Making Spirit Matter
Neurology, Psychology, and Selfhood in Modern France
Publication supported by the Bevington Fund
280 pages
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12 halftones, 1 table
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6 x 9
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© 2020
- Contents
- Review Quotes
Table of Contents

Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1 The Formations of French Spiritualism
Chapter 2 Measuring the Machinery of the Brain
Chapter 3 Science and Spirit in the Classroom
Chapter 4 Locating Selfhood in the Brain
Chapter 5 The Institutions of the Intellect, or Spirit contra Kant
Chapter 6 Struggles for Spirit’s Catholic Soul
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
List of Archives Consulted
Notes
Index
Chapter 1 The Formations of French Spiritualism
Chapter 2 Measuring the Machinery of the Brain
Chapter 3 Science and Spirit in the Classroom
Chapter 4 Locating Selfhood in the Brain
Chapter 5 The Institutions of the Intellect, or Spirit contra Kant
Chapter 6 Struggles for Spirit’s Catholic Soul
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
List of Archives Consulted
Notes
Index
Review Quotes
Samuel Moyn, Yale University
“In this deeply researched, intellectually pioneering, and wonderfully stimulating new study, McGrath shows that Henri Bergson hoped to renovate his tradition of French spiritualism for a new age, and drew on cutting-edge natural scientific findings to do so. Making Spirit Matter is a scholarly triumph, relevant for how humanists negotiate their own relationship to natural science today.”
Peter E. Gordon, Harvard University
“Ever since Descartes tore apart the metaphysical bond between mind and world—between res cogitans and res extensa—philosophers and scientists have been pondering the question of how the wound might be healed. In this fascinating and carefully researched study, McGrath explores how thinkers offered new answers to this old puzzle, and how the threadbare idea of spirit found a new and more respectable incarnation in the scientific languages of neurology and psychology. A truly fascinating chapter in the intellectual history of modern France.”
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