Forms of Occult Thinking
The project studies in several single steps, selected forms of thinking that are characteristic of, or influencing the styles of occult knowledge. The starting point in each case is an ideationally leading topos of occult thinking.
The first part of the project focused on conspiracy theories: in the context of a course (Faculty of Sociology at the University of Freiburg) in the summer semester 2005, the intrinsic logic of conspiracy theories, the ideational and organizational interfaces of conspiracy thinking and the causes for the current boom in this form of thinking were explored on the basis of theoretical texts and empirical case studies.
In the second part - again in the in the context of a course at the Faculty of Sociology at the University of Freiburg - the concept of the boundary as well as associated topoi such as ‚boundary demarcations’ or ‚boundary crossings’ were analyzed. In the winter semester 2007/2008 the project asked for the principle significance, that could be attributed to the analytical category of the boundary (in the most general sense), in the field of social and cultural research. Empirically and theoretically investigated were the boundaries between human beings and animals, the seen and the unseen, between life and death or between ‚holy’ and ‚profane’.
The third part, which is being conducted since 2008, is about the notion of the secret and its significance for the thinking of modernity. In alignment with the sociological concept formation up to now, the secret shall initially be theoretically determined as a form category of social knowledge and as a social attractor of considerable influence. Starting points are considerations from the field of the sociology of knowledge about the secret as an asymmetric social relation whose societal relevance unfolds by a dialectic of social inclusion and exclusion.
Project Leader: PD Dr. Michael Schetsche
Assistant (in part): Dr. Ina Schmied-Knittel
Publications:
Michael Schetsche (2009): Das sexuelle Geheimnis. In: Vielfalt wagen. Hrsg. Renate-Berenike Schmidt, Stefan Timmermanns, Elisabeth Tuider, Berlin: Logos, S. 59-73. [The sexual secret]
Michael Schetsche (2008). Das Geheimnis als Wissensform. Soziologische Anmerkungen. In: Journal for Intelligence, Propaganda and Security Studies, 2 (1), S. 33-50. [The secret as category and attractor. Sociological remarks]
Michael Schetsche, Ina Schmied-Knittel (2004): Verschwörungstheorien und die Angst vor über- und unterirdischen Mächten. In: kuckuck. Notizen zur Alltagskultur, Heft 1/2004, 24-29. [Conspiracy theories and the fear of extraterrestrial and demonic powers]
Michael Schetsche (2005): Die ergoogelte Wirklichkeit. Verschwörungstheorien und das Internet. In: Die Google-Gesellschaft. Hrsg. Kai Lehmann und Michael Schetsche, Frankfurt am Main: transcript, S. 113-120 (Vorabdruck des Textes im Netzmagazin Telepolis.) [The googled reality. Conspiracy theories and the internet]
