The Spiritualism emerged from the work of a Frenchman, Hippolyte Léon Denizard Rivail (1804-1869), who was one of the first researchers to adopt and adapt methods used in the scientific field to investigate the mediumistic phenomenon and build a philosophical-scientific body of theory. With a traditional academic background, trained at Professor Pestalozzi's Institute of Education in Switzerland, Rivail was, for years, a teacher and headmaster of a Lycée, as well as a writer of books on science, grammar, pedagogy, mathematics, etc. Concerned with pedagogical research, which placed reason above any form of dogmatic affirmation, whether religious or scientific, he defended the right to free examination in any subject, whether of faith or of any other form of knowledge, combating intolerance and religious dogmatism.

A member of at least 13 scientific societies, from 1855 onwards, after several observations and experiments at mediumistic séances in vogue at the time, he concluded on the spiritual and intelligent nature of the phenomena. He realised that the possibility of direct research into the condition of the soul after death, the condition of spirits and the definitive proof of the immortality of the soul was opening up, and he began to systematically organise his studies on the subject. Rivail, who eventually adopted the pseudonym of Allan Kardec, developed the theoretical edifice of Spiritism on the basis of mediumistic communications received by various mediums in different cities and countries. He began to bring to mediumistic meetings questions on various philosophical problems and to analyse the answers given by the spirits.

The existence of an invisible world, which was a religious or metaphysical speculation, would have become the subject of an empirical approach. One of the central features of the approach Kardec was developing was the naturalisation of the spiritual world. Spiritual manifestations were to be the subject of empirical investigation: their consequences were to be observed and compared; their causes were to be traced.

When he saw the quality of the material he had collected and its proportions, he decided to publish the results of his research. On 18 April 1857, after two years of research, Rivail published the first work based on his studies of mediumistic phenomena, The Book of Spirits. To give a name to the collection of narrative forms and organised reports, he forged the term Spiritism or Spiritist Doctrine precisely to differentiate the new doctrine from other spiritualist beliefs, defining it as "a science that deals with the nature, origin and destiny of spirits, as well as their relations with the corporeal world". The spirit world would be as natural and governed by natural laws as the stars and micro-organisms. Kardec said that mediums could be compared to microscopes or telescopes, in the sense that they made it possible to observe a world that could not be seen with the naked eye.

For him (KARDEC, 1868), Spiritism would be essentially a philosophy with scientific basis and moral implications, not constituting a religion according to the usual conception of the word. Spiritists often refer to the threefold aspect of Spiritism: science, philosophy and religion. Among the basic spiritist principles are: the existence of God, the immortality of the soul (adopting a dualistic conception of the human being, reincarnation, evolution, mediumship and the acceptance of Christian ethics with an emphasis on the practice of charity.

After the publication of The Spirits' Book (1857) came, successively, The Book of Mediums (1861); The Gospel according to Spiritism (1864); Heaven and Hell or the Justice of God according to Spiritism (1865); Genesis, Miracles and Predictions (1868). In addition to these books, Kardec published five other unpublished pamphlets on the popularisation of Spiritism, two more pamphlets with extracts from the Revue Spirite and a posthumous work.

The Revue Spirite was founded in January 1858: Journal d’études psychologiques, the Spiritism magazine, the most widely circulated spiritism magazine in France at the time. It produced a number of articles which, in a revised form, made up a large part of his books. And, in April of the same year, the Société Parisienne des Études Spirites (SPES) was founded, with the aim of bringing together those interested in the study of Spiritism "as others gather to study phrenology, history or other sciences". This organisation contributed to the expansion of the spiritism movement in France and in other countries, such as Brazil.

In addition to the publication of the works and the works in the SPES, Kardec made several trips in the interior of France to spread the new doctrine and to guide the process of creation of new spiritist societies, in addition to maintaining an extensive correspondence with the spiritists with more than a thousand spiritist centres all over the world, present in 268 cities, in at least 37 countries, in Europe and abroad. This intense debate with these correspondents contributed positively to the process of elaboration and consolidation of Spiritism.

As the number of followers increased in France, opinions in the press and in religious, intellectual and scientific circles diversified. Not only in France, but also in other parts of Europe and in the United States, spiritist phenomena were the subject of constant studies and pronouncements by scientists and intellectuals: some admitting the reality of the phenomena, others delegitimising them as voluntary or involuntary frauds by their protagonists, the cause of mental disorders, crimes and suicides.

For the Church, spiritist phenomena, when they were not fraudulent, were caused by demons and therefore had to be severely combated. The number of sermons multiplied, as did newspaper articles. In 1861, three hundred spiritist works were seized and burned in a public square in Spain, in an episode that became known as the Auto de Fe de Barcelona. In addition, the Catholic Church included several spiritist works in the Index from 1864 onwards. The secular press also frequently published anecdotes and caricatures about the phenomenon of the revolving tables.

The Spiritism definitely entered the list of concerns of the medical establishment because they considered it capable of triggering and/or aggravating madness, leading to crime and suicide through mediumistic practices and its set of beliefs. There was a particular concern that madness would be passed on more intensely to future generations, according to Morel's theory of degeneration, so in vogue at the time. Associated with this were accusations of fraud/charlatanism and mysticism. Allan Kardec, established an intense debate with these various segments to refute the harmful character of Spiritism and to combat the accusations of fraud/charlatanism and mysticism surrounding spiritist practices.

Kardec analysed two hypotheses of charlatanry: conjuring tricks and the snapping of muscles. The first was reinforced by shows devoted to reproducing, by means of magic tricks, and demonstrating that Spiritism séances were the fruit of charlatanry. The second, defended by academic researchers in France and the United States, found physiological reasons for mediumistic shakes, such as the rotation of bones, joints and muscles.

Kardec acknowledged that many of the alleged mediumistic manifestations were caused by fraud, but he did not agree that all mediumistic manifestations were the result of this practice. He criticised those who came to this conclusion hastily for not being able to find more adequate explanations for the phenomenon. For him, the possibility of fraud was greatest among mediums who charged for séances, especially when they claimed to be able to produce mediumistic manifestations at will, because the manifestation depended on the will of the communicating spirit.

On the other hand, he found no reason to believe that thousands of mediums throughout the world, in public and family séances, were engaged in fraud. The simulation of mediumistic phenomena by conjurers would not be sufficient proof that all phenomena were false. For him, Spiritism would have much to contribute, because a thorough study of the doctrine would provide the reader with the necessary conditions to distinguish a legitimate manifestation from a fraudulent mediumship.

Kardec considered that mediumistic manifestations involving transports of objects, knocks and answers to banal questions were more prone to charlatanism than so-called intelligent communications whose content was of great philosophical, scientific or moral depth. Nor did he dismiss the hypothesis that the movements of the tables could be explained by the action of a known or unknown physical force. Leading physicists such as Michael Faraday and François Arago conducted experiments on turntable sessions, concluding that the table movements were derived from barely perceptible muscular actions of the participants' hands around the table.

The idea that physical forces were among the causes of phenomena was one of the first hypotheses put forward by Kardec. However, for him, such a possibility was consistent in explaining the revolving tables, but insufficient to provide answers to phenomena such as the shakes that responded to intelligent signals. Kardec also admitted that mediumistic activity could be caused by superstition, credulity and that a supposed medium could, in fact, be a carrier of mental disorders. However, he asserted that a mediumistic phenomenon could not be the result of an illusion or hallucination when it was observed, at the same time, by numerous persons unknown to each other. Furthermore, hallucination would not provide answers for intelligent phenomena, such as mediumistic writing, which often provided information unknown to the medium and later confirmed.

Allan Kardec dealt on several occasions with the question of madness and its relation to spiritism. He emphasised the biological basis of madness and the influence of the patient's cultural environment on the content of the psychopathology, but added another origin: obsessions, that is, "the persistent action that an evil spirit exerts on an individual". Kardec made a detailed study of the alterations of sensory perception, proposing, as a hypothesis, three types: hallucination, imagination and apparitions or true visions.

In addition to rejecting a pathogenic role for Spiritism, Kardec argued that the spiritist point of view would help to cope with life's difficulties, functioning as a buffer against stressful life events. By clearly demonstrating the purpose of life, by motivating the human being to better himself more and more, Spiritism would avoid displeasure with life and melancholy, despite acknowledging the existence of organic predispositions. Spiritism would also reduce cases of insanity by avoiding alcohol abuse.

Sources: INTERAÇÕES, Belo Horizonte, Brazil