Andreas Sommer It was precisely a year ago that I entered the world of history of science blogging by launching ‘Forbidden Histories’. (Incidentally, my first title choice – ‘Hidden Histories’– was already taken, and somewhat reluctantly I decided to go with the more melodramatic-sounding name.) One year later, I’m still not sufficiently blogosphere-savvy to understand what exactly … Read more
The penultimate pre-print article from the soon to be published Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences special issue on psychical research is now online. Maria Teresa Brancaccio explores and contextualises a hitherto underresearched episode in the history of modern Italian psychology, i.e. the preoccupation of one of its leading early representatives … Read more
In the sixth pre-print article from the upcoming Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences special issue on psychical research, Chantal Marazia and Fabio De Sio reconstruct the story of the famous “thinking horses” of Elberfeld and their main investigator, Karl Krall. CLEVER HANS AND HIS EFFECTS. KARL KRALL AND THE ORIGINS … Read more
Another article from the currently produced special issue of Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C dedicated to psychical research is now online as a pre-print version on the journal website. In her analysis of letters on precognition to the British playwright J. B. Priestley, Katy Price (Queen Mary University, London) addresses the … Read more
In the fourth of eight articles from the upcoming Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C special issue on psychical research, Shannon Delorme (Oxford University) takes a closer look at one of the most vocal British 19th-century opponents of spiritualism and animal magnetism, the physiologist William B. Carpenter. PHYSIOLOGY OR PSYCHIC POWERS? WILLIAM … Read more
Boris Kožnjak, PhD, is a historian and philosopher of science at the Institute of Philosophy, Zagreb, Croatia. E-mail: bkoznjak@ifzg.hr. Between August 1939 and May 1940 Joseph Banks Rhine and his associates from the famous Parapsychology Laboratory at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, conducted what would become the longest distance experiment which any systematic ESP … Read more
A pre-print version of Richard Noakes’ thought-provoking article looking at the complex relationship between unorthodox and established sciences is now available for download on the website of Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences. HAUNTED THOUGHTS OF THE CAREFUL EXPERIMENTALIST: PSYCHICAL RESEARCH AND THE TROUBLES OF EXPERIMENTAL PHYSICS Richard Noakes, University of … Read more
The second article from an upcoming Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C special issue on psychical research is now available as a pre-print version on the journal’s website. Andrea Graus of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona investigates the remarkable history of the introduction of medical hypnotism in Spain. HYPNOSIS IN SPAIN (1888–1905): … Read more
I’m pleased to announce the online first/in-press version of an article to appear in an upcoming special issue of Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, dedicated to psychical research and parapsychology in the history of science and medicine. Thanks to the support of Greg Radick, the editor of Studies, I had the … Read more
Though William James is now mostly remembered as a philosopher, he was one of two ‘founding fathers’ of modern professionalized psychology. While his German counterpart, Wilhelm Wundt in Leipzig, dismissed empirical approaches to reported psychic phenomena and spiritualism, James on the contrary sought to make the study of unorthodox phenomena a legitimate part of nascent … Read more