Maximilian Dessoir (8 February 1867 – 19 July 1947) was a

German philosopher German philosophy, here taken to mean either (1) philosophy in the German language or (2) philosophy by Germans, has been extremely diverse, and central to both the analytic and continental traditions in philosophy for centuries, from Gottfried ...

psychologist A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and interpretation of how indi ...

and theorist of

aesthetics Aesthetics, or esthetics, is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of beauty and taste, as well as the philosophy of art (its own area of philosophy that comes out of aesthetics). It examines aesthetic values, often expressed thr ...

Career

Dessoir was born in Berlin, into a

German Jewish The history of the Jews in Germany goes back at least to the year 321, and continued through the Early Middle Ages (5th to 10th centuries CE) and High Middle Ages (''circa'' 1000–1299 CE) when Jewish immigrants founded the Ashkenazi Jewish ...

family, his parents being Ludwig Dessoir (1810-1874), "Germany's most admired

Shakespearean William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

actor", and Ludwig's third wife Auguste Grünemeyer (died about 1924). Max earned doctorates from the universities of

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

(philosophy, 1889) and

Würzburg Würzburg (; Main-Franconian: ) is a city in the region of Franconia in the north of the German state of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the ''Regierungsbezirk'' Lower Franconia. It spans the banks of the Main River. Würzburg is ...

(medicine, 1892). He was a professor at Berlin from 1897 until 1933, when the

Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...

forbade him to teach. An associate of Pierre Janet and

Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating psychopathology, pathologies explained as originatin ...

, Dessoir published in 1890 a book on ''The Double Ego'', describing the mind as divided into two layers, each with its own associative links - its own chain of memory. He considered that the 'underconsciousness' (''Unterbewusstein'') emerged in such phenomena as dreams, hypnosis, and dual personality. His work was built on by

Otto Rank Otto Rank (; ; né Rosenfeld; 22 April 1884 – 31 October 1939) was an Austrian psychoanalyst, writer, and philosopher. Born in Vienna, he was one of Sigmund Freud's closest colleagues for 20 years, a prolific writer on psychoanalytic themes, ...

in his study of the

Doppelgänger A doppelgänger (), a compound noun formed by combining the two nouns (double) and (walker or goer) (), doppelgaenger or doppelganger is a biologically unrelated look-alike, or a double, of a living person. In fiction and mythology, a doppelg ...

. In an article of 1894, Dessoir published an account of the evolution of the sex instinct from undifferentiated to differentiated, which was taken up by Albert Moll and Sigmund Freud. Freud cites it approvingly in his ''

Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality ''Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality'' (german: Drei Abhandlungen zur Sexualtheorie), sometimes titled ''Three Contributions to the Theory of Sex'', is a 1905 work by Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, in which the author advance ...

''. Considered a

Neo-Kantian In late modern continental philosophy, neo-Kantianism (german: Neukantianismus) was a revival of the 18th-century philosophy of Immanuel Kant. The Neo-Kantians sought to develop and clarify Kant's theories, particularly his concept of the "thin ...

philosopher Max Dessoir founded the ''Zeitschift für Ästhetik und allgemeine Kunstwissenschaft'', which he edited for many years, and published the work ''Ästhetik und allgemeine Kunstwissenschaft'' in which he formulated five primary aesthetic forms: the beautiful, the sublime, the tragic, the ugly, and the comic. Dussoir was married to soprano Susanne Dessoir. He died in

Königstein im Taunus Königstein im Taunus () is a health spa and lies on the thickly wooded slopes of the Taunus in Hesse, Germany. The town is part of the Frankfurt Rhein-Main urban area. Owing to its advantageous location for both scenery and transport on the edg ...

at the age of 80.

Parapsychology

In 1889, in an article in the German periodical ''Sphinx,'' Dessoir coined the term '

parapsychology Parapsychology is the study of alleged psychic phenomena (extrasensory perception, telepathy, precognition, clairvoyance, psychokinesis (also called telekinesis), and psychometry) and other paranormal claims, for example, those related to near ...

' (actually in its German equivalent, 'Parapsychologie'): "If one ... characterizes by ''para-'' something going beyond or besides the ordinary, than one could perhaps call the phenomena that step outside the usual process of the inner life parapsychical, and the science dealing with them parapsychology. The word is not nice, yet in my opinion it has the advantage to denote a hitherto unknown fringe area between the average and the pathological states; however, more than the limited value of practical usefulness such neologisms do not demand." Dessoir was a member of the

Society for Psychical Research The Society for Psychical Research (SPR) is a nonprofit organisation in the United Kingdom. Its stated purpose is to understand events and abilities commonly described as psychic or paranormal. It describes itself as the "first society to condu ...

. He was highly skeptical of physical

mediumship Mediumship is the practice of purportedly mediating communication between familiar spirits or ghost, spirits of the dead and living human beings. Practitioners are known as "mediums" or "spirit mediums". There are different types of mediumship o ...

. He was the author of the book ''Vom Jenseits der Seele: Die Geheimwissenschaften in kritischer Betrachtung'' (''The "beyond" of the soul: occult sciences critically examined'') that went through six editions. The book contained skeptical information on the mediums

Jan Guzyk Jan Guzyk (1875–1928), also known as Jan Guzik was a Polish spiritualist medium known for his alleged ability of psychokinesis.Brower, M. Brady. (2010). ''Unruly Spirits: The Science of Psychic Phenomena in Modern France''. University of Illino ...

Franek Kluski Franek Kluski, real name Teofil Modrzejewski (1873-1943), was a Polish physical medium criticized by trained magicians and skeptics as a fraud. Kluski was best known for his séances in which alleged "spirit" molds of hands materialized. It was l ...

Henry Slade Henry Slade (1835–1905) was a famous fraudulent medium who lived and practiced in both Europe and North America. Biography Slade was most well known as a slate-writing medium. During his séances he would place a small slate with a piece ...

and many others.Hövelmann. Gerd H; Truzzi, Marcello; Hoebens, Piet Hein. (1985). ''Skeptical Literature on Parapsychology: An Annotated Bibliography''. In

Paul Kurtz Paul Kurtz (December 21, 1925 – October 20, 2012) was an American scientific skeptic and Secular humanism, secular humanist. He has been called "the father of secular humanism". He was Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the University at Buff ...

. ''A Skeptic's Handbook of Parapsychology''. Prometheus Books. pp. 473-474. The 1930 sixth edition (reprinted in 1967) contained an exposure of the alleged poltergeist victim Eleonore Zugun. According to Dessoir she had performed the phenomena fraudulently.

Magic

Dessoir was an amateur magician who had used the pseudonym "Edmund W. Rells". He was interested in the history and psychology of

magic Magic or Magick most commonly refers to: * Magic (supernatural), beliefs and actions employed to influence supernatural beings and forces * Ceremonial magic, encompasses a wide variety of rituals of magic * Magical thinking, the belief that unrela ...

. He published a series of articles entitled ''The Psychology of Legerdemain'', which were printed in five weekly installments for the '' Open Court'' journal from 23 March – 20 April 1893. His article ''Psychology of the Art of Conjuring'' was included in

H. J. Burlingame Hardin Jasper Burlingame (1852–1915) was an American magician and magic historian. Burlingame had taken lessons from the magician David Tobias Bamberg. He later used the stage name "Jasper Bamberg" when he performed in Chicago. Burlingame i ...

's book ''Around the World with a Magician and a Juggler'' (1891). Burlingame, H. J. (1891)
''Around the World with a Magician and a Juggler''
Chicago: Clyde Publishing Co. pp. 137-165

Publications

''Bibliographie des modernen Hypnotismus''
(1888)
''Karl Philipp Moritz als Aesthetiker''
(1889)
''Geschichte der neueren deutschen Psychologie''
(1902)
''Zeitschrift für Ästhetik und allgemeine kunstwissenschaft''
(1906)
''Outlines of the History of Psychology''
(1912)
''Vom Jenseits der Seele: Die Geheimwissenschaften in kritischer Betrachtung''
(1917, 1920, 1930, reprinted in 1967) On magic
''Psychology of the Art of Conjuring''
(1891)
''Psychologische Skizzen''
(1893, Edmund W. Rells seud. *Dessoir, M. (1893)
''The Psychology of Legerdemain''
The Open Court 7: 3599-3602.

References

External links