Abstracts
Abstract
This study examines how Boston editor and publisher Benjamin O. Flower used print culture to circulate and legitimise fringe science in the 1890s. Using evolutionary theory as a template for progress, he considered hypnotism and spiritualism – what he called “psychical research” ‒ as the natural extension of environmental meliorism from the visible to the invisible. This article examines the transatlantic dimension of the idea of a “science of mind” and how it led Flower to formulate a spiritual and materialist conception of the influence of print. It describes the rhetorical strategies, the scientific procedures and institutionalisation policies he adopted in his quest to naturalise the invisible and subject it to the purview of methodological naturalism. Finally, it explores the epistemological foundations of Flower’s redefinition of the boundaries of legitimate science.
Résumé
Cet article analyse la manière dont Benjamin O. Flower, journaliste et éditeur à Boston, usa de la culture de l’imprimé pour diffuser et légitimer la science en marge, dans les années 1890. Se saisissant de la théorie de l’évolution comme d’une matrice du progrès, il considérait l’hypnotisme et le spiritisme – ce qu’il appelait la « recherche psychique » ‒ comme le prolongement naturel, du visible à l’invisible, du méliorisme environnemental. L’article met en lumière la dimension transatlantique de l’idée d’une « science de l’esprit », et la façon dont elle conduisit Flower à formuler une conception spirituelle et matérialiste de l’influence de la culture de l’imprimé. Il décrit les stratégies rhétoriques, les procédés scientifiques et les politiques d’institutionnalisation qu’il adopta dans sa quête pour naturaliser l’invisible et le faire entrer dans le cadre du naturalisme méthodologique. Enfin, il explore les fondements épistémologiques de la redéfinition des frontières de la science que Flower appelait de ses voeux.
Appendices
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