Unruly Spirits: The Science of Psychic Phenomena in Modern France
✍️ Brower, M BradyCurrently unavailable
This book is sold out right now. Leave your email — we'll let you know if it comes back, and you'll get 10% off any book today.
In stock now — readers of this book also loved:
M. Brady Brower's compelling work explores how French science grappled with purported psychic phenomena like séances and telepathy during Sigmund Freud's era. It reveals an intellectual crisis that ultimately paved the way for psychoanalysis in France. Brower meticulously traces how psychical research, initially dismissed, became a legitimate scientific pursuit, driven partly by the Third Republic's need to manage popular democracy. The book details how prominent physicists and psychologists engaged with these enigmatic occurrences, until the inherent unmeasurability of trust and interpersonal dynamics stalled their investigations by the 1920s.
Praise for this book
“M. Brady Brower clearly demonstrates the importance of the French strain of psychical research and shows it to be a crucial and unjustly neglected episode in the story of modern psychology. What he has uncovered should provoke a searching revision of the standard account of the resistance psychoanalysis faced in fin-de-siècle and interwar France.”
📝 Description: Unruly Spirits: The Science of Psychic Phenomena in Modern France
💎 Expert review
📖 Why choose it
Why this book is worth reading
This book is essential for scholars and enthusiasts who wish to understand the complex origins of French psychoanalysis. Readers interested in how scientific inquiry intersects with the paranormal will find Brower’s meticulous tracing of psychical research captivating. It offers a unique perspective on how prominent physicists and psychologists navigated the unmeasurable dynamics of trust during séances. By revealing an intellectual crisis that shaped modern thought, it provides deep insight into the Third Republic's efforts to manage popular democracy through science. Those fascinated by the historical validity of psychic phenomena will appreciate this rigorous examination of how the ethereal was attempted to be quantified.
⭐ Reader reviews
Reader rating
Brower delivers a dense, academic exploration of French psychical research that demands patience from its audience. While intellectually stimulating for specialists in history of science or psychoanalytic studies, it may frustrate casual readers seeking narrative flair or accessible explanations of occult practices. The focus on the political and scientific mechanisms behind these investigations renders it dry for those expecting mystical revelations. It is strictly for those interested in the institutionalization of knowledge rather than the phenomena themselves. Do not expect light reading; this is a scholarly dissection of an intellectual crisis, suitable only for dedicated researchers willing to engage with complex historical dynamics.
❓ Frequently asked questions
📖 Who should read this
If you're fascinated by the history of psychology, the intersection of science and spirituality, or the intellectual climate of fin-de-siècle France, this book offers profound insights. It's for readers who appreciate meticulous historical scholarship on the evolving understanding of the human mind.
🎯 Key themes and symbolism
Science Meets the Supernatural
This book delves into the fascinating friction between the burgeoning scientific method and the widespread belief in mediumship and parapsychic events. It showcases how 19th-century French researchers, initially skeptical, were compelled to confront and attempt to categorize phenomena that defied conventional understanding, highlighting the evolving boundaries of scientific inquiry.
Origins of French Psychoanalysis
Brower illuminates how the struggles of psychical researchers to explain intangible, subjective experiences created an intellectual vacuum. This inability to adequately address the complexities of the human mind through existing scientific models inadvertently prepared the ground for the eventual acceptance and integration of Freudian psychoanalytic theories into French academic thought.
Politics of Belief and Inquiry
The book reveals the significant role of political and cultural forces in shaping scientific pursuits. It illustrates how the French Third Republic, seeking to assert authority and rationalize public faith, legitimized the study of mediumism. This transformation saw popular spiritualism transition from a fringe belief to a subject deemed worthy of serious, institutionalized scientific investigation.
📜 Historical context
📚 Glossary
- Epistemological crisis
- Parapsychic phenomena
- Mediumism
📔 Questions to reflect on
- How might our current scientific understanding be limited by what we deem 'measurable,' and what phenomena are we perhaps overlooking as a result?
- Reflect on how political or cultural anxieties in your own time might influence what scientific questions are prioritized or deemed legitimate for study.
- Consider the tension between personal belief and scientific skepticism. Where do you draw the line, and how do you navigate phenomena that seem to defy conventional explanation?
📖 Read on the blog
✍️ More books by this author Brower, M Brady
All books by this author →
🏛 Books from this publisher University of Illinois Press
All books from this publisher →
![Songs for the Spirits: Music and Mediums in Modern Vietnam [With DVD]](/img/songs-for-the-spirits-music-and-mediums-in-modern-vietnam-with-dvd-scene.webp)
You might also like
See more →
Have a question about this item?
Ask about the edition, condition, delivery or anything else — we reply by email or phone, usually within a day.
