Talk:Animal magnetism

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[edit] Animal magnetism exists

There is such a thing as animal magnetism beyond what is stated in this Wikipedia. I have experienced it. There is an invisible energy that flows between you and the other person that you are very attracted to and they are attracted to you. The energy is very very strong physical thing that you actually feel emanating from the other person and flowing back to them just like a circuit. You can even determine the person is in the same area even though they are somewhere behind you even if you are not looking at them or if you don't see them. It is an experience that is bordering on the occult in the sense that no one seems to be able to explain it, but before the scientific community writes this off to mere nonsense, they need to do more research. There is something to this. Other experiences similar to this are feeling as one with someone, or an experience I had in practicing Scientology wherein I and the twin I partnered with in a communication course actually felt the energy wave of the thought that I sent to them while communicating to them. The thought had an effect that the exercise was intended to result in.

There is a lot more to this than meets the eye. Just as we can't see electricity or magnetism, there is something going on. Research is needed.

We all feel a special connection to the people we love (well, so I hope!). It's not an unusual experience to feel drawn, as if by magnetism, toward a person you love. It's in your head, man. Or your heart, if you prefer. It's a feeling-- don't build it up (or, if you like, degrade it) by inventing some mysterious energy field that must be behind it. Love is weird and complicated enough.
As for using your attraction to someone to detect her, I'm dubious. It's possible to recognize a loved one from very few clues, including subliminal cues. Call it intuition, there's no need to go further than that. People can't sense each others' presence without actually *sensing* them; if there were a "sixth sense" for detecting our lovers' presence, it would be obvious to everyone and well-known in all cultures (as are the other senses). Silarius 02:07, 14 September 2006 (UTC)
That reasoning seems flawed. For example, there could exist a sixth sense which is only accessible in altered states of consciousness when input from the other senses is turned down. Most ancient/rural cultures *do* believe in some kind of "spirit" reality which can be directly sensed, perhaps because they routinely access altered states through hypnotic music, dance, psychedelic plants etc; while in modern/urban culture the combination of an educational system which promotes linguistic thought at the expense of sensitivity to feeling, and the near-constant barrage of primary sensory input, may conspire to make most people unaware of their sixth sense. Not saying I believe this but it's one possible explanation, among others. ----Ben
I think that the first person's viewpoint should be included in the article. Smith Jones 01:28, 24 September 2006 (UTC)
I disagree, Wikipedia isn't meant for opinions. ----Ben
Where does it say that in the ruelbook? Smith Jones 04:49, 4 February 2007 (UTC)
Right here. Wikipedia is not a publisher of original thought. This includes anonymous opinions about animal magnetism. Encyclopedic content needs to be verifiable and come from a reputable source. Twelvethirteen 17:33, 9 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Indescriptive

This page doesn't really describe Mesmer's theory in any meaningful way, and is rather light on other details. Suggest either merging with Franz Mesmer or pulling the explanation from that page here and expanding it? Advantage of keeping a separate page is that the phrase Animal Magnetism is in widespread use, but usually *not* referring to Mesmer's theory. This alternate meaning ought to be given more prominence.

I agree; in fact, I found this article pretty useless. This page seems to address "mesmerism", not the common colloquial usage of "animal magnetism". But the article doesn't say what that *is* at all. It mostly discusses some the two terms, and gives a few other circumstantial details. Could someone who has some idea of what this actually is please update the article to explain?

[edit] Theodore Lèger or Theodore Léger?

Although it seems that, according to 2007 French conventions, this man's family name ought to be written as Léger it clearly appears on the title page of the book Animal Magnetism: Or, Psycodunamy as Lèger.

To complicate matters even further, at various places in the book -- such as the copyright notice on the reverse of the title page -- his name appears as Leger with neither accent grave nor accent acute. His name also appears at other places (e.g., p.395) as Léger.

Therefore, until someone with greater specific knowledge than myself about this solitary individual, and the way that he chose to spell his own family name, can take a definite position on this matter, I have reverted the spelling to match that of the book's title page (Lèger) -- based on the simple assumption that (a) the man himself, having written the book, had certainly received a certain amount of education, (b) the man himself would certainly know how his family had told him to spell his name, and (c) he would most certainly ensure that his name was correct on a title page.Lindsay658 21:55, 18 April 2007 (UTC)

I have located a significant, pertinent and reliable authority to resolve the mess referred to above: Alan Gauld's A History of Hypnotism, Cambridge University Press, 1992, p.184.
Gauld specifically identifies the author as Dr. Théodore Léger (1799—1853), a pupil of J.P.F. Deleuze (1753-1835). I have adjusted the text of the article accordingly.Lindsay658 00:29, 29 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Two types of magnetism?

"Mesmer chose his term to clearly distinguish his variant of magnetic force from those which were referred to, at that time, as mineral magnetism, cosmic magnetism and planetary magnetisms."

Didn't he use magnets at least in his early therapeutic attempts? That would indicate that he didn't seek to distinguish between animal and mineral magnetism. Maikel (talk) 10:28, 25 February 2008 (UTC)