Legendary science popularizer Carl Sagan quoted Francis Bacon, a key figure of the Scientific Revolution, as an enemy of superstition, and suggested he was an early advocate of modern scientific naturalism. Never mind Bacon was a firm believer in occult phenomena and proposed experiments to test them – only to advise against such research in … Read more
In my last article on William James’ heretical science I mentioned that among the many opponents of his studies of alleged psychic phenomena were representatives of “scientific naturalism”, which I stated was “not the same as ontological materialism, of which major science ‘naturalizers’ such as Thomas Huxley and John Tyndall in Britain, and Emil du … Read more
1874 is a significant year in the history of psychology. Wilhelm Wundt published the first edition of Outlines of Physiological Psychology, and Franz Brentano issued his epistemological study, Psychology from an Empirical Standpoint. Another event in the same year is usually passed over by chronologists of the mind sciences: The foundation of Psychische Studien (Psychical … Read more