Empirical Spirits

Islam, Spiritism, and the Virtues of Science in Iran

Bibliographic Data

ID2108977
AuthorsAlireza Doostdar (University of Chicago, corresponding author)
Year2016
Volume58
Issue2
Pages322-349
Publication date2016-04-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueComparative Studies in Society and History (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0010-4175 • E-ISSN: 1475-2999
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0010417516000098
OpenAlexW2324517327
LanguageEN
Citations received7
References cited49

This article examines some aspects of the reception of French Spiritism and psychical research in twentieth century Iran: its promotion by Iranian modernist intellectuals before the Second World War, and its appropriation by Shi'i Muslim 'ulama in the 1940s and 1960s. Spiritism appealed to those intellectuals and scholars who sought to reconcile their commitments to science with their religious longings and dedication to moral reform. In comparing these encounters with spirit communication, I show that the adoption of putatively scientific claims in contexts that professional scientists usually disavow can be about much more than strategic appropriation and attempts to justify preexisting doctrines. They also allow us to understand science's power to mold the moral subjectivities of reformers through selective absorption into long-continuous traditions of virtue

Appropriation · Epistemology · Islam · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Promotion (chess · Social science · Sociology · Theology · Virtue · Islamic Studies and History · Law · Medieval and Classical Philosophy · Philosophy · Religious Studies and Spiritual Practices

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