From Astronomy to Transcendental Darwinism: Carl du Prel (1839–1899)

Abstract

Abstract—German philosopher Carl du Prel (1839–1899) was a leading theoretician and proponent of research into dissociation, hypothetical postmortem survival, alleged psi phenomena and related areas.  The impact of his works on several more widely known authors within and outside psychical research was often considerable.  This article provides a concise biography of du Prel, gives an overview of his model of mind, and fi nally suggests avenues of research which were pursued by du Prel but nowadays are largely forgotten.

Keywords: Carl du Prel—Eduard von Hartmann—altered states of consciousness—survival research