Metapsychics

METAPSYCHICS. - From the Greek μετὰ (beyond) and ψυχή (soul); in Italian also: metapsychology, parapsychology, metagnomics, psychic research. M. can be defined as: a branch of experimental psychology whose object is psychic phenomena that are neither pathological nor even normal, but paranormal, that is, those facts which, depending in some way on the psyche of the healthy individual, are brought about according to a mechanism that is not the normal one (for example, reading a sealed envelope without the use of sight).

In order to distinguish m. adequately from experimental psychology, some authors (for example, E. Boirac, La psychologie inconnue, Paris 1912, p. 82; C. Richet, Traité de métaphysique, ibid. 1922, p. 5; R. Soudre, Introduction à la métaphysique humaine, ibid. 1926, p. 50) have assigned to the subject matter of m. the study of rare, mysterious psychic phenomena, probably due to unknown faculties, which psychologists are still unable to explain. This is not enough for anyone who reflects that, apart from their mysteriousness, metapsychic facts cannot be considered rare. In 1900, in the United States and Canada there appear to have been about ten thousand persons endowed with mediumistic faculties (E. Morselli, Psicologia e spiritismo, II, Turin 1908, p. 528 ff.), and in 1913 there were counted in the world almost seven million spiritists and 129 periodical publications on the subject (L. Roure, Lo spiritismo davanti alla scienza e alla religione, Italian trans. Milan 1921, p. 332). From 1880 to the present, 150 groups of major metapsychic experiments of the statistical type are listed, corresponding to about five million individual experimental trials; Rhine and his collaborators alone have applied the statistical method to almost a million experiments (v. CLAIRVOYANCE). On the other hand, m., with its numerous national and international societies, private and university-based, suited to promoting such studies scientifically, with its imposing literature and the very numerous men of science who devote themselves to these researches with methods of unquestioned seriousness, shows that it intends to be an autonomous doctrine and effectively assumes a specific object of work, at least from the practical point of view, which justifies its operative autonomy. Hence the definition given above.

THE PHENOMENA

The phenomena that fall within the field of m. are customarily divided into physical and psychic, with the caveat, however, that all of them possess a psychic characteristic, insofar as they occur only in the presence of a human being, always through his cooperation, conscious or otherwise. Nevertheless, among the physical ones are counted those facts which, not necessarily manifesting in themselves the psychic characteristic, could, strictly speaking, be produced also by a merely material cause, that is, a non-intelligent one (for example, the raps on the little table, on the walls, when they do not correspond to a conventional language).

Among the physical phenomena are listed: raps (knocks, noises, scratchings, percussions); telekinetic phenomena (movements of objects without apparent contact, among which the levitation of the medium or of someone among those present [F. Bottazzi with the medium Eusapia Palladino, W. Crookes, J. Ochorowicz, A. F. von Schrenck-Notzing with the mediums W. and R. Schneider, F. Grunewald with the medium A. Rasmussen, E. Osty with the medium R. Schneider, W. Crawford with the medium Goligher, H. Price with the Schneiders, etc.]); luminous phenomena (glows, phosphorescences, nebulae, flames, etc. [observed with the mediums E. Palladino, D. Home, W. Stainton Moses, S. Tomczyk, etc.]); temperature variations (in objects and in the surrounding environment, cold blasts [observed, it seems, especially the currents of cold air, with the mediums named in the preceding category]); chemical, magnetic, electrical phenomena (variations of current in a circuit, of the power of a magnet, etc. [various observations, on different phenomena, were carried out by F. Zollner, O. Murani, J. Ochorowicz, F. Grunewald, and others]); weight variations (generally of the medium, observed with balance scales or spring scales; at the end of the experiment the subject regains his normal weight [W. Crawford with the medium K. Goligher]); apport (introduction of an object into a closed place [F. Zollner with the medium H. Slade, E. Morselli with the medium E. Palladino, Oliveira Feijao with the medium d'Andrade, etc.]); apparitions of phantoms (complete or otherwise; one should bear in mind that such phenomena are not to be ascribed among the psychic ones, except in the case that the apparition acts intelligently and purposively [W. Crookes with the medium F. Cook, various experiments with the mediums E. Palladino, E. Carrière, L. Gazzera, d'Andrade, D. Home, F. Cook, Stainton Moses, Monck, Eglinton, Mad. d'Espérance, Fl. Marryat, O. Corralès, A. Collemann, Sambor, R. and W. Schneider, etc.]); ectoplasmy (by ectoplasm [etym. πλάσμα = figure, image, and εκτός = outside] must be understood a substance "sui generis", emitted by the medium, which, outside of him, assumes various forms [that is, "materializes" itself] and is, visible or not, the agent of the kinetic actions at a distance and the "quid" of which the phantoms are constituted [the mediums with whom the experiments were carried out are those of the preceding category, and many others besides; famous are the experiments with the Goligher]); ectoplasmic actions on matter (touchings of those nearby, impressions of faces and hands in plastic materials, photographs of the ectoplasm, actions of displacement, etc.).

Among the psychic phenomena: clairvoyance (v.); xenoglossy (speaking foreign languages, absolutely unknown to the subject; not, however, repeating passages from memory, because they might already have been heard by the one who recalls them, and exhumed in a subconscious manner when particular psychic states occur in the subject); changes of personality (they must not be attributable to hysteria: the new personality must manifest a content extraneous to that of the subject's normal personality [cases studied by C. Richet, H. Azam, P. Janet, W. F. Prince, Morton Prince, T. Flournoy, W. Deanna, H. Sidgwick, O. Lodge, J. H. Hyalop, etc.]); knocks and sounds having intelligent and purposive characteristics (it is not enough, in fact, that they be produced in any manner whatsoever, but it must be a question of true musical passages or of noisy actions interpretable as language by means of an agreed law; both the one and the other, evidently, must be brought about, on the part of the subject, without physical contact with the musical instruments and the things where the noises occur); automatic writing (the subject writes not by his own will and intellect, but as if he were guided by an extrinsic intelligence; it is clear that what is written must report knowledge normally impossible for the perceiver); direct voices (it is not a question of vocal noises, but of authentic speeches and words; they are called "direct" because they occur independently of the medium and of those present [mediums C. Centurione, G. Valiantine, "Margery", E. Roberts, etc.]); local infestations (paranormal facts — noises, footsteps, phantoms, lights, telekinetic actions, etc. — that occur in a particular place — house, garden, street, room, etc. — having a character of duration over time. They are ascribable to physical or psychic phenomena according to the aspect they present; often they are mixed.

CRITICAL EVALUATION

Given the aim of science to derive from facts the laws that govern them, the first necessity is to work on authentic facts; but no field, from this point of view, is as treacherous as that of m., because of the great mass of experiences which, on the other hand, offer, in general terms, a minimal certainty of authenticity, in relation to the very nature of the phenomena, which are not repeatable at will and under the same circumstances, to the mysterious and occult character of the facts, to the dilettantism of many incompetent practitioners which creates an enormous documentation, almost entirely devoid of any scientific value. On the other hand, a phenomenology so extraordinary demands greater guarantees than in the other sciences, and the facts adduced must enjoy not a subjective and private certainty, but a public and scientific one, similar to that which exists in favor of countless phenomena and laws of physics. But precisely in the field of m., exaggeration, credulity, self-interest, and trickery play an enormous role. It is enough to think of how men such as C. Richet, W. Crookes, A. F. von Schrenck-Notzing were deceived and remained convinced that no deception existed (on this aspect see especially: C. M. de Eredia, Spiritism and common sense, 2nd ed., New York 1922; A. Zacchi, Lo spiritismo e la sopravvivenza dell'anima, Rome 1922; F. M. Palmés, Metapsíquica y espiritismo, 2nd ed., Barcelona 1950).

One must not, however, fall into the exaggeration of denying everything; in fact, it seems impossible that a structure such as m. is today should be founded on nothing; one can therefore affirm a scientific certainty of a generic value, that is, relative to the whole of the paranormality of the phenomena (while it proves more difficult to verify which facts, in the categories listed above, are worthy of belief), owing to the modern methods of control, employed above all in well-equipped university laboratories.

With regard to psychic phenomena, certainly clairvoyance (v.) enjoys scientific certainty. Especially after the experiments of J. B. Rhine, every doubt seems impossible. Nevertheless, precognition leaves room for grave doubts, especially when it is a question of future events dependent on man's free will. Some facts, however, must be admitted; but their number is, up to today, so scanty as not to be able to give the required certainty. There is almost no certainty for xenoglossy and direct voices; a little more for automatic writing; still more for finalistic raps. In any case, the balance is meager.

HYPOTHESES AND THEIR EVALUATION

After such conclusions, it is easy to assess the importance of the explanatory hypotheses of the phenomena; if these, in general, are worth less than the facts, when the facts are worth so little, the hypotheses are worth almost nothing.

Among the various hypotheses put forward, the spiritualistic one is notable, according to which the phenomena, at least several of them, would be due to the discarnate souls of the dead. It is true that a certain number of facts occur, supposing them to be true, as if the agent were a deceased person. But so far it has not been possible to ascertain scientifically the identification of the cause of the phenomena with a deceased person (the proofs adduced are puerile; see, e.g.: O. Lodge, Raymond or Life and Death, London 1917); the whole question implied here will be studied in SPIRITISMO.

Another hypothesis is that the telekinetic phenomena, the raps, the materializations, etc. would depend on special energies and substances emitted by the medium's body. These are perhaps probable hypotheses; however, to this day every attempt to capture these energies and substances has proved vain. Some positive results do not withstand serious examination (the experiments of W. Crookes with F. Cook, of A. F. von Schrenck-Notzing with M. Béraud [Eva Carrière], of W. Crawford with K. Goligher, of G. Geley with Kluski, etc., afford no confidence). The matter, therefore, is still "sub judice". The phenomena of poltergeist (from the German poltern = to make a din and Geist = spirit), of the same kind as "local infestations", except that the disturbing entity has a noisy and mischievous nature, have been explained, among other things, by means of the so-called "psychometric" hypothesis (E. Bozzano), according to which the personalities of the living would leave stable "traces" in the places where they have dwelt and lived, which "traces", under special conditions and under the influence of particular psychic actions of those who afterwards came to dwell in the same place, produce objective re-evocation of a noisy and fantastic character. The hypothesis is not devoid of all foundation. Another theory (T. Zollner, G. B. Bernard), to explain above all the phenomena of apport, is that of the "fourth dimension"; according to this doctrine (abusively founded on the thought of A. Einstein) objects would be capable of penetrating into a closed place, or of leaving it, by moving according to the aforesaid fourth dimension. If one considers that this fourth dimension is time, one sees how this hypothesis is without basis; the error consists in holding the fourth dimension to be of the same nature as the three spatial dimensions. Laymen are led into error by the fact that, in mathematical formulations, time, considered only in its purely numerical metric properties, can be assimilated to the dimensions of space; but this is, as is evident, a matter of mathematical schemas far removed from the integral physical reality of things. Other explanatory hypotheses are of lesser importance (see CHIAROVEGGENZA for those relating to this phenomenon). Rather, the conclusion is that one proceeds in the dark. To this end, H. Price's book (A caccia degli spiriti, Milan 1937) makes an impression, in which the author - a most authoritative scholar of m. and president of the "National Laboratory of Psychical Research" of the University of London - summarizes his long years of experiments in a humorous yet disheartening uncertainty. Therefore it is astonishing to see how scholars of value (e.g., E. Servadio, W. Mackenzie, etc.) affirm as absolutely true phenomena for which not even a glimmer of scientific certainty exists.

MORAL EVALUATION

From the practical point of view, metapsychical experiments are to be discouraged for those who do not have serious preparation and a firm and balanced mind; in fact, the occult character of the phenomena, the apparatus within which they are claimed to be produced, the mentality of the persons who devote themselves to these experiments, can quickly lead to infatuation, fanaticism, imbalance of the organic functions, and mental disorganization. The cases, unfortunately, are numerous. Moreover, the not-excluded possibility of placing oneself, through such practices, in contact with evil spirits (demons) aggravates their illicit aspect. It is true that metapsychics falls outside the Church's decrees against spiritism and necromancy, so that for it there does not seem to be any question of a positive prohibition (unless, in fact, the experiments are identified with spiritistic practices). Nevertheless, foreseeing that the studies and, above all, the experiments of metapsychics may prove harmful to the mental equilibrium and the religious faith of the individual, they remain forbidden to him by natural and positive divine law (no one may, without just cause, endanger his own physical and spiritual health); therefore it is advisable that the faithful, before devoting themselves to metapsychical experiments, consult the ecclesiastical authority and obtain the relevant permission. It must in fact be remembered that between metapsychics and spiritism the step is a short one (v.: A. Tondi, Dottrina cattolica e m., in Ulisse, II [1948], p. 70 ff., Rome).

HISTORY

It remains only to give some brief account of the history of m. From the very dawn of humanity there has been talk of the evocation of the dead (Book of the Dead; Deut. 18:9-12; 1 Kings 28; Herodotus, I, 92; Pausanias, III, 17; Plutarch, De sera numinis vindicta, X, XVII; Cicero, Tusc., I, 8; Horace, Satires, I, 8; Pliny, Hist. nat., XL, 5; Tacitus, Annal., II, 28; Tertullian, Apol., XXIII; Lactantius, Div. instit., IV, 27; Gregory of Nazianzus, C. Julian., XCII; etc.). Necromantic practices and customs are not lacking in any time or place, among savage and civilized peoples; but modern spiritualism begins with the experiments of Mesmer and, better still, with those of the Fox sisters in Hydesville (USA, 1848). In a short time the evocation of the dead spread everywhere; yet, almost simultaneously, there were men who tried to detach these researches from the spiritualist hypothesis, in order to study them with a mind free from prejudice, seeking their objective cause, whatever it might be. Thus arose m., or scientific psychic research, and, little by little, the related private and state institutes, university or otherwise, devoted to such studies, and equipped with special experimental laboratories. One may cite: the "National Laboratory of Psychical Research" attached to the University of London; the "Laboratory of Parapsychology" of Duke University in Durham, North Carolina; the "Society for Psychical Research" of London (SRP, 1882); the "American Society for Psychical Research" (Boston 1885); the "Institut métapsychique international" (Paris 1919), the "Società italiana di m." (SIM, 1941), etc. Nevertheless, despite these Institutes and the best intentions on the part of researchers, m. even today has emerged only in small part from the sphere of vulgar empiricism and spiritualism, so that, alongside serious publications and experiments, there accumulates a mass of studies and writings without value, apt to confuse minds and to cast discredit on these researches.

Dissociation of Personality, Boston 1906; Ch. Richet, Les phénomènes dit de matérialisation de la Villa Carmen, Paris 1906; E. Bozzano, Telepatia e psicometria in rapporto alla medianità di mrs. Piper, Milan 1911; Th. Flournoy, Esprits et mediums. Mélanges de métapsychique et de psychologie, Paris 1911; E. Osty, Lucidité et intuition, ibid. 1913; E. Bozzano, Dei fenomeni premonitori, presentimenti, segni profetici, chiaroveggenza nel futuro, Rome 1914; A. F. von Schrenck-Notzing, Materialisationsphänomene. Ein Beitrag zur Erforschung der mediumistischen Teleplatie, Munich 1914 (2nd ed. 1923); W. J. Crawford, The Reality of Psychic Phenomena. Raps, Levitations, etc., London 1917; E. Bozzano, Dei fenomeni d'infestazione, Rome 1919; W. J. Crawford, Experiments in Psychical Science. Levitation, Contact, and the Direct Voice, London 1919; A. von Schrenck-Notzing, Physikalische Phänomene des Medianismus. Studien zur Erforschung der telekinetischen Vorgänge, Munich 1920; E. Bozzano, Gli enigmi della psicometria, Rome 1921; W. J. Crawford, The Psychic Structures at the Goligher Circle, London 1921; O. Lodge, Ether and Reality, London 1923; G. Geley, L'ectoplasmie et la clairvoyance, Paris 1924; A. von Schrenck-Notzing, Gesammelte Aufsätze zur Parapsychologie, Leipzig 1929; H. Price, Rudi Schneider, London 1930; C. M. de Heredia, Las fraudes espiritistas y los fenómenos metapsíquicos, Mexico 1931; A. von Schrenck-Notzing, Die Phänomene des Mediums Rudi Schneider, Berlin-Leipzig 1933; H. Prince, An account of some further experiments with Rudi Schneider, London 1933; C. H. Richet, La grande espérance, Paris 1933; E. Bozzano, Medianità poliglotta (xenoglossia), Milan 1933; E. Servadio, Un nuovo metodo di fotografia con gli infrarossi, in La ricerca psichica, ibid. 1933, p. 188 ff.; J. B. Rhine, Extra-sensory perception, Boston 1934; id., New frontiers of the mind, New York 1937; E. Bozzano, Indagini sulle manifestazioni supernormali, Città della Pieve 1940; H. Carrington, Psychologie in the light of psychic phenomena, Philadelphia 1940; J. Hettinger, Exploring the ultra-perceptive faculty, London 1941; I. Carcazo, De moderno occultismo et de scientiis occultis in Italia, Casale Monferrato 1941; E. Servadio, La ricerca psichica, Rome 1946; G. C. Barnard, Il supernormale, ibid. 1949; J. B. Rhine, I poteri dello spirito, ibid. 1949; H. Thurston, La Chiesa e lo spiritismo, Milan 1950.

Principal journals and periodical publications of m.: Annales des sciences psychiques (monthly journal founded in 1891 by Ch. Richet); Revue métapsychique (it is the continuation of the preceding journal and the official organ of the "Institut métapsychique international" of Paris); Proceedings (nearly 50 vols. published by the "Society for Psychical Research" of London); Journal of the Society for Psychical Research of London (monthly journal intended only for members); Proceedings (the first volume appeared in 1907, published by the "American Society for Psychical Research" of Boston, U.S.A.); Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research of Boston, U.S.A. (New York); La ricerca psichica (formerly "Luce e ombra", monthly journal founded in Rome in 1900; since 1932 it has been published in Milan); Zeitschrift für Parapsychologie (formerly "Psychische Studien", monthly journal founded in Berlin in 1874); Zeitschr. für metapsychische Forschung (monthly journal published in Leipzig).

Alighiero Tondi