Psychopathology, somnambulism and animal life: a Biranian approach

The main goal of this chapter is to analyse Maine de Biran’s philosophical interest in “magnetism and artificial somnambulism”. Biran’s interest in this theme is linked, at least implicitly, to the questions raised by the “enigma of influence”, a concept which the mesmerists will contribute to secularization by linking it to the “interiority of individuals” (the “autoscopic” occurrences during the “crises of somnambulism”, the sixth sense or “internal sense” and so on) and “the secrets of the relationships they maintain with each other”, namely, in the context of the therapeutical encounter. Such questions, answered by Biran in a way that, in our view, remains particularly interesting, would be the following: what characteristics can we assume in the state of hypnosis or “crisis of somnambulism”? Through which signs is communication accomplished in this state? How is the communication between the magnetizer and the magnetized explained, namely in its therapeutical contexts?