The Emancipation of Consciousness in Nineteenth Century America

David Schmit. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 7, No.10, (2000), pp. 41-60.

Abstract

Amidst the current profusion of research on consciousness, discussions of the historic origins of the topic are frequently overlooked. At the beginning of the nineteenth-century in the West, the nature of consciousness was barely understood, nor differentiated from its esoteric and religious contexts. By the end of the century, however, novel ideas about the structure of consciousness were proposed by Janet, James, and the Society for Psychical Research. This article proposes that these discoveries were intrinsically linked to popular nineteenth century explorations of unorthodox religious experiences and trance states. Operating outside mainstream religious, medical, and academic settings, alternative spiritual and medical sub-cultures such as Mesmerism, Mind Cure, Spiritualism, Transcendentalism and Orientalism provoked scientific discourse about consciousness that advanced the field. Examining these development sheds light on the current renaissance in consciousness research and its relation to popular interest in states of consciousness, meditation and powers of mind.

Additional commentary: It took centuries for consciousness to become a topic of scientific research. The historical record shows that by the mid-nineteenth century, discourse about consciousness had increased substantially, developing in the process, properties which made it an appropriate object of scientific psychological study. The prevailing model whereby such knowledge is generated holds that it starts among elite academic groups and then “trickles down” to the general public. This article proposes that a set of advances in the understanding of consciousness began outside of the academy and “trickled up” to reach late 19th and turn-of-the century scientifically-minded investigators who used this knowledge to advance their research.