Scientificisation and aestheticisation of 'esotericism' in the long 19th century

Summary

The project aims to understand esoteric paradigms no longer as pseudo-religious marginal phenomena, but as manifestations of epistemic forms in the midst of the knowledge cultures of modernity. The historical focus is on the "long 19th century", i.e. on a period from the late 18th to the early 20th century, which can—cautiously and generally—be described as the unfolding of 'modernity' in the sciences and arts. This kind of contextualisation means understanding esoteric paradigms as variable forms and functions of open and changing programmes and cultures of knowledge. Self-descriptions such as 'modernisation' or 'secularisation' thus become readable as dynamics of a multi-layered and heterogeneous historical dispositive, of which the paradigms that have been called 'esotericism' (ésotérisme, esotericism) or 'occultism' since the 19th century are an integral part.
Specifically, it is about the emergence of 'occultism' and 'esotericism' in the course of two transformations that characterise the 19th century: on the one hand, the scientification, and on the other, the aestheticisation of knowledge. On the basis of these key terms, which designate both historical processes and discursive strategies, two fundamental functionalisations of esoteric paradigms can be identified. Firstly, the eminent claim to knowledge and, based on this, the special efforts towards scientification, exemplified in modern occultism, are fundamental. Secondly, esoteric paradigms participate significantly in the development of new, partly avant-garde art forms, whereby in the horizon of new techniques, new written, visual and sound media are also used, which share and reinforce the epistemological claim of the construction, representation and communication of the occult.
By placing modern paradigms of esotericism in the context of the history of knowledge and culture of the long 19th century, common narratives of modernisation become re-readable: on the one hand, (ultimately ahistorical) dichotomies such as rational/irrational, secular/religious, scientific/unscientific, faith/knowledge, which are supposed to demarcate "esoteric" half-knowledge from "hard" facts, dissolve in more complex historical constellations, allowing for a much more differentiated picture of modernisation. On the other hand, the fundamental function of esoteric paradigms in scientific, aesthetic and cultural transformation processes of the 19th century is illuminated.

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