Anthropological ideas of Carl Du Prel and its Reception by Russian Spiritualists in the Late 19th – Early 20th Century
https://doi.org/10.28995/2658-4158-2020-4-58-68
Abstract
The article addresses the core anthropological concepts of Carl Du Prel’s philosophy and explores the significance of those concepts for the Russian spiritualism of the late 19th – early 20th century. The Du Prel’s theory built up upon the concept of Duality of the Human Being. Du Prel insisted on simultaneous co-existence of two subjects – one pertaining to the sensible world and the other related to the extrasensory (‘the transcendental subject’) – that are divided by the ‘perception threshold’. He argued that in dormant and somnambular state the threshold would shift and thus enable the Transcendental Subject to act in the Extrasensory World. Du Prel believed that the human evolution is not over yet. He suggested that one could estimate what the new form of the human life would be judging by the conditions in which the transcendental subject comes out. Like many other spiritualists, Du Prel foretold the upcoming dawn of a new era where the boundary between science and religion on the one part and the Sensible and Extrasensory World on the other part will vanish. Anthropological doctrine of Du Prel correlated well with the views on the future human being held by the Russian spiritualists, and therefore he became one of the most reputable authors for them.
About the Author
Т. V. Spirin
Russian State University for the Humanities
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Tikhon V. Spirin, master of religious studies
bld. 6, Miusskaya Sq., Moscow, 125993
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Review
For citations:
Spirin Т.V. Anthropological ideas of Carl Du Prel and its Reception by Russian Spiritualists in the Late 19th – Early 20th Century. Studia Religiosa Rossica: Russian Journal of Religion. 2020;(4):58-68. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.28995/2658-4158-2020-4-58-68
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