Bertrand Méheust

Bertrand Méheust (born 12 July 1947) is a French writer, specializing in parapsychology. He is a retired professor of philosophy and has a doctorate in sociology. He is a member of the steering committee of Institut Métapsychique International.

Personal life

Bertrand Méheust was born in 1947. He grew up near Diges, Yonne, in north-central France. As a child, he was influenced Jules Verne's novels and the 1950s UFO sightings in France. He credits a 1971 meeting with French writer Aimé Michel in motivating him to pursue studies in philosophy. Méheust earned a doctorate of sociology from Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University in 1997.

Work

In 1978, Bertrand Méheust released the book, ''Science Fiction et Soucoupes Volantes'' (''Science Fiction and Flying Saucers''). The book raised the question of whether science fiction anticipated the UFO phenomenon. Méheust found that pulp magazines wrote about and illustrated fictional flying saucers decades before the initial 1947 wave of reports. The book is regularly cited by skeptics who see it as evidence for the Psychosocial UFO hypothesis. Méhuest was influenced by psychoanalyst Carl Jung, author of '' Flying Saucers: A Modern Myth of Things Seen in the Skies'' (1959).

In 1999, his two volume academic thesis ''Somnambulisme et médiumnité'' (''Sleepwalking and mediumship'') was published. The book takes stock of controversies raised by parapsychology and psychology. It covers the history of research, theories, and concepts around hidden human potential going back to the 1700s. Méheust is a leading French expert in metaphysics. From this metaphysical perspective, he wrote the book ''Devenez savants: découvrez les sorciers'' about the study of psychological and paranormal phenomenon. It is a response to ''Debunked!''—''Devenez sorciers, devenez savants'' in the original French—a skeptical criticism of pseudosciences by physicist Georges Charpak.

Méheust has argued that the widespread modern Western rejection of the types of occult phenomenon recorded in previous centuries and other parts of the world has caused those phenomenon to become socially impossible. According to Méheust, a culture will create social practices that determine what is possible or impossible within that culture. The scientific consensus is that there is not sufficient evidence to support the existence of psi phenomena.

Publications

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References

External links

official web page

{{DEFAULTSORT:Meheust, Bertrand
Ufologists
UFO writers
Parapsychologists
1947 births
Living people