Editing Allan Kardec

{{short description|French educator, translator, and writer (1804–1869)}} 
{{for|the Brazilian footballer|Alan Kardec}}
{{redirect|Kardec|the film|Kardec (film){{!}}''Kardec'' (film)}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Allan Kardec
| image              = Photo Kardec.jpg
| birth_name         = Hippolyte Léon Denizard Rivail
| birth_date         = {{Birth date|1804|10|3|df=yes}}
| birth_place        = [[Lyon]], [[First French Empire|France]]
| death_date         = {{death date and age|1869|3|31|1804|10|3|df=yes}}
| death_place        = [[Paris]], [[Second French Empire|France]]
| burial_place       = [[Père Lachaise Cemetery]]
| occupation         = [[educator]]
| known_for          = Systematizer of ''[[Kardecist spiritism|Spiritism]]''
| spouse             = [[Amélie Gabrielle Boudet]] (married 1832)
| signature          = AllanKardec_Assin.png
}}
{{Paranormal}}

'''Hippolyte Léon Denizard Rivail''' ({{IPA|fr|ʁivaj|}}; 3 October 1804 – 31 March 1869), known by the [[pen name]] of '''Allan Kardec''' ({{IPA|fr|kaʁdɛk|lang}}), was a French educator, translator, and writer. He is the author of the five books known as the Spiritist Codification, and the founder of [[Kardecist spiritism|Spiritism]].<ref>[[Lewis Spence]]. (2003). ''Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology''. Kessinger Publishing. p. 491; {{ISBN|978-11613-618-2-7}}</ref><ref name=proceedings>Moreira-Almeida, Alexander (2008). [https://www.academia.edu/1619158/Allan_Kardec_and_the_Development_of_a_Research_Program_in_Psychic_Experiences ''Allan Kardec and the development of a research program in psychic experiences'']. Proceedings of the Parapsychological Association & Society for Psychical Research Convention. Winchester, UK.</ref><!--''The Parapsychological Association & The Society for Psychical Research'' is not a reliable source for scientific claims-->

==Early life==
Rivail was born in [[Lyon]] in 1804 and raised as a [[Roman Catholic]]. He pursued interests in philosophy and the sciences, and became an acolyte and colleague of [[Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi]].<ref name=proceedings/><ref>Eliane Rezende Garcia. [http://revistas.pucsp.br/index.php/pontoevirgula/article/viewFile/13913/10237 ''A Educação: saber e sabor na relação entre sujeitos''] (In Portuguese). Ponto-e-Vírgula, 10: 282–285, 2011. PUC-SP. {{ISSN|1982-4807}}.</ref> Rivail completed a [[Bachelor of Arts]]<ref>Kardec, A. (1860b). Formation de la terre. Théorie de l'incrustation planétaire. Revue Spirite – Journal d’Études Psychologiques<!-- ISSN/ISBN needed, if any --></ref> and a [[doctorate]] in medicine.<ref>Allan Kardec (a), a compilation of short works entitled Christian Spiritism (Philadelphia: Allan Kardec Educational Society, 1985), p. 189</ref> He was also fluent in German, English, Italian, and Spanish, in addition to his native French.<ref>Janet Duncan, Translator's Preface to Allan Kardec's The Gospel According to Spiritism (London: Headquarters Publishing, 1987), pp. ix–x<!-- ISSN/ISBN needed --></ref> Kardec became interested in Protestantism after his education in Switzerland.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ua9ZAAAAYAAJ&q=%22interested%20in%20protestantism%22 | isbn=9780391042407 | title=Introduction to the U.S. Latina and Latino Religious Experience | year=2004 | publisher=Brill Academic Publishers }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bhvlAgAAQBAJ&dq=%22allan+kardec%22+%22protestant%22&pg=PA194 | isbn=9780292774711 | title=Of Wonders and Wise Men: Religion and Popular Cultures in Southeast Mexico, 1800–1876 | date=6 March 2009 | publisher=University of Texas Press }}</ref> He was also trained in [[Positivism|positivist]] ideas, although he ended up not being an orthodox positivist.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Jones |first=Lindsay |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ODIOAQAAMAAJ |title=Encyclopedia of Religion |date=2005 |publisher=Macmillan Reference USA |isbn=978-0-02-865734-9 |pages=5089 |language=en |quote=In short, Rivail was a typical European scholar of his time, with a classical training in letters, positivist beliefs, an interest in the theoretical and applied development of science, and a professional specialization in teaching. But Rivail was not an orthodox positivist. Imbued with a great curiosity about phenomena unheeded and even shunned by official science, he belonged to the French Society of Magnetists. Hypnotism, sleepwalking, clairvoyance, and similar phenomena strongly attracted him.}}</ref>

==Career==
He was a member of several scholarly societies, including the Historic Institute of Paris (Institut Historique), Society of Natural Sciences of France (Société des Sciences Naturelles de France), Society for the Encouragement of National Industry ([[Société d'Encouragement pour l'Industrie Nationale]]), and The Royal Academy of Arras (Académie d'Arras, Société Royale des Sciences, des Lettres et des Arts).<ref name=proceedings/> He organized and taught free courses for the underprivileged.<ref name=proceedings/><ref>{{in lang|pt}} [http://www.espirito.org.br/portal/artigos/celuz/textos/allan-kardec.html Textos – Allan Kardec] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091224213407/http://www.espirito.org.br/portal/artigos/celuz/textos/allan-kardec.html |date=2009-12-24 }}, espirito.org.br; accessed 30 October 2015.</ref> He was also involved, from the age of 19, with the controversial hypothesis of [[animal magnetism]], being a practitioner of mesmerism.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Maior |first=Marcel Souto |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lVbiAAAAQBAJ |title=Kardec: A biografia |date=2013-09-18 |publisher=Editora Record |isbn=978-85-01-10097-9 |pages=13 |language=pt-BR}}</ref>

===Educator===
Rivail's work with Pestalozzi helped lay the foundations for the teaching model in schools in France and Germany.{{citation needed|date=December 2014}} For several decades he helped advance Pestalozzi's pedagogy in France, founding schools and working as a teacher, educational writer and translator.<ref name=proceedings/>

===Banker===
{{Unreferenced section|date=October 2024}}
In 1839, with a new partner, Mr. Maurice Delachatre, a merchant, he created a so-called "exchange" bank, which aimed to facilitate commercial transactions and thus create new opportunities for trade and industry, in order to support in default of pecuniary resources for the natural products.{{Clarify|Reason=Is this a poor translation of French? What does it mean? What are natural products?|date=October 2024}} The duration of the trading bank was fixed by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry at ten years.

===Spiritualism===
{{Unreferenced section|date=October 2024}}
According to “My predictions concerning spiritualism” as he himself described in his manuscript written between 1855 and 1856, "in May 1855, he met a certain Mr. Fortier, a magnetizer, who took him to Madame de Plainemaison, a medium who lived in the Rue de la Grange Bateliere in Paris, just a step away from the Opera House. In the presence of other guests for the session, he entered into communication with a spirit named Zephyr, who gave him the mission of being the spokesman of the Dead. For him, it was a revelation. He was there, for the first time, witnessing the phenomenon of turntables jumping and running".{{Clarify|Reason=What are running and jumping turntables?|date=October 2024}}

==Spiritism==
{{Main|Kardecist spiritism}}
Rivail was in his early 50s when he became interested in [[séance]]s, which were a popular entertainment at the time. Strange phenomena attributed to the action of spirits were considered a novelty, featuring objects that moved or "tapped", purportedly under the control of "spirits". In some cases, this was alleged to be a type of communication: the supposed spirits answered questions by controlling the movements of objects so as to pick out letters to form words, or simply indicate "yes" or "no".<ref>Mario Dos Ventos. (2008). ''Sea El Santisimo: A Manual for Misa Espiritual & Mediumship Development''. Nzo Quimbanda Exu Ventania. p. 13. {{ISBN|978-09556-903-0-3}}</ref><ref group=note>A possible explanation for these movements is the [[ideomotor phenomenon]].</ref> At the time, [[Franz Mesmer]]'s theory of [[animal magnetism]] had become popular. When confronted with the phenomena described, some researchers, including Rivail, pointed out that animal magnetism might explain them. Rivail, however, after seeing a demonstration, dismissed animal magnetism as insufficient to explain his observations.<ref>''The Medium's Book'', Chapters 8 & 14.<!--publishing info & year(s) of publication needed--></ref>

As a result of these influences, Rivail began his own investigation of [[psychic phenomena]], mainly [[mediumship]].<ref name="proceedings"/> During his initial investigation, he stated that before accepting a spiritual or paranormal cause for some phenomena, it would be necessary first to test if ordinary material causes could explain them. He proposed that fraud, hallucination and unconscious mental activity might explain many phenomena regarded as mediumistic, and also proposed that telepathy and clairvoyance may be responsible.<ref>Kardec 1860</ref>

He compiled over one thousand questions concerning the nature and mechanisms of spirit communications, the reasons for human life on earth, and aspects of the spiritual realm. He asked those questions to ten [[Mediumship|mediums]], all purportedly unknown to each other, and documented their responses. From these, he concluded that the best explanation was that personalities that had survived death were the source of at least some mediumistic communications.<ref>Kardec 1986, 1996, 1999<!--Unlikely that Kardec published anything in these years-->; Moreira-Almeida 2008</ref> He became convinced that the mediums:

* provided accurate information unknown to themselves or others present (e.g. personal information about deceased individuals);
* demonstrated unlearned skills such as writing by illiterate mediums, handwriting similar to the alleged communicating personality, and speaking or writing in a language unknown to the medium ([[xenoglossy]] and xenography);
* accurately portrayed a range of personality characteristics of deceased individuals.

He compiled the mediums' responses that were consistent and adapted them into a philosophy that he called [[Kardecist spiritism|Spiritism]], which he initially defined as "a science that deals with the nature, origin, and destiny of spirits, and their relation with the corporeal world."<ref>Kardec 1868, p. 12</ref><ref name="ReferenceA">Spiritism and Mental Health: Practices from Spiritist Centers and Spiritist Psychiatric Hospitals in Brazil. Jessica Kingsley Publishers.</ref>

Rivail wrote under the name "Allan Kardec", allegedly following the suggestion of a spirit identified as "Truth".<ref>[Posthumous Works] (26th ed. Feb., pp. 273–275)</ref> On 18 April 1857, as Allan Kardec, Rivail published his first book on Spiritism, ''[[The Spirits Book]]'', comprising a series of answered questions (502 in the first edition and 1,019 in later editions){{citation needed|date=December 2014}} exploring matters concerning the nature of spirits, the [[Spirit world (Spiritualism)|spirit world]], and the relationship between the spirit world and the material world.{{citation needed|date=December 2014}} This was followed by a series of other books, including ''[[The Book on Mediums|The Medium's Book]]'', ''[[The Gospel According to Spiritism]]'', ''[[Heaven and Hell (Allan Kardec)|Heaven and Hell]]'' and ''[[The Genesis According to Spiritism]]'', and by a periodical, the ''Revue Spirite'', which Kardec published until his death. Collectively, the books became known as the [[Spiritist Codification]].{{citation needed|date=October 2015}}

Kardec's research influenced the [[parapsychology|psychical]] research of [[Charles Richet]], [[Camille Flammarion]] and [[Gabriel Delanne]].<ref>Brady Brower. ''Unruly Spirits. The Science of Psychic Phenomena in Modern France'', Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2010. p. 17.{{ISBN?}}</ref><ref>Banque des savoirs. Histoire des sciences - [http://www.savoirs.essonne.fr/thematiques/le-patrimoine/histoire-des-sciences/camille-flammarion-la-passion-des-etoiles-a-la-portee-de-tous/ ''Camille Flammarion: la passion des étoiles à la portée de tous''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141214073756/http://www.savoirs.essonne.fr/thematiques/le-patrimoine/histoire-des-sciences/camille-flammarion-la-passion-des-etoiles-a-la-portee-de-tous/ |date=2014-12-14 }}, savoirs.essonne.fr; accessed 12 July 2014. {{in lang|fr}}</ref><ref>Gabriel Dellane. ''Le Spiritisme devant la science'', Paris, E. Dentu, 1885.</ref>

==Personal life==
===Family===
On 6 February 1832 he married [[Amélie Gabrielle Boudet]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Maior, Marcel Souto|title=Kardec – A Biografia|trans-title=Kardec – The Biography|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=plEEQnaDGYYC|year=2013|publisher=Record|isbn=9788501100979|chapter=Forças Ocultas|trans-chapter=Hidden forces}}</ref>

===Death===
[[File:Tombe Allan Kardec.JPG|thumb|250px|Allan Kardec's [[Grave (burial)|grave]] at ''[[Père Lachaise Cemetery|Cimetière du Père Lachaise]]''. The inscription says ''Naitre, mourir, renaitre encore et progresser sans cesse, telle est la loi'' ("To be born, to die, to be reborn again and keep progressing, that is the law").]]
After his death caused by [[aneurysm]] in 1869, Kardec was buried at the ''[[Père Lachaise Cemetery|Cimetière du Père Lachaise]]''.<ref>[[Raymond Buckland]]. (2005). ''The Spirit Book: The Encyclopedia of Clairvoyance, Channeling, and Spirit Communication''. Visible Ink Press. p. 210; {{ISBN|978-15785-921-3-5}}</ref>

== Writings ==
* ''Cours pratique et théorique d'arithmétique'' (1824)
* ''Plan proposé pour l'amélioration de l'éducation publique'' (1828)
* ''Catéchisme grammatical de la langue française'' (1848)
* ''Le Livre des Esprits'' (''[[The Spirits Book]]''), 1857
* ''Le Livre des Médiums'' (''[[The Book on Mediums]]''), 1861
* ''L'Évangile selon le Spiritisme'' (''[[The Gospel According to Spiritism]]''), 1864
* ''Le Ciel et L'Enfer'' (''[[Heaven and Hell (Allan Kardec)|Heaven and Hell]]''), 1865
* ''La Genèse'' (''Genesis'' or, [[The Genesis According to Spiritism|The ''Genesis According to Spiritism'']]), 1868

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons|Allan Kardec}}
{{wikisource author}}
{{wikiquote}}

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120218082730/http://www.geae.inf.br/en/books/codification/sb.pdf The Spirits' Book] by Allan Kardec ([[Portable Document Format|PDF]])
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060313002042/http://www.geae.inf.br/en/books/codification/mb.pdf The Book on Mediums] by Allan Kardec ([[Portable Document Format|PDF]])
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110515235851/http://www.geae.inf.br/en/books/codification/gospel.pdf The Gospel According to Spiritism] by Allan Kardec ([[Portable Document Format|PDF]])
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060619120634/http://www.geae.inf.br/en/books/codification/HeavenHelSAB2003.pdf Heaven and Hell] by Allan Kardec ([[Portable Document Format|PDF]])
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110706161150/http://www.geae.inf.br/en/books/codification/GenesisSAB2003.pdf Genesis] by Allan Kardec ([[Portable Document Format|PDF]])
*[http://www.allan-kardec.org/ Allan Kardec Educational Society]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20110207094604/http://allan-kardec.com/ ALLAN KARDEC: Free PDF spiritist books in several languages]
*[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9213932/ Kardec] a 2019 film.
*[http://spiritist.us/ U.S. Spiritist Council]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070127182837/http://www.spiritwritings.com/kardec.html Allan Kardec Biographic Information]
*[http://www.spiritwritings.com/kardecspiritstoc.html The Spirits' Book] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050906011008/http://www.spiritwritings.com/kardecspiritstoc.html |date=2005-09-06 }} by Allan Kardec
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20080724221841/http://www.unionespirita.com.ar/ Divulgacion de Espiritismo en Argentina] de Allan Kardec
*[http://www.unionespirita.com.ar/libreria Libros de Espiritismo]{{dead link|date=November 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} de Allan Kardec
*[http://bussuk.webs.com/ British Union of Spiritist Societies] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141210021809/http://bussuk.webs.com/ |date=2014-12-10 }}
*[http://www.dominiopublico.gov.br/pesquisa/PesquisaObraForm.do?select_action=&co_autor=183 Works by Allan Kardec] at [[Domínio Público]]
* {{Librivox author |id=15260}}
*[http://www.febnet.org.br]by Federação Espirita Brasileira

{{Spiritism and Spiritualism}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Kardec, Allan}}
[[Category:1804 births]]
[[Category:1869 deaths]]
[[Category:Writers from Lyon]]
[[Category:French spiritual writers]]
[[Category:French male writers]]
[[Category:Deaths from aneurysm]]
[[Category:Spiritism]]
[[Category:Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery]]
[[Category:19th-century occultists]]
[[Category:Founders of new religious movements]]