Keeping in Touch: An Anthology of the Victorian SeanceMain MenuIntroductionFurther ReadingI - Spiritualism and Its BelieversII - Ambivalent SkepticsIII - Scoffers and FraudsIV - The Private SeanceV - The Public SeanceWork CitedMegan Brueningb3bbdc9bd1941527cc9ff27849ef1a643abdd7d3
The Evidences of Spiritualism
12016-11-23T12:54:50-05:00Megan Brueningb3bbdc9bd1941527cc9ff27849ef1a643abdd7d3717plain2016-12-16T20:58:55-05:00Megan Brueningb3bbdc9bd1941527cc9ff27849ef1a643abdd7d3Written by F. H. Bradley, “The Evidences of Spiritualism” appeared in the Fornightly Review in 1885. Seeking to defend spiritualism, Bradley attempts to clear up common misconceptions of spiritualist doctrine by comparing spiritualism to materialism (he very broadly and vaguely defines materialism as a philosophical belief that requires human matter as proof of existence). Tromp accurately states that one effect of spiritualism (and of séances) “was to call into question the stability of the categories spiritual and material” (67). Bradley, while distinguishing between materialism and spiritualism as philosophies, he also explains how the two are genealogically connected in history. This text provides an excellent example of how thoroughly spiritualists sought to prove their beliefs through philosophical reasoning and in this case, to reconcile these beliefs with more established/traditional forms of discourse.
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12016-11-23T13:01:27-05:00Megan Brueningb3bbdc9bd1941527cc9ff27849ef1a643abdd7d3I - Spiritualism and Its BelieversMegan Bruening2plain2016-11-23T13:16:24-05:00Megan Brueningb3bbdc9bd1941527cc9ff27849ef1a643abdd7d3