Leipzig 1877: Medienepistemologische Zugänge zu Karl Friedrich Zöllners Experimenten mit Henry Slade

Abstract

The essay revisits the notorious experiments carried out by the founder of German astrophysics, Karl Friedrich Zöllner, and the well-known American juggler and occult medium, Henry Slade. lt explores the epistemological space these experiments adopted in a threefold manner: first, by interpreting Zöllner's discourse in terms of witchcraft; second, by uncovering the Slade experiments as meta-experiments following an episteme of disturbance and miracle; third, by showing how the knot experiments, meant to provide empirical evidence of the existence of a four-dimensional space, can be linked to the practice of magic in popular culture.