Schlesinger's Energeticism:From Hypnosis to an Energetic Worldview

抄録

This paper examines the emergence, culmination, and reception of Energismus (Energeticism) as developed by Josef Schlesinger, an Austrian professor of geometry and geodesy. Convinced of the validity of parapsychic phenomena such as hypnosis, in 1882, Schlesinger thought it necessary to provide scientific foundations for these phenomena, to which purpose he chose ether and substantial space as immaterial principles. His antimaterialistic disposition was evident. Schlesinger's studies in the 1880s attracted much attention from the parapsychic circle because the Psychische Studien journal disseminated his research. In 1901, Schlesinger's last work, Energismus, replaced ether with energy as the fundamental substance of the world, thereby trying to reform the natural sciences by means of energetic principles. Justifying the use of hypotheses, Energismus provides an energetic worldview including the inorganic, organic, and spiritual, where the existence of God is required as the intellectual primal energy to create natural laws. Energismus was met with varied responses. Some were enthusiastic, while others were cautious. The most severe criticisms came from philosophers, whose reviews did not fail to see Schlesinger's philosophical crudeness. Although Energismus was a unique energetic thought at the turn of the century, it was soon forgotten, even by former adherents.