the problem of disenchantment suny series in western esoteric traditions David Appelbaum, editor THE PROBLEM OF DISENCHANTMENT Scientific Naturalism and Esoteric Discourse, 1900–1939 EGIL ASPREM Cover art: Mike Crowle, Reclaimed by Nature, photograph Published by State University of New York Press, Albany © 2014 Koninklijke Brill nv, Leiden, The Netherlands All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher. For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY www.sunypress.edu Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Asprem, Egil, author. Title: The problem of disenchantment : scientific naturalism and esoteric discourse, 1900-1939 / by Egil Asprem. Description: Albany, NY : State University of New York, 2018. | Originally published: Leiden ; Boston : Brill, 2014. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2017032617 | ISBN 9781438469928 (paperback : alk paper) | 9781438469942 (e-book) Subjects: LCSH: Religion. | Science. | Occultism. Classification: LCC BF1999 .A69 2018 | DDC 001.9--dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/201703261 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 A time will come when it will appear that the Egyptians paid respect to divinity with faithful mind and painstaking rev- erence—to no purpose. All their holy worship will be disap- pointed and perish without effect, for divinity will return from earth to heaven, and Egypt will be abandoned. [. . .] O Egypt, Egypt, of your reverent deeds only stories will survive, and they will be incredible to your children! Only words cut in stone will survive to tell your faithful works [. . .]. For divinity goes back to heaven, and all the people will die, deserted, as Egypt will be widowed and deserted by god and human. — asclepius, 24 CONTENTS list of figures / ix acknowledgments / xi introduction The Limits of Reason / 1 part 1 From Process to Problem chapter 1 From Process to Problem / 17 chapter 2 Science as Worldview / 49 part 2 New Natural Theologies chapter 3 Brave New World: An Introduction to Part Two / 91 chapter 4 Physical Science in a Modern Mode / 99 chapter 5 The Meaning of Life: Mechanism and Purpose in the Sciences of Life and Mind / 149 chapter 6 Five Schools of Natural Theology: Reconciling Science and Religion / 199 part 3 Laboratories of Enchantment chapter 7 Against Agnosticism: Psychical Research and the Naturalisation of the Supernatural / 289 vii viii / contents chapter 8 Laboratories of Enchantment: Parapsychology in Search of a Paradigm / 317 chapter 9 Professionals Out of the Ordinary: How Parapsychology Became a University Discipline / 375 part 4 Esoteric Epistemologies chapter 10 Esoteric Epistemologies / 417 chapter 11 The Problems of a Gnostic Science: The Case of Theosophy’s Occult Chemistry / 447 chapter 12 Perceiving Higher Worlds: Two Perspectives / 485 conclusion Implications for the Study of Science, Religion, and Esotericism / 539 bibliography / 567 index of names / 623 index of subjects / 631 FIGURES table 1.1 Three dimensions of the “disenchanted condition” / 35 table 2.1 Cartesian and Batesonian worldviews according to Berman / 58 table 2.2 Naturalism—supernaturalism continuum / 76 table 2.3 The blind spot of disenchantment / 79 figure 4.1 Three levels of scientific interpretation / 134 figure 5.1 Mendel’s law of heredity / 187 figure 5.2 Evolutionary positions mapped onto three dimensions / 197 figure 6.1 Cosmic teleology in Samuel Alexander’s system / 238 table 7.1 Naturalization strategies in psychical research / 309 figure 8.1 Warcollier's interpretation of the disturbed telepathic signal / 352 figure 9.1 Chain of discourses linking psychical research with eugenics / 395 figure 11.1 Representations of non-visual entities in physics / 460 figure 11.2 “Occult” representations of hydrogen on five levels of materiality / 465 figure 11.3 The ultimate physical atom / 473 ix