The Society for Psychical Research (SPR) of London was founded in 1882 with the purpose of investigating psychical phenomena, especially the theme of survival, with scientific rigour. Despite the recognized importance of the SPR for dynamic psychiatry in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, there are few studies of its epistemological contributions to the theme of survival and its implications to science. In order to fill this gap, we have consulted the main journals of the SPR in its golden period, and highlight the epistemologies of Sidgwick, Myers, James, Podmore, Schiller, Lodge and Richet. We conclude that the authors, whether for or against survival, argued in defence of an expanded science, and looked forward to understanding the complexity of human experience.
AlvaradoCS (2016) Introduction to: ‘Report of the Committee on Mediumistic Phenomena’, by William James (1886) (Classic Text No. 105). History of Psychiatry27(1): 85–100.
AlvaradoCSNahnMSommerA (2012) Notes on early interpretations of mediumship. Journal of Scientific Exploration26(4): 855–865.
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BarrettWFMyersFWH (1889) D. D. Home, his life and mission. Journal of the SPR4: 101–136.
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BeischelJZingroneLN (2015) Mental mediumship. In: CardeñaEPalmerJMarcusson-ClavertzD (eds) Parapsychology: A Handbook for the 21st Century. Jefferson, FL: MacFarland & Company Inc., 301–405.
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CardeñaE (2018) The experimental evidence for parapsychological phenomena: a review. The American Psychologist73(5): 663–677.
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CardeñaEKrippnerSLynnSJ (2014) Anomalous experiences: an integrative summary. In: CardeñaELynnSJKrippnerS (eds) Varieties of Anomalous Experience: Examining the Scientific Evidence. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 409–426.
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CardeñaELynnSJKrippnerS (2013) Varieties of Anomalous Experience (trans. MachadoFR). Washington DC: American Psychological Association; originally published in Portuguese in 2013.
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CardeñaEPalmerJMarcusson-ClavertzD (eds) (2015) Parapsychology: A Handbook for the 21st Century. Jefferson, FL: McFarland & Company.
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GauldA (2018) The Founders of Psychical Research. New York: Routledge; originally published in 1968.
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GurneyEMyersFWH (1889) On apparitions occurring soon after death. Proceedings of the SPR5: 403–485.
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GurneyEMyersFWHPodmoreF (2011) Phantasms of the Living. London: Forgotten Books; originally published in 1886.
JamesW (1909) Report on Mrs. Piper’s Hodgson-Control. Proceedings23: 2–121.
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KellyEW (ed.) (2012) Science, the Self and Survival after Death: Selected Writings of Ian Stevenson. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
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KellyEKellyEWCrabtreeAGauldAGrossoMGreysonB (2010) Irreducible Mind: Toward a Psychology for the 21st Century. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
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LodgeO (1894) On the difficulty of making crucial experiments as to the source of the extra or unusual intelligence manifested in trance-speech, automatic writing, and other states of apparent mental inactivity. Proceedings of the SPR10: 14–24.
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LodgeO (1918) Recent evidence about prevision and survival. Proceedings of the SPR29: 111–169.
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LodgeO (1924) For and against survival from the scientific point of view. Proceedings of the SPR34: 113–130.
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LodgeO (1928) On the significance of cross-correspondences. Journal of the SPR24: 151–152.
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LodgeO (1929) On the asserted difficulty of the spiritualistic hypothesis from a scientific point of view. Proceedings of the SPR38: 481–516.
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LodgeO (2016) Raymond, or Life and Death: With Examples of the Evidence for Survival of Memory and Affection after Death. Wentworth: Wentworth Press; originally published in 1916.
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LommelP (2011) Near-death experiences: the experience of the self as real and not as an illusion. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences1(1234): 19–28.
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MatlockJG (2019) Signs of Reincarnation: Exploring Beliefs, Cases and Theory. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
Moreira-AlmeidaACardeñaE (2011) Differential diagnosis between non-pathological psychotic and spiritual experiences and mental disorders: a contribution from Latin American studies to the ICD-11. Brazilian Journal of Psychiatry33(1): 21–36.
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Moreira-AlmeidaACostaMCoelhoHS (2022) Science of Life After Death. New York: Springer.
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MyersFWH (1886) A defense of phantasms of the dead. Proceedings of the SPR2: 314–357.
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MyersFWH (1890a) The gift of D. D. Home. Journal of the SPR4: 249–252.
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MyersFWH (1890b) A defence of phantasms of the dead. Proceedings of the SPR6: 314–357.
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MyersFWH (1892a) William Stainton Moses. Proceedings of the SPR8: 597–600.
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MyersFWH (1892b) On indications of continued terrene knowledge on the part of phantasms of the dead. Proceedings of the SPR8: 170–252.
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MyersFWH (1901) On the trance phenomena of Mrs. Thompson. Proceedings of the SPR17: 67–74.
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MyersFWH (2016) Human Personality and its Survival of Bodily Death. London: Forgotten Books; originally published in 1903.
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ParniaSFenwickP (2002) Near death experiences in cardiac arrest: visions of a dying brain or visions of a new science of consciousness. Resuscitation52: 5–11.
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PodmoreF (1889) Phantasms of the dead from another point of view. Proceedings of the SPR6: 229–313.
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RichetC (1899) On the conditions of certainty. Proceedings of the SPR14: 152–157.
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RichetC (1924a) For and against survival. The difficulty of survival from the scientific point of view. Proceedings of the SPR34: 107–112.
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RichetC (1924b) Metapsychic science and survival. Journal of the SPR21: 274–278.
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SchillerFCS (1901) On some philosophic assumptions in the investigation of the problem of a future life. Proceedings of the SPR15: 53–64.
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SidgwickEM (1885) Notes on the evidence, collected by the Society, for phantasms of the dead. Proceedings of the SPR3: 69–150.
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SidgwickEM (1886) Results of a personal investigation into the physical phenomena of spiritualism. Proceedings of the SPR6: 45–73.
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SidgwickEM (1921) An examination of book tests obtained in sittings with Mrs. Leonard. Proceedings of the SPR31: 242–465.
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SidgwickH (1889) The canons of evidence in psychical research. Proceedings of the SPR6: 1–6.
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SidgwickEM (1908) An incident in Mrs. Piper’s trance: being an attempt to elicit from Myers evidence of acquaintance with a circumstance in the life of Frederic Myers. Proceedings of the SPR22: 417–440.
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SidgwickEM (1918) On the development of different types of evidence for survival in the work of the Society. Proceedings of the SPR29: 245–260.
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Society for Psychical Research (1882) Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research1. London: National Press Agency.
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SommerA (2013) Crossing the boundaries of mind and body: psychical research and the origins of modern psychology. Unpublished thesis, University College London.
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SommerA (2014) Psychical research in the history and philosophy of science: an introduction and review. Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences48: 38–45.
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SudduthM (2009) Super-psi and the survivalist interpretation of mediumship. Journal of Scientific Exploration23(2): 167–193.
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SudduthM (2016) Exploring the hypothesis of personal survival. In: A Philosophical Critique of Empirical Arguments for Postmortem Survival: Palgrave Frontiers in Philosophy of Religion. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 24–46.
