Spiritism (German: Der Spiritismus) is an 1885 book by German philosopher Eduard von Hartmann, the author of the famous treatise Philosophy of the Unconscious. In professor Corinna Treitel's opinion, publication of this book became one of the "key events" in history of the "German occult movement." This book was "one of the first works to attempt a complete psychological explanation of all occult phenomena." According to Charles Massey, one of the founders of the Society for Psychical Research, publication of this book made the "most brutal blow" out of all ones that were ever directed against Spiritualism.
Contents of the book The general state of the question. The physical phenomena. The ideality of the manifestations. Transfigurations and materialisations. The spirit hypothesis.
Spiritism and Spiritualism At the beginning of the first chapter Hartmann explains that "the word 'Spiritism' is of French production", but the English and most part of the Germans prefer the term "Spiritualism". The author presents to use the term "Spiritualism" to denote the metaphysical point of view, which is the opposite of materialism, and the explanation of mediumistic phenomena through participation of "spirits", he offers to call by the term "Spiritism". He believes that most people, who are aspiring for Spiritism and read Spiritist journals, have no interest in a scientific study of the phenomena of mediumship, but instead seek "the confirmation of their belief in immortality". Hartmann considers a reopening of the huge field of phenomena, that were rejected in the Age of Enlightenment, as a great merit of the modern spiritistic movement. However, in his opinion, Spiritism threatens to become a public disaster in Germany, therefore the state should use its authority in order to interest scientists in a study of the spiritistic phenomena. He writes that the public has the complete right to know about these things, and since it is not able to formulate its own opinion, it only remains to wait for the conclusions drawn by the official representatives of science.
Research methodology Hartmann writes that in order to study the "abnormal phenomena of human nature" it is necessary to appeal to persons who are endowed with an abnormal organism. It should be remembered, he continues, that just as in "experiments with an electrical friction machine", there may be failures in experiments with mediums, but this should not prevent the "investigation of abnormal phenomena." He believes that the scientific study of spiritism should be based on "general methodological axioms" which can not be "transgressed with impunity."
"First, principles are not to be multiplied without necessity; thus a second sort of causes are not to be supposed, as long as a single sort will suffice. Secondly, we should as long as possible abide by causes whose existence is guaranteed by experience or indubitable inference, and should not unnecessarily catch at causes of doubtful or unproven existence, such as are to be first established by their value as hypothesis for the explanation of phenomena in question. Thirdly, we should as long as possible try to do with natural causes and not touch supernatural ones without urgent necessity. Against these three axioms Spiritism offends."
Hypothesis of hallucinations The study of "masked somnambulism," as Hartmann argues, can give an understanding of the "whole area" of mediumistic phenomena. He explains that a "universal medium must be more than autosomnambule; he must be at the same time a powerful magnetiser." In his opinion, on a spiritistic séance medium plunges itself into a state of "masked or open somnambulism." Further, such a medium-autosomnambule has hallucinations, considered by him for reality, and at the same time, he possesses a strong desire that those present should see this imaginary reality, i.e. would have the same hallucinatory ideas as he himself. Hartmann believes that "from the scientific psychological standpoint" every participator of mediumistic séance must constantly think on himself that he is under the influence of a very powerful mesmerist who aims to immerse him in masked somnambulism and thus taint him with his hallucinations.
"The mediums in their state of masked or open somnambulism have a size of nerve force, be it self-produced or extracted and accumulated by those present, as no magnetiser in his waking state has made it unfold, so surely theirs ability must with the help of this superior quantity of force to put those present in a state of open or masked somnambulism, greater than that of any magnetiser acting in the awake state." According to Hartmann, the waking will of the medium in the somnambulic state fulfills the function of a magnetiser, giving the somnambulic consciousness a certain direction in relation to emerging hallucinations. If a medium "has the hallucination" of no longer being itself but of being the "spirit of Katie King," for example, and of appearing as such, the hallucination will also be transmitted to the recipients, that the medium who emerges from the curtain really is "Katie King." He believes that materialisation is most often just a transfiguration of medium himself, because when the phantom was separating from the medium it always appeared that it was completely coming from the medium and returning to him. The hallucinatory hypothesis by Hartmann rejects the possibility of obtaining photographs on which both the medium and the materialised figure would be simultaneously placed, since hallucination can not be photographed, thus, in the opinion of its author, all such photographs are fake. For example, about a photograph taken by William Crookes, on which can be seen the medium simultaneously with the phantom, Hartmann writes that it is exposed to the strong suspicion that "instead of the supposed phantom the medium, and instead of the supposed medium the dress of the medium, stuffed with a cushion in a half-concealed position, have been photographed."
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