MYSTICA Anomalistics 01
The Resistance against Scientific Dogmatism - Charles Fort (1)
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“A Procession of the damned. By the damned, I mean the excluded. We shall have a procession of data that Science has excluded.” (Chapter 1, The Book of the Damned)
“The Book of the Damned” is a monumental, revolutionary endeavor that Charles Fort has established a NEW discipline, the Anomalistics. He respects raw facts that science has ignored and rejected, and calls them “the damned,” which dogmatic mainstream science and the conformist scientists have excluded. But as he shrewdly pointed out as “rhythm of Heavens and Hells,” the authority of science is fleeting, and the paradigm is shifting All the time. Remind Copernicus, Newton, Relativity, Quantum Mechanics, and the next is coming soon… This shows how our views and knowledge are narrow, partial, frivolous, and precarious.
Comparing the time span, it's unarguably clear that the history of science is incomparable to the history of the Universe, or of Nature on the Earth. Even if science didn't accept a fact as out of their boundaries, but the fact that the phenomenon exists in reality just outside of our brains. Our perception is broader than our established knowledge. And in turn, the World of phenomena is far broader than our perception. Unless the witness could be a liar, Charles Fort alone sincerely listens to thousands of their true voices, and accepts them as they are, without analyzing or ascertaining the localized Truth.
Charles Fort's Skepticism of Science
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| Pieter Bruegel the Elder - The Tower of Babel (1563) |
Charles Fort gazes at the “damned” data out of his inherent curiosity and eagerness for the truth. He alone diligently gathered thousands of reports of Unexplained Phenomena, which have been rejected and ignored by the authority of mainstream science. In fact, he confined himself in several libraries to exhume the raw “damned” data for decades. Science does NOT accept data contradictory to established theories. This is the science kingdom’s authorized boundaries, and scientists NEVER dare step out of the territory, being afraid of their fame being harmed.
Charles Fort considers science as a social mind control, a New priestly dogmatism, since science always decides what should be reasonable and excludes novelties in an authoritarian manner. Because such outsiders threaten science’s established theories so that the unmatched should be weeded out from the scientific field.
Thomas Kuhn's Paradigm
His authoritarian view of scientific dogmatism can be seen in Thomas Kuhn's concept, the Paradigm. Thomas Kuhn refers to officially recognized scientific achievements, established frameworks, and shared theories within the boundaries as the Paradigm. The paradigm defines the boundaries of scientific disciplines during a stagnant time of Normal Science.
According to Thomas Kuhn, the paradigm includes scientific methodologies, values, instruments, besides theories. When anomalies have accumulated, it causes a crisis. And the crisis leads to a revolution where a NEW framework replaces the old, and drastically changes the Scientific foundations and the worldviews. Thomas Kuhn named this sequential progression the Paradigm Shift. In this view, science is always a dynamic flow, as Charles Fort poignantly pointed out the uncertainty of science through the ages.
Thomas Kuhn's view of scientific chaotic progression towards the revolution can be parallel to the dynamism of Hegelian dialectics, and also seen in the Historical Materialism of Marx and Engels.
Metaphysical viewpoints
Charles Fort’s relativistic view of science is akin to the Structuralism of Claude Levi-Strauss’s anthropology. In view of epistemology, Charles Fort questions the foundation of scientific absolute certainty and suggests that what science calls a fact is just a current flowing theory that is transient and volatile.
And from an ontological view, he sees current temporary Truths are merely localized of the Universal, NOT a part of it, so the true Truth is ONLY the Universal. His idea of the relation between the Universal and the localized is reminiscent of Brahman and Atman in Hindu philosophy.
“Science is very much like the Civil War, in the U. S. A. No matter which side won, it would have been an American victory. By Science, I mean conventionalization of alleged knowledge. It, or maybe she, acts to maintain itself, or whatever, against further enlightenment, or alleged enlightenment but when giving in, there is not surrender, but partnership, and something that had been bitterly fought then becomes another factor in its, or her, prestige.” (Chapter 11, Lo!)
Darwinism and evolution
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| Charles Darwin (1809-1882) |
Charles Fort noted that scientific judgments of reasonableness were relative to current temporary standards, reflecting science’s internal bias.
In the history of science, Darwinism and evolution are typical specimens that passed through long, complicated shifts between suspicions and acceptances.
Catholicism as the Authority
The Catholic Church, as the authority, has distinguished between evolution and Darwinism or Neo-Darwinism. While Catholicism has accepted evolution proper as a scientific theory expounding biological change over time, it has rejected Darwinism, which is often interpreted as Materialism that excludes God from the Creation.
The Catholic Church hasn't declared an official stance on the mechanics of Creation, allowing for the theological view that God used evolution for the theoretical process to bring Life and humanity.
In the view of evolution, while the physical body might have evolved as science explains, the Catholic Church emphasizes that the human soul is created by God, and humanity has the exceptional status of Monogenism, as ALL humans are descendants of the original pair.
Consequently, the Catholic Church views science and faith as mutually complementary, and that evolution in nature is harmonious with the Creator, God, because evolution has gradually occurred since the initial Creation by God.
The authority of science is similar to the pulpit of the Catholic Church, NO matter with whatever the actual relationship between them. Charles Fort insists on the importance of condescending to “accept” the facts without, or before, interpretations.
“It is our expression that the flux between that which isn't and that which won't be, or the state that is commonly and absurdly called "existence," is a rhythm of heavens and hells: that the damned won't stay damned; that salvation only precedes perdition.” (Chapter 1, The Book of the Damned)
Intermediatism
Charles Fort’s metaphysical view is Intermediatism. He sees nothing is positive or absolute, but rather everything exists in an intermediate state of flux between realness and unrealness, like heaven and hell, salvation and perdition, and the included data and the “damned” data.
Existence is in an intermediate state, that is, neither truly real nor truly unreal. It is a "quasi-existence" or a temporary flux between two bipolar extremes. And the quasi-existence usually aims toward a positive difference.
In an intermediate state, everything is defined by relativity. Nothing is absolutely true or absolutely false. Also, the "damned" data are precariously fleeting and will be included. And conversely, the current included data won't be any more.
Furthermore, Charles Fort repeatedly insists that he founded “the one inter-continuous nexus,” which is intermediate of the Universal and the localized. The Truth is the Universal, and the localized phenomena seek the positive difference toward positiveness.
Aristotle's Golden Mean
Aristotle suggested his concept, Mesotēs (μεσότης; so-called Golden Mean), which is a principle of his virtue ethics. In terms of Mesotēs, moral excellence lies in a moderate middle ground between the two vices, excess and deficiency.
Aristotle specifically tells about virtue and ethics through Mesotēs, aiming at the Eudaimonia (εὐδαιμονία; personal happiness, well-being for Life). Having said that, the Mesotēs is NOT altogether unassociated with authoritarian science.
To practice Mesotēs, Aristotle emphasized the importance of reason as Phronesis (φρόνησις; practical wisdom). The Golden Mean can be found in rational, thoughtful decision-making, utilizing reason to determine the appropriate action at the right time. In this sense, Mesotēs means intellectual virtue. The politics of science is deeply rooted in the intellectual virtue and self-reflective, thoughtful generosity of scientists, whether they sincerely want to pursue the Truth and novelties or not.
“I conceive of one inter-continuous nexus, in which and of which all seeming things are only different expressions, but in which all things are localizations of one attempt to break away and become real things, or to establish entity or positive difference or final demarcation or unmodified independence—or personality or soul, as it is called in human phenomena—” (Chapter 1, The Book of the Damned)
Charles Fort loudly emphasizes that “we substitute acceptance for belief,” that is, it's important to condescend to accept the phenomena, real facts, without judging or interpreting, but NOT to reject or ignore them. According to his own principle, he practiced his theory in reality, listening to witnesses’ voices and gathering thousands of raw data sincerely in his Life.
His ideas foreshadowed later post-modernist critiques of science, as Charles Fort keenly pointed out, knowledge as a social construct and the provisional nature of scientific Truth. As I mentioned above, his framework of phenomena is akin to the Structuralist anthropology of Claude Levi-Strauss, which came decades later.
Charles Fort established a discipline, Anomalistics, and inspired the Fortean movement and later the Fortean Society, both of which were named after him. The organizations continue to collect and investigate unexplained phenomena and anomalous data today.
Further reading (sponsored by Amazon):
"The Complete Books of Charles Fort: The Book Of The Damned, Lo!, Wild Talents, New Lands"
(sponspred by Amazon)
Charles Fort worked for 27 years at the British Museum and the New York Public Library, gathering material on phenomena from the borderlands between science and fantasy. His research appeared in 4 books: The Book of the Damned, New Lands, Lo!, and Wild Talents, ALL of which are included in this “The Complete Books of Charles Fort”(Dover Occult series), ALL in ONE!
The Book of the Damned
New Lands
Lo!
Wild Talents
Index
First published in 1962, Thomas Kuhn's “The Structure of Scientific Revolutions” reshaped our understanding of the scientific enterprise and human inquiry in general. In “The Structure of Scientific Revolutions,” he challenged long-standing assumptions about scientific progress, arguing that transformative ideas don't arise from the gradual process of experimentation and data accumulation, but instead occur outside of "normal science." This is the monumental 50th Anniversary Edition!
Introductory Essay by Ian Hacking
Preface
1 Introduction: A Role for History
2 The Route to Normal Science
3 The Nature of Normal Science
4 Normal Science as Puzzle-solving
5 The Priority of Paradigms
6 Anomaly and the Emergence of Scientific Discoveries
7 Crisis and the Emergence of Scientific Theories
8 The Response to Crisis
9 The Nature and Necessity of Scientific Revolutions
10 Revolutions as Changes of World View
11 The Invisibility of Revolutions
12 The Resolution of Revolutions
13 Progress through Revolutions
Postscript—1969
Notes
Index
● Jim Steinmeyer (2008). Charles Fort: The Man Who Invented the Supernatural. 354 pages. Tarcher.
"Charles Fort: The Man Who Invented the Supernatural"
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“Charles Fort: The Man Who Invented the Supernatural” is the first fully rendered literary biography of Charles Fort, who, more than any other figure, would define our idea of the anomalous and paranormal! In “Charles Fort: The Man Who Invented the Supernatural,” the acclaimed historian of stage magic Jim Steinmeyer goes deeply into the life of Charles Fort.
Author’s Introduction
Epigraph
1 But the Damned Will March
2 Toddy’s Nose Bleeds So Readily
3 Littleness that Was No Longer There
4 We Wrapped the Piece of Cake to Keep Always
5 Blue Miles, Green Miles, Yellow Miles
6 We, Then a Great Famous Man
7 Anybody Could Write a True Story
8 Leaping Out of a Window, Head First
9 “To Work!” Cried Mr. Birtwhistle
10 X Exists!
11 A Battle is About to Be Fought
12 It is a Religion
13 Children Cry for It
14 The London Triangle
15 That Frog Would Be God
16 The World Has Cut Me Out—I Have Cut Myself Out
17 A Welcoming Hand to Little Frogs and Periwinkles
18 Not a Bottle of Catsup Can Fall Without Being Noted
19 Beginning Anywhere
20 Fall In! Forward! March!
Acknowledgements
Notes and Credits
INDEX
About the Author
