Parapsychology on the crossroads of scientific research, social inquiry, and public media: A comparative study from an international and transnational perspective (1930s to 1980s)

本研究项目以国际比较视角，以超心理学为例，探讨20世纪社会话语与子系统的相互作用及其学科的形成过程。科学与社会之间的相互作用，以及学科形成的条件，在对这一广泛争议的、非霸权的学术学科的研究中变得尤为明显，这一学科偶尔会经历强烈的公众兴趣。该项目的第一阶段探索了德国的超心理学，调查了在整个学科形成过程中，学术和社会环境之间的关系是如何明显的。第一篇论文的重点是汉斯·本德（1907-1991），他于1950年在弗莱堡建立了心理学和心理健康前沿领域研究所，自1954年以来，他是德国该领域的第一位也是唯一一位教授。该项目从三个角度来处理其研究问题，从科学史和媒体史，以及地方和城市历史。项目第一阶段的实证和分析结果产生了一些问题，揭示了民族特征之间的异同，这与超心理学作为一门学科的基础有关。因此，建议的第二阶段将旨在调查不同国家的学科形成过程，从比较的角度探讨和检查各种学术制度框架，社会相关性和（大众）媒体公共领域，从而也揭示和重建相互关系和交叉。因此，分析将集中在五个案例上：德国（弗赖堡/Br.）、法国（巴黎）、英国（爱丁堡）、荷兰（乌得勒支）和美国（达勒姆），时间跨度为20世纪30年代至80年代。本项目旨在促进科学史和知识历史的研究，知识历史是一个广泛的概念，本项目将侧重于知识的生产、接受和流通机制。它还借鉴了科学社会学中的方法，特别是那些背景科学和边界工作的方法。该项目结合了比较和转移历史的方法。在概念层面上，它将深入的档案研究与其他研究的评估相结合。最后，第二阶段的目标是撰写专著，以超心理学为例，从跨文化的角度审视非霸权知识和霸权知识之间的关系。

With an international comparative perspective, using the example of parapsychology, this research project explores the process of forming an academic discipline and the interplay between societal discourse and subsystems in the 20th century. Both the interactions between science and society, as well as the conditions of discipline formation become particularly evident in the examination of this widely contested, non-hegemonial academic discipline, which experienced, at intervals, strong public interest. The first stage of the project explored parapsychology in Germany, investigating how the relationship between the academic and societal environment was apparent throughout the discipline's formation. The first thesis focused on Hans Bender (1907-1991), founder of the Institute for Frontier Areas of Psychology and Mental Health in Freiburg in 1950, who was the first and only professor in this field in Germany since 1954. The project approached its research questions from three angles, drawing from scientific history and media history, as well as local and urban history. The empirical and analytical results of the first project stage generated questions which revealed similarities and differences between national characteristics, relevant to the foundation of parapsychology as an academic discipline. Thus, the proposed second phase will aim to investigate the processes of discipline formation in different countries, inquiring into and examining the various academic-institutional frameworks, social relevance, and (mass) media public spheres from a comparative perspective, whereby also uncovering and reconstructing interrelationships and crossovers. Therefore, the analysis will focus on five cases: Germany (Freiburg/Br.), France (Paris), Great Britain (Edinburgh), the Netherlands (Utrecht), and the USA (Durham), in the time period between the 1930s and the 1980s. The project aspires to contribute to the study of the history of science as well as to the history of knowledge, which, being a broad notion, this project would focus on mechanisms of knowledge production, reception and circulation. It also draws on approaches within the sociology of science, particularly those of Science in Context and Boundary Work. The project combines methods of comparative and transfer history. On a conceptual level, it combines in-depth archival research with the evaluation of other research studies. Finally, the second phase aims to result in a monograph, which using the example of parapsychology, surveys the relationship between non-hegemonic and hegemonic knowledge from a cross-cultural perspective.