Afterlife Research : Spiritual Animal Magnetism and the Beginning of a Scientific Culture / Bastiaan van Rijn.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Rijn, Bastiaan van, author.

Series:

Numen Book Series ; 186.

Religious Studies, Theology and Philosophy E-Books Online, Collection 2026.

Numen Book Series ; 186

Religious Studies, Theology and Philosophy E-Books Online, Collection 2026

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Religious Studies.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (267 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Other Title:

Spiritual Animal Magnetism and the Beginning of a Scientific Culture

Place of Publication:

Leiden ; Boston : Brill, 2026.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

The open access publication of this book was funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation. From lunar spirit travels to prospective hospital studies, Afterlife Research traces the efforts of individuals and groups in the West who, since the late nineteenth century, have sought to investigate life after death scientifically. This book reconstructs a distinctive “scientific culture” that extends from spiritual animal magnetism in the late eighteenth century through Spiritualism, Spiritism, psychical research, reincarnation research, and contemporary near-death experience research. Focusing on three mid-nineteenth-century spiritual animal magnetizers—Louis-Alphonse Cahagnet, George Bush, and Petrus Jacobus Siemelink—the book explores the recurring problems and shared solutions that have shaped afterlife research over the past two centuries.

Contents:

Front Cover

Half Title

Series Information

Title Page

Copyright Page

Contents

Figures and Tables

Acknowledgments

The Conceptual Framework at a Glance

1 The General Framework

2 The Processes of Verification

Chapter 1 Afterlife Research-an Introduction

1 The Seeress and the Romantic

2 The Various Types of Afterlife Research

2.1 Animal Magnetism

2.2 Spiritualism and Spiritism

2.3 Psychical Research and Parapsychology

2.4 Near-Death Experience Research

3 Science and Religion

4 Researching Science and Religion

5 The Aim of This Book

6 Overview of the Book

Chapter 2 Animal Magnetism-from Medical Treatment to Spiritual Science

1 The Preconditions of a Scientific Culture of Afterlife Research

2 Franz Anton Mesmer's Animal Magnetism

3 The Royal Commission's Experiment-Based Rejection of Animal Magnetism

4 Marquis de Puységur and the Introduction of Magnetic Somnambulism

5 Spiritual Animal Magnetism and Its Historical Antecedents

6 From Medical Treatment to Spiritual Science

Chapter 3 The "Scientific Culture of Afterlife Research" Conceptual Framework

1 A Scientific Culture

2 Near-Death Experience Research: a Case in Point

3 The Scientific Culture of Afterlife Research

3.1 The Primary Problem: the Limits of Empirical Research

3.2 The Primary Solution: the Use of Intermediaries

3.3 The Secondary Problem: the Unreliability of Intermediaries

3.4 Secondary Solutions: Processes of Experimental and Extra-Experimental Verification

3.4.1 The Process of Horizontal Verification: Comparing Testimonies

3.4.2 The Process of Vertical Verification: Testing Intermediaries

3.4.3 The Process of Experimental Regulation: Preparations and Safeguards

3.4.4 The Meta-Process of Personal Verification: Including the Audience.

3.4.5 A Complicating Case: Homological Verification

3.5 The Unsolvable Tertiary Problem: the Afterlife Researcher's Regress

4 The Role of Rhetoric in Afterlife Research

5 Conclusion: Analyzing Afterlife Research

Chapter 4 The New Spiritual Science of Louis-Alphonse Cahagnet

1 Animal Magnetism in France after 1784

2 Louis-Alphonse Cahagnet: from Simple Workman to Spiritual Researcher

3 Cahagnet's Spiritual Science

3.1 Arcanes I: Comparative Somnambulism

3.2 Arcanes II: Stricter Tests and Regulations

3.3 Sanctuaire du spiritualisme: Cahagnet's Hashish Experiences

3.4 Arcanes III and Révélations d'outre tombe: Back to Magnetic Somnambulism

4 Concluding Remarks on Cahagnet

Chapter 5 George Bush's Experiment-Based Defense of Swedenborgianism

1 Animal Magnetism in the United States of America

2 George Bush: Swedenborgian Theologian, Amateur Magnetizer

3 Bush's Experiment-Based Defense

3.1 The Conversion of Bush through Animal Magnetism

3.2 Mesmer and Swedenborg I: Interpreting Somnambulistic Abilities

3.3 Mesmer and Swedenborg II: Davis and Hauffe

3.4 Bush's Response to The Principles of Nature

4 Concluding Remarks on Bush

Chapter 6 Petrus Jacobus Siemelink's Shift from Animal Magnetism to Spiritualism

1 Animal Magnetism in the Netherlands

2 Petrus Jacobus Siemelink: Magnetic Jack-Of-All-Trades

3 The Scientific Logic of Siemelink: Consistency in Change

3.1 Magnetismus: the Experimental Promise of Animal Magnetism

3.2 De eeuwigheid onthuld: Shifting Scientific Rhetoric

3.3 Geest-openbaringen: from Animal Magnetism to Spiritualism

4 Concluding Remarks on Siemelink

Chapter 7 Comparing Cahagnet, Bush, and Siemelink

1 The Problem of Empirical Limits in Spiritual Animal Magnetism

2 The Nature of the Unreliability of Intermediaries.

3 The Various Ways to Include the Audience

4 Concluding Remarks on the Comparisons

Chapter 8 Afterlife Research beyond Spiritual Animal Magnetism

1 Allan Kardec's Spiritism

2 The Psychical Research of Matla and Zaalberg van Zelst

3 Near-Death Experiences: the AWARE Studies

4 Concluding Remarks on the Three Additional Case Studies

Conclusion

1 Research Questions and Answers: a Brief Recap

2 Extending Afterlife Research: New Cases and Comparisons

3 Thinking with the Conceptual Framework: Hypotheses

4 Open Questions: Future Avenues to Explore

5 Concluding the Conclusion

Bibliography

Index

Back Cover.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9789004766525

OCLC:

1611789059

Publisher Number:

10.1163/9789004766525 DOI