The fear of simulation

Scientific authority in late 19th-century French disputes over hypnotism

Bibliographic Data

ID4392274
AuthorsKim M Hajek (0000-0002-8591-8712, The University of Queensland, corresponding author)
Year2015
Volume53
Issue3
Pages237-263
Publication date2015-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueHistory of Science (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0073-2753 • E-ISSN: 1753-8564
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0073275315580959
OpenAlexW2221014993
LanguageEN
Citations received4

This article interrogates the way/s in which rival schools studying hypnotism in late 19th-century France framed what counts as valid evidence for the purposes of science. Concern over the scientific reality of results is particularly situated in the notion of simulation (the faking of results); the respective approaches to simulation of the Salpêtrière and Nancy schools are analysed through close reading of key texts: Binet and Féré for the Salpêtrière, and Bernheim for Nancy. The article reveals a striking divergence between their scientific frames, which helps account for the bitterness of the schools' disputes. It then explores Bernheim's construction of scientific authority in more detail, for insights into the messiness entailed by theorizing hypnotism in psychical terms, while also attempting to retain scientific legitimacy. Indicative of this messiness, it is argued, is the way in which Bernheim's (apparently inconsistent) approach draws on multiple epistemic frames

Aesthetics · Divergence (linguistics) · Epistemology · Legitimacy · Linguistics · Political science · Politics · Reading (process) · Situated · Sociology · Academic and Historical Perspectives in Psychology · Historical and Scientific Studies · Law · Philosophy · Philosophy, Science, and History

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