Émile Boirac (26 August 1851 – 20 September 1917) was a French
philosopher
Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...
,
parapsychologist, promoter of
Esperanto
Esperanto (, ) is the world's most widely spoken Constructed language, constructed international auxiliary language. Created by L. L. Zamenhof in 1887 to be 'the International Language' (), it is intended to be a universal second language for ...
and writer.
Biography
Boirac was born in
Guelma,
Algeria
Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...
. He became president of the
University of Grenoble
The (, ''Grenoble Alps University'', abbr. UGA) is a Grands établissements, ''grand établissement'' in Grenoble, France. Founded in 1339, it is the third largest university in France with about 60,000 students and over 3,000 researchers.
Es ...
in 1898, and in 1902 president of
Dijon University. A notable advocate for the universal language, Esperanto, he presided over its 1st Universal Congress (Boulogne-Sur-Mer, France, 7 August to 12 August 1905) and directed the
Academy of Esperanto.
He was one of the first to use the term "
déjà vu
''Déjà vu'' ( , ; "already seen") is the phenomenon of feeling like one has
lived through the present situation in the past.Schnider, Armin. (2008). ''The Confabulating Mind: How the Brain Creates Reality''. Oxford University Press. pp. 167–1 ...
", where it appeared in a letter to the editor of
Revue philosophique in 1876, and subsequently in Boirac's book ''L'Avenir des Sciences Psychiques'', where he also proposed the term "metagnomy" ("knowledge of things situated beyond those we can normally know") as a more precise description for what was, then, commonly known as
clairvoyance
Clairvoyance (; ) is the claimed ability to acquire information that would be considered impossible to get through scientifically proven sensations, thus classified as extrasensory perception, or "sixth sense". Any person who is claimed to h ...
.
He was one of a group that conducted experiments on the Italian medium
Eusapia Palladino. He also investigated
animal magnetism
Animal magnetism, also known as mesmerism, is a theory invented by German doctor Franz Mesmer in the 18th century. It posits the existence of an invisible natural force (''Lebensmagnetismus'') possessed by all living things, including humans ...
, and various hypnotic phenomena such as the induction of sleep, "transposition of senses", "magnetic rapport", "exteriorisation of sensitiveness", "exteriorisation of motor nerve force" etc.
[Boirac, "La psychologie inconnue", 1917.]
Boirac died in
Dijon
Dijon (, ; ; in Burgundian language (Oïl), Burgundian: ''Digion'') is a city in and the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Côte-d'Or Departments of France, department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Regions of France, region in eas ...
in 1917.
See also
*
Paul Joire
*
Albert de Rochas
*
Joseph Grasset
References
Bibliography
Books on parapsychology:
*
Our hidden forces ("La psychologie inconnue") An experimental study of the psychic sciences' (New York, Frederick A. Stokes company, 1917).
*
The psychology of the future ("L'avenir des sciences psychiques")' (London, Paul, 1918)
Books on Philosophy and education:
*''Oeuvres philosophiques de Leibniz'
Volume 1Volume 2
(F. Alcan, 1900).
*Boirac, Emile, & Magendie, A.
Leçons de psychologie appliquée à l'éducation
' (Paris, F. Alcan, 1902).
* Fouillée, Alfred & Boirac, E.
Esquisse d'une interpretation du monde: d'après les manuscrits de l'auteur
' (Paris: F. Alcan, 1913).
Esperanto books:
*Translation to esperanto of Leibniz
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (or Leibnitz; – 14 November 1716) was a German polymath active as a mathematician, philosopher, scientist and diplomat who is credited, alongside Sir Isaac Newton, with the creation of calculus in addition to many ...
's ''Monodalogy'' (1902)
*''Åœlosileto kvarlingva'' (1903)
*''Perdita kaj retrovita'' (1905)
*''Qu'est-ce que l'espéranto?'' (1906)
*''Le Congrès espérantiste de Genève'' (1906)
*''Pri la homa radiado'' (1906)
*Translation to esperanto of Molière
Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (; 15 January 1622 (baptised) Р17 February 1673), known by his stage name Moli̬re (, ; ), was a French playwright, actor, and poet, widely regarded as one of the great writers in the French language and world liter ...
's ''Don Juan'' (1909)
*Translation to esperanto of Henry van Dyke's ''The Other Wise Man'', de (1909)
*''Plena Vortaro E-E-a'' (1909)
*''Le problème de la langue internationale'' (1911)
*''Vortaro de la Oficialaj Radikoj'' (1911)
*''Fundamentaj principoj de la vortaro esperanta'' (1911)
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boirac, Emile
French Esperantists
French parapsychologists
French occult writers
French writers on paranormal topics
1851 births
1917 deaths
People from Guelma
French male non-fiction writers