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

本研究以国际比较的视角，以超心理学为例，探讨了20世纪学科形成的过程以及社会话语与各子系统之间的相互作用。科学与社会之间的互动以及学科形成的条件在对这一竞争激烈的、非霸权性的学术学科的审查中变得尤为明显，它偶尔经历了强烈的公众兴趣。该项目的第一阶段探索了德国的超心理学，调查了学术和社会环境之间的关系是如何在该学科的形成过程中显现出来的。第一篇论文集中在汉斯·本德尔(1907-1991)身上，他是1950年弗莱堡心理学和心理健康前沿领域研究所的创始人，他是自1954年以来德国第一位也是唯一一位这一领域的教授。该项目从三个角度探讨其研究问题，借鉴了科学史和媒体史，以及地方和城市历史。第一个项目阶段的实证和分析结果所产生的问题揭示了民族特色之间的异同，与超心理学作为一门学科的基础有关。因此，拟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审查各种学术-机构框架、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，分析将集中于20世纪30年代至80年代期间的五个案例：德国(Freiburg/Br.)、法国(巴黎)、英国(爱丁堡)、荷兰(乌得勒支)和美国(Durham)。该项目致力于促进科学史和知识史的研究，作为一个宽泛的概念，该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，特别是在背景和边界工作中的那些方法。该项目结合了比较历史和转移历史的方法。在概念层面上，它将深入的档案研究与对其他研究的评价结合起来。最后，第二阶段旨在形成一部专著，以超心理学为例，从跨文化的角度考察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.