The major works of Nathaniel Hawthorne include a number of recurring references which appear to be linked with one another. There is mention of electric rings, glavanism, sympathies between people, somnambulism, gold chains and amulets, mesmerism, and much more. Some of the characters Hawthorne created have a strange power or control over others. There are numerous references to mediums and trances. In addition one finds a recurring theme in Hawthorne's major works--man's search for universal order and harmony. A close examination of these related elements shows them to have a common denominator in mesmerism.A review of American culture and thought prevelant during the first half of the nineteenth century reveals a people nearly obsessed with the idea of mesmerism. That obsession is'-reflected in four little-know tales written by one of Hawthorne's contemporaries, Edgar Allan Poe. In these tales--"A Tale of the Ragged Mountains, "Mesmeric Revelation," "Some Words with a Mummy," and "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar"-- Poe's focus is directly on the various aspects and variations of mesmerism. These four tales by Poe provide ample evidence that mesmerism and the various ideas and concepts associated with it were well known to Americans of the mid 1800's. It is reasonable to assume, then, that Nathaniel Hawthorne also had some knowledge of mesmerism. An examination of his works, in fact, clearly supports that assumption. Hawthorne, however, unlike Poe, did not deal directly with the subject of mesmerism. In his writings Hawthorne made practical use of the trappings and tenets of mesmerism. In the artistry of at least four of his works--The Scarlet Letter, The House of the Seven Gables, The Blithedale Rommance, and The Marble Faun--Hawthorne appears to have utilized mesmeric ideas and concepts in a supportive role.In this paper the previously mentioned literary works by Edgar Allan Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne will be closely examined. The critical analysis of these works presented here is different from other analyses of the same works by Poe and Hawthorne in that it concentrates on the element of mesmerism. Poe, a popular writer of his day, dealt directly with the subject of mesmerism, and his works provide evidence of the knowledge the American people had of mesmerism by the 1840's. The central focus of the paper will be to prove that Hawthorne, unlike Poe, made use of the various tenets and trappings of mesmerism to delineate character and to develop plot.Though an extremely complex philosophy, in brief, mesmerism deals with the relationship between man and his universe as well as between man and his fellow man. A detailed discussion of the origin and development of mesmerism is presented in chapters two, three and four. As a philosophy, mesmerism is based on the idea presented by Franz Anton Mesmer in his doctoral dissertation: the entire universe is connected by a force consisting of tiny particles or an electrically charged fluid which emanates from the planets. Mesmer named this force gravitas universalis. The ebb and flow of this universal force is what relates all elements in the universe, including man, to one another. When one is in harmony with this universal fluid, peace and health prevail. If one is not in harmony with the forces of the universe, however, physical or mental illness follows.This basic philosophy of mesmerism is in many ways identical to Nathaniel Hawthorne's conception of sin as it relates to the good and virtuous life. Hawthorne believed that to be at peace, man must establish a true and meaningful relationship with some other person. Such a relationship was prevented by sin, and the worst sin was to seek the lack of love in others or to disallow love to enter one's own heart. Sin for Hawthorne, then, indicated that man was out of tune with the forces of the universe. Hawthorne combined his concept of sin with the philosophy of mesmerism to form the basis for a writing device. The analysis of Hawthorne's works reveals elements of mesmerism intricately woven into the fabric of his writing, leaving little doubt that Hawthorne made deliberate use of mesmerism to delineate character and to develop plot.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Boston University / This dissertation is a prolegomenon to the study of (1) the early philosophy of Horatio Willis Dresser (1866-1954) as it relates to New Thought and (2) the philosophical foundations of New Thought as they relate to Dresser. New Thought is a philosophical-religious movement which originated in the United States in the nineteenth century. While it seeks to provide a complete approach to life, its primary field of emphasis has been healing by nonphysical means. New Thought's background is provided by the ancient tradition tradition of religious healing, American philosophy largely of the nineteenth century, and speculation inspired by phenomena produced by mesmerism, also known as animal magnetism [TRUNCATED]

Fundação Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro / Este trabalho procura discutir o modo como os fenômenos sobrenaturais foram apropriados, pela ciência, no século XIX. A teoria do magnetismo animal, criada por Mesmer, com suas variadas interpretações por várias gerações de discípulos; a construção da teoria da hipnose, com a codificação da histeria abrindo definitivamente as portas das censuras acadêmicas; e a teoria da dissociação, criada no final daquele século, demonstram diferentes explicações fisicalistas que, muitas vezes, serviram para estabelecer distâncias entre um saber popular e o conhecimento de elites profissionais. A construção do cérebro possuído, no século XIX, apoiada na nosologia da histeria, codificada pela Escola de Salpêtrière, refletiu uma importante transformação social da época, em um processo de laicização da assistência pública, fundamental para a afirmação da psiquiatria como disciplina nascente. Atualmente, a codificação de fenômenos complexos, como transe e possessão espiritual que povoam a imaginação ou a superstição popular, ganha o estatuto de entidade nosológica, a partir das classificações diagnósticas oficiais da psiquiatria hegemônica. O cérebro será quase sempre a referência utilizada na esperança de naturalização do sobrenatural. / This study discusses the way supernatural phenomena were enfolded by science in nineteenth century. The theory of magnetism, created by Mesmer, and its different interpretations by generations of disciples; the theory of hypnosis with hysteria codification, opening the academic censure; and the dissociation theory, created at the end of the nineteenth century, had demonstrated different efforts of finding physicals explanations, which served, in most cases, to establish distances between folk knowledge and elites of professional knowledge. The construction of the possessed brain, in nineteenth century, based on the hysteria nosology of Salpêtrière School, reflected an important social transformation, at that time, in a laicization process of public assistance, and an affirmation of psychiatry as a nascent discipline. Nowadays, the codification of complex mental states as trance, spiritual possession, which inhabit superstitious and popular imagination, receive a nosologic entity status from official diagnostic classification in psychiatry. Brain is mostly the reference used in the hope of supernatural naturalization.

Fundação Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro / Este trabalho procura discutir o modo como os fenômenos sobrenaturais foram apropriados, pela ciência, no século XIX. A teoria do magnetismo animal, criada por Mesmer, com suas variadas interpretações por várias gerações de discípulos; a construção da teoria da hipnose, com a codificação da histeria abrindo definitivamente as portas das censuras acadêmicas; e a teoria da dissociação, criada no final daquele século, demonstram diferentes explicações fisicalistas que, muitas vezes, serviram para estabelecer distâncias entre um saber popular e o conhecimento de elites profissionais. A construção do cérebro possuído, no século XIX, apoiada na nosologia da histeria, codificada pela Escola de Salpêtrière, refletiu uma importante transformação social da época, em um processo de laicização da assistência pública, fundamental para a afirmação da psiquiatria como disciplina nascente. Atualmente, a codificação de fenômenos complexos, como transe e possessão espiritual que povoam a imaginação ou a superstição popular, ganha o estatuto de entidade nosológica, a partir das classificações diagnósticas oficiais da psiquiatria hegemônica. O cérebro será quase sempre a referência utilizada na esperança de naturalização do sobrenatural. / This study discusses the way supernatural phenomena were enfolded by science in nineteenth century. The theory of magnetism, created by Mesmer, and its different interpretations by generations of disciples; the theory of hypnosis with hysteria codification, opening the academic censure; and the dissociation theory, created at the end of the nineteenth century, had demonstrated different efforts of finding physicals explanations, which served, in most cases, to establish distances between folk knowledge and elites of professional knowledge. The construction of the possessed brain, in nineteenth century, based on the hysteria nosology of Salpêtrière School, reflected an important social transformation, at that time, in a laicization process of public assistance, and an affirmation of psychiatry as a nascent discipline. Nowadays, the codification of complex mental states as trance, spiritual possession, which inhabit superstitious and popular imagination, receive a nosologic entity status from official diagnostic classification in psychiatry. Brain is mostly the reference used in the hope of supernatural naturalization.

No description available.

Univ., Diss.--Genf, 2006. / Literaturverz. S. 383 - 406.

This diploma thesis has the goal of providing the broadest possible acquaintance with the phenomenon of suggestion. It covers various findings regarding the topic of suggestion, across both history and expertise. The author chose this approach to best encompass the multidimensional phenomenon of suggestion. That is why this thesis includes an overview of commonly used, but often misinterpreted terms, explanations of the basic principles of suggestion and the broadness of their use, a historical and geographical excursion regarding the phenomenon, and pointing out suggestion in everyday life. The first to do so in Czech language, the author dissects the cycle of suggestion, as presented by James Rolph, in great detail. To create the cycle of suggestion, manipulation and tricks have been, are being, and will be used. These tactics are close to impossible to track for the academic community, and the therapeutic community should stay far away from employing them. The author also holds a firm stance that hypnosis is just a construct - hypnosis does not exist as a unique state. This stance is supported by the lack of physiological manifestations, which would be exclusive to hypnosis, as well as current neuroscientific findings. Related to this, the author examines the controversial state vs. non-state...

Le protestantisme fut longtemps considéré dans l’historiographie comme le vecteur et le ferment principal des évolutions sociales et culturelles ayant accompagné l’entrée des États-Unis dans la modernité. Dans ce récit, le déisme ne constituait guère qu’un courant éphémère à l’influence mineure, voué à un inéluctable déclin. À rebours du postulat historiographique selon lequel le déisme aurait disparu au tournant des XVIIIe et XIXe siècles aux États-Unis, cette étude se propose de mettre en évidence les manières dont se transforme et se reconfigure la pensée déiste entre 1794 et 1887. À travers l’analyse de trois mouvements que sont le mesmérisme, les communautés utopiques et le spiritualisme, l’enjeu est de revisiter l’historicité du déisme américain et de ce que nous nommons ses avatars afin d’en proposer une nouvelle généalogie et de mieux cerner les sources auxquelles va puiser l’engouement actuel pour les formes de spiritualité non religieuses. Ces mouvements ne sont pas les répliques exactes du déisme mais constituent autant d’espaces propices à la perpétuation de certains principes centraux de la pensée déiste ainsi qu’à leur métabolisation. Outre qu’ils furent accusés de promouvoir l’infidélité et d’encourager l’irréligion, les avatars du déisme considérés ici ont en commun un attachement profond à l’exercice de la raison, une aversion pour les appareils ecclésiastiques et les injonctions normatives en matière politique, sociale, économique ou sexuelle ainsi qu’un scepticisme envers les manifestations surnaturelles et les vérités révélées. Ils portent, ainsi, la promesse d’une régénération du corps biologique comme du corps social et font valoir une spiritualité hors du champ des religions instituées, proche d’une forme de religion naturelle. Au croisement de la science et de la religion, ces mouvements révèlent in fine une évolution du déisme vers une spiritualité composite que nous avons pu qualifier de panenthéiste. / Scholars of American religious history have long argued that the United States channeled and developed the social and cultural forces associated with modernity through the medium of Christianity, and more specifically evangelical Protestantism. In this narrative, deism was considered a fleeting phenomenon, which had naturally disappeared at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries. This dissertation invalidates this assertion and examines how deism remained alive while being refashioned between 1794 and 1887. Reappraising mesmerism, utopian communities and spiritualism as avatars of deism allows us to reconsider the genealogy of deist freethought and shed light on the historical influences that contributed to the forging of “spiritual but not religious” systems of belief that are on the rise in the United States nowadays. These movements cannot be considered as exact duplicates of deism ; they provide rather a favorable environment for the continuation and assimilation of central deist tenets. Besides the fact they were accused of promoting infidelity and encouraging unbelief, the avatars of deism share a strong commitment to the concept of reason, a detestation of religious authorities, social, political, economic and sexual prescriptive norms, as well as skepticism towards supernaturalism and revelation. Their members aspire to a regeneration of the social and biological body and defend a non-theological approach to spirituality, akin to a form of natural religion. At the intersection of science and religion, these movements eventually reveal an evolution of deism toward a composite, panentheistic spirituality.

Submitted by Filipe dos Santos (fsantos@pucsp.br) on 2017-05-12T13:15:11Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Cibele Pereira Agibert.pdf: 1679691 bytes, checksum: 58ba05c0ad24187b3939012c3d0ddedb (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-05-12T13:15:11Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Cibele Pereira Agibert.pdf: 1679691 bytes, checksum: 58ba05c0ad24187b3939012c3d0ddedb (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-03-17 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / Fundação São Paulo - FUNDASP / This thesis deals with an analysis of tales “The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar” (1845), “Mesmeric Revelation,” (1844) and “A Tale of the Ragged Mountains” (1844) written by Edgar Allan Poe ( 1809-1849), mainly some related to the mesmerism between 18th and 19th centuries. This thesis contains of an introduction and three chapters. Chapter 1 presents Franz Anton Mesmer (1734-1815) and a therapeutic procedures on mesmerism as well as passes, magnets, wands, baquet, magnetized water, and magnetization of animals, trees, objects are used for treatment of diseases. As well as, the followers of Mesmer, as, A.M.J.C.Puységur (1751-1825), J.P.F.Deleuze (1755-1835), Du Potet (1796-1881). Chapter 2 is based on mesmerism, and trance, induced somnambulism, as methods and experiments adopted by magnetists Charles Poyen (?-1844), John Elliotson (1791-1868), James Esdaile (1808-1859), Robert H. Collyer (1814-1891) that used these resources for surgical procedures, mesmeric analgesia. Chapter 3 presents the author Edgar Allan Poe through of mesmeric tales, in view of dialogues of characters Valdemar and Vankirk have suffered from tuberculosis, and Bedloe is subject to severe bouts of neuralgia, and submitted to mesmeric sleep, by physicians Dr. Templeton Dr. P., Dr. D. e Dr. F. e M. P, e Mr. Theodore L., to meet these practices. Likewise, there were authors have used this therapeutic as, Dumas, Balzac, Victor Hugo, Thomas de Quincey, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, in the sense, scholars such as, Harriet Martineau, Chauncy Hare Townshend. Therefore, final remarks on the mesmeric tales related to the medicine. These short stories display a focus of scientific subjects, as mesmerism, diseases, somnambulism, and passes / Esta tese analisa os contos “O Caso do Sr. Valdemar” (1845), “Revelação Mesmeriana” (1844), e “Uma Estória das Montanhas Ragged” (1844) de Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849), abordando aspectos do mesmerismo entre os séculos XVIII e XIX. Esta tese é constituída de uma introdução e mais três capítulos. O Capítulo 1 apresenta um contexto acerca da terapêutica do mesmerismo por Franz Anton Mesmer (1734-1815), as técnicas utilizadas, como passes magnetos, varinhas, baquet, água magnetizada para o tratamento de doenças, e a magnetização de animais, árvores e objetos. E os seguidores da sua doutrina, como, A.M.J.C.Puységur (1751-1825), J.P.F.Deleuze (1755-1835), Du Potet (1796-1881). O Capítulo 2 está embasado nos desdobramentos do mesmerismo em função do sonambulismo induzido, analgeisa mesmérica, sendo adotados por alguns magnetizadores da época, como Charles Poyen (?-1844), John Elliotson (1791-1868), James Esdaile (1808-1859), Robert H. Collyer (1814-1891) que empregavam esses recursos para intervenções cirúrgicas. O Capítulo 3 apresenta o autor, Edgar Allan Poe, por meio dos contos mesméricos, tendo em vista os relatos dos personagens Valdemar, Vankirk, que padeciam de tuberculose, e Bedloe, que sofria de nevralgia, sendo submetidos ao estado de transe pelos médicos Templeton, Dr. P., Dr. D., Dr. F., M. P. e Theodore L., que vão ao encontro dessas práticas. Além disso, algumas pessoas influentes que fizeram uso dessa terapêutica, no caso, Dumas, Balzac, Victor Hugo, Thomas de Quincey, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Harriet Martineau, e Chauncy Hare Townshend. Finalmente, as considerações finais acerca do mesmerismo, e dos contos mesméricos que abordam em face da medicina, as doenças, o sonambulismo, e os passes

The sense of agency is the experience of being the initiator of our intentional actions and their outcomes. According to higher order thought theory, a representation becomes conscious when there is a higher order state about it. Thus conscious experience, including that of intentions, is metacognitive. The experience of involuntariness characteristic of hypnotic responding may be attributable to the formation and maintenance of inaccurate metacognitive higher order states of intending. Conversely, the practice of Buddhist mindfulness meditation may develop accurate metacognition, including higher order states of intending. Highly hypnotisable people and mindfulness meditators may therefore occupy two ends of a spectrum of metacognitive ability with regard to unconscious intentions. The presented research investigated predicted trait differences in cognitive tasks which directly or indirectly reflect metacognition of intentions: the timing of an experience of an intention to move and the compressed time interval between a voluntary action and its outcome, known as intentional binding. As an implicit measure of sense of agency, intentional binding was also employed to investigate the veridicality of reports of the experience of involuntariness in hypnotic responding. Additionally, while hypnosis presents a unique opportunity to investigate reliable changes in agentic experience, existing hypnosis screening instruments are time consuming and present a barrier to wider adoption of hypnosis as an instrument for studying consciousness. Here a revised, time-efficient hypnosis screening procedure (the SWASH) is presented. Consistent with predictions, highly hypnotisable groups reported later awareness of motor intentions than less hypnotisable groups and meditators earlier awareness than non-meditators. In an intentional binding task, high hypnotisables showed less binding of an action-outcome toward an action (outcome binding) than low hypnotisables and meditators more outcome binding than non-meditators. Outcome binding was reduced in post-hypnotic involuntary action compared to voluntary action. It is proposed that intentional binding is driven by a cue combination mechanism and that these differences reflect varying precision of motor intention related information in reported timing judgements. The SWASH was found to be a reliable hypnosis screening instrument.