Abstract
The popular view of the inherent conflict between science and the occult has been rendered obsolete by recent advances in the history of science. Yet, these historiographical revisions have gone unnoticed in the public understanding of science and public education at large. Particularly, reconstructions of the formation of modern psychology and its links to psychical research can show that the standard view of the latter as motivated by metaphysical bias fails to stand up to scrutiny. After highlighting certain basic methodological maxims shared by psychotherapists and historians, I will try to counterbalance simplistic claims of a ‘need to believe’ as a precondition of scientific open-mindedness regarding the occurrence of parapsychological phenomena by discussing instances revealing a presumably widespread ‘will to disbelieve’ in the occult. I shall argue that generalized psychological explanations are only helpful in our understanding of history if we apply them in a symmetrical manner.
Highlights
The popular view of the inherent conflict between science and the occult has been rendered obsolete by recent advances in the history of science
For our job is no longer to justify the present by limiting reconstructions of the past through compatibilities with today’s epistemological and metaphysical standards, but to faithfully resurrect the past by doing our best to obtain a thorough understanding of sentiments and existential categories that were at the disposal of the individuals whose ways of being in the world we aim to investigate
There has been a wide spectrum of reasons for unorthodox beliefs over time, which psychologists are yet wont to ignore and sweepingly explain in terms of cognitive biases
Summary
The popular view of the inherent conflict between science and the occult has been rendered obsolete by recent advances in the history of science. These historiographical revisions have gone unnoticed in the public understanding of science and public education at large. Anmerkungen zur Psychologie des Glaubens in der Geschichte der Wissenschaft und des Okkulten. Insbesondere die Rekonstruktion der Genese der modernen Psychologie und ihren Verbindungen zu parapsychologischen Forschungen zeigen, dass sich letztere nicht einfach als Ausdruck von metaphysischer Voreingenommenheit verstehen lassen. Notas en la psicología de las creencias en historias acerca de la ciencia y lo oculto. En este artículo discuto ejemplos de una ‘’voluntad de incredulidad’’ para contrabalancear las demandas simplistas de una ‘’necesidad de creer’’ como precondición de una apertura científica de la mente en relación con la incidencia de fenómenos parapsicológicos, y sugiero que las explicaciones psicológicas generalizadas son útiles solamente en nuestra comprensión de la historia si las aplicamos de manera simétrica
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