science behind such phenomena. With new technologies like the telegraph collapsing the boundaries of time and space, an explanation seemed within reach. As Americans took up psychical experiments in their homes, the boundaries of the mind began to waver. Common Phantoms brings these experiments back to life while modeling a new approach to the history of psychology and the mind sciences. Drawing on previously untapped archives of participant-reported data, Alicia Puglionesi recounts how an eclectic group of investigators tried to capture the most elusive dimensions of human consciousness. A vast though flawed experiment in democratic science, psychical research gave participants valuable tools with which to study their experiences on their own terms. Academic psychology would ultimately disown this effort as both a scientific failure and a remnant of magical thinking, but its challenge to the limits of science, the mind, and the soul still reverberates today.

💎 Expert review

“

💎

Esoterica Books editorial team

Occult literature desk

Puglionesi offers a compelling resurrection of an often-overlooked historical period, providing fresh insights into the democratic exploration of human consciousness. However, readers seeking dry, technical manuals on parapsychology or those who prefer straightforward spiritualist narratives may find the academic framing and focus on 'psychic science' too detached from mystical experience. It is not suited for casual readers looking for ghost stories; this is a rigorous historical analysis of how phenomena were investigated. While intellectually robust, it demands patience from those expecting sensationalism over scholarly reconstruction of how ordinary people used technology to understand their own minds.

✓ EDITOR'S REVIEW

📖 Why choose it

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Why this book is worth reading

Readers fascinated by the hidden architectures of American intellectual life will find this book indispensable. It illuminates a fascinating era when clairvoyance and telepathy were not dismissed as mere parlor tricks but were pursued with scientific seriousness by both ordinary citizens and pioneering researchers. If you are intrigued by how democratic impulses shaped our understanding of the mind, or how new technologies were used to bridge material reality with elusive psychic experiences, this narrative offers a vital re-examination of that unique historical moment. It is particularly rewarding for those who appreciate seeing how domestic investigations contributed to broader scientific quests, revealing a forgotten chapter where the supernatural and the empirical collided in unexpected and profound ways.

⭐ Reader reviews

The starting rating comes from the team Esoterica Books —

⭐ Esoterica editorial review Editorial rating 4.6/5

★★★★★

For those fascinated by the cultural history of science, the intersection of spirituality and technology, or the evolving definitions of consciousness. If you're intrigued by how American society grappled with the uncanny and sought to quantify the unquantifiable, this book offers a profound…

Reader rating

4.6

Based on 1 reviews

Esoterica Books editorial team

Puglionesi offers a compelling resurrection of an often-overlooked historical period, providing fresh insights into the democratic exploration of human consciousness. However, readers seeking dry, technical manuals on parapsychology or those who prefer straightforward spiritualist narratives may find the academic framing and focus on 'psychic science' too detached from mystical experience. It is not suited for casual readers looking for ghost stories; this is a rigorous historical analysis of how phenomena were investigated. While intellectually robust, it demands patience from those expecting sensationalism over scholarly reconstruction of how ordinary people used technology to understand their own minds.

❓ Frequently asked questions

No, it's a meticulously researched historical account exploring *how* Americans, both laypeople and scientists, attempted to understand and validate psychic phenomena, irrespective of their ultimate veracity. It's about the scientific and cultural process, not a endorsement of the supernatural.

Puglionesi offers a fresh perspective by drawing on previously overlooked participant-reported data, showcasing psychical research not as a mere 'failure' but as a significant, if unorthodox, chapter in the history of mind sciences, highlighting its democratic and experimental nature.

📖 Who should read this

🎯 Key themes and symbolism

The Dawn of Psychic Science

Discover how a new breed of investigators, fueled by technological advancements and public fascination, earnestly attempted to apply scientific rigor to spiritualist claims. This period saw the ambitious pursuit of empirical evidence for phenomena like telepathy, aiming to integrate the seemingly supernatural into a scientific framework, challenging the very definition of what constituted observable reality.

Democratic Spiritual Experimentation

Puglionesi reveals how psychical research wasn't confined to academic labs but flourished in American homes. Ordinary individuals became active participants, documenting their own psychic experiences and contributing to a vast, if unconventional, body of data. This 'democratic science' empowered everyday people to explore and define their spiritual and mental boundaries on their own terms.

Shifting Boundaries of Mind

Explore how these investigations profoundly impacted contemporary understandings of the human mind and soul. As researchers delved into the unseen, the conventional lines between consciousness, reality, and scientific possibility began to blur. The book illuminates how this era’s efforts, though later dismissed, laid crucial groundwork for questioning the very limits of human perception and scientific inquiry.

📜 Historical context

Set against the backdrop of a rapidly modernizing 19th and early 20th century America, 'Common Phantoms' places psychical research within a tradition of scientific optimism and spiritual inquiry. In an era where the telegraph revolutionized communication, the idea of mind-to-mind contact seemed less outlandish, fostering a unique environment for exploring the boundaries of science and the soul.

📚 Glossary

Séances
Clairvoyance
Psychical Research

📔 Questions to reflect on

Consider how new technologies today, like AI or virtual reality, might be shaping our understanding of consciousness and reality, much like the telegraph did in the 19th century.
When does a belief system transition into a subject for scientific inquiry? Who holds the authority to define these boundaries, and how have those definitions shifted over time?
Reflect on historical or contemporary instances where phenomena initially dismissed as 'magical thinking' eventually gained (or lost) scientific credibility. What does this tell us about scientific progress?