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Thought-Images: The Quest for Visualisation of the Mental around 1900

Goysdotter, Moa LU orcid (2012) In Ideas in History. The journal of the Nordic Society of the History of Ideas 5. p.11-26
Abstract
This article examines the ever-actual desire to visualise and materialise thought-images in a historical perspective. The interest for research into thought imagery,and of visual proof production of thoughts, coincided with the invention of the camera and culminated somewhere around 1900. Together with other scientific circumstances that appeared up to 1900, such as the experimental psychology model of the mind as an archive and the discovery of rays as an immaterial but yet scientifically proven fact, the camera became the self-evident centre to construct theories around in attempts to scientifically legitimise research into the realm of mental imagery. As a highly recognised scientific tool, a proven detector and visualiser of rays, and... (More)
This article examines the ever-actual desire to visualise and materialise thought-images in a historical perspective. The interest for research into thought imagery,and of visual proof production of thoughts, coincided with the invention of the camera and culminated somewhere around 1900. Together with other scientific circumstances that appeared up to 1900, such as the experimental psychology model of the mind as an archive and the discovery of rays as an immaterial but yet scientifically proven fact, the camera became the self-evident centre to construct theories around in attempts to scientifically legitimise research into the realm of mental imagery. As a highly recognised scientific tool, a proven detector and visualiser of rays, and a generally recognised explanatory model of the mechanism of the mind, photography became the centre in the axis mind-photography-rays, along which researchers experimented in the quest for materialisation of the mental around 1900. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to specialist publication or newspaper
publication status
published
subject
keywords
thought photography, esoterism, spirit photography, Photography, photographic history 19th century
categories
Popular Science
in
Ideas in History. The journal of the Nordic Society of the History of Ideas
volume
5
pages
11 - 26
publisher
Museum Tusculanum Press
ISSN
1890-1832
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
efdbbdcb-a67c-4c6f-972a-375f81677f4a (old id 3158265)
alternative location
http://www.mtp.hum.ku.dk/details.asp?ELN=500395
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 14:37:42
date last changed
2020-11-12 02:37:07
@misc{efdbbdcb-a67c-4c6f-972a-375f81677f4a,
  abstract     = {{This article examines the ever-actual desire to visualise and materialise thought-images in a historical perspective. The interest for research into thought imagery,and of visual proof production of thoughts, coincided with the invention of the camera and culminated somewhere around 1900. Together with other scientific circumstances that appeared up to 1900, such as the experimental psychology model of the mind as an archive and the discovery of rays as an immaterial but yet scientifically proven fact, the camera became the self-evident centre to construct theories around in attempts to scientifically legitimise research into the realm of mental imagery. As a highly recognised scientific tool, a proven detector and visualiser of rays, and a generally recognised explanatory model of the mechanism of the mind, photography became the centre in the axis mind-photography-rays, along which researchers experimented in the quest for materialisation of the mental around 1900.}},
  author       = {{Goysdotter, Moa}},
  issn         = {{1890-1832}},
  keywords     = {{thought photography; esoterism; spirit photography; Photography; photographic history 19th century}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{11--26}},
  publisher    = {{Museum Tusculanum Press}},
  series       = {{Ideas in History. The journal of the Nordic Society of the History of Ideas}},
  title        = {{Thought-Images: The Quest for Visualisation of the Mental around 1900}},
  url          = {{http://www.mtp.hum.ku.dk/details.asp?ELN=500395}},
  volume       = {{5}},
  year         = {{2012}},
}