Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

Colorful but invisible fluctuating bio-magnetic or psychic energy fields said to emanate from and surround all living things. Auras are perceptible only to those with the gift of clairvoyance or with special equipment. Through their colors and intensity, the auras supposedly indicate the mental and physical state of the being emitting them. The colors range…

The theory that the universe consists of tiny, invisible particles that cannot be destroyed. In Classical Athens (461-429 B.C.E.), the idea of atomism was part of the great philosophical debate over the nature of the matter that makes up the universe. The followers of Pythagoras, a philosopher of the previous century, declared that the essence…

Speculation regarding the origins of Native Americans. As early as the 1590s, a Spanish Jesuit proposed an Asian origin for the Native American tribes. In the early 17th century, Englishman Edward Brerewood drew parallels between the Indians and the inhabitants of Northeast Asia. Other early writers speculated that the Native Americans were descended from the…

A small British psychical research organization founded specifically to develop a mechanical apparatus for communication with the spirits of the dead. It was named for the founders A. J. Ashdown, B. K. Kirby, and George Jobson, who were somewhat obsessed with scientifically proving survival of bodily death and made a pact that whoever passed away…

The name given to the search for the ark upon which the biblical Noah reportedly rode out the universal flood. Many conservative Christians believe the story of Noah and the Flood in the Book of Genesis (Chapters 6-8) to be a literal report of historical events. In the story, Noah and his family and a…

Renaissance term for a primordial life force. Archeus (pronounced “ARK-ee-us”) was first coined by 16th-century German philosopher Paracelsus. He used it to refer to his own concept of a life force that gave life to all other organisms and individuals. Like Paracelsus’s concept of medicine, which he saw as a fight against the invading organism…

Objects materialized out of thin air, usually by a spiritualist medium. Apports became an important part of the spiritualism craze that swept much of the Western world in the late 19th century. The conflict between science and still strongly held mystical and religious beliefs led to an unprecedented interest in the mystical in all strata…

A supernatural manifestation of a dead person or animal or even of a live person or animal living too far away to be within normal range of the observer. Contrary to common belief, most apparitions are of the living (not the dead) and few are visual. Most involve the sensing of a presence, sometimes using…

A theory proposed in i928 by the Cambridge University physicist Paul Dirac that predicted a partner for the electron that would have a positive charge to counter the electrons negative charge. Dirac was the first to speculate about the existence and behavior of subatomic particles consistent with both the special theory of relativity and with…