Spiritism, the scientific method, and the fallacy of epistemological exclusion.

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The assertion that Spiritism cannot be considered a science because it involves metaphysics stems from a twofold conceptual error: it ignores the historical criterion of scientificity and ignores The structuring role of metaphysics in the very development of modern sciences.. When this error is corrected, the objection simply does not hold up.

In the 19th century, science was not defined by the object of study, but by the method employed. It is at this point that the original Spiritism, as systematized by Allan Kardec, it is rigorously anchored in the recognized scientific tradition of its time — a tradition that remains valid in broad areas of current knowledge.

With collaboration from Ariane Netto.

The method of agreement and empirical science

The central method used by Kardec was... concordance method, formalized by John Stuart Mill in A System of Logic (1843). The principle is clear: when a phenomenon occurs in multiple independent cases and only one common element is repeated in all of them, that element is identified as the cause or essential part of the cause.

This method is not peripheral. It is based on:

• observational epidemiology,
• the pre-experimental medical clinic,
• comparative sociology,
• evolutionary biology,
• historical linguistics.

To deny scientific validity to Spiritism for employing this method implies denying, through logical consistency, the scientific status of these areas. This is not a matter of analogy; it is a matter of... methodological identity.

Kardec applied the method strictly: communications obtained by different mediums, in different countries, without contact between them; systematic rejection of contradictory messages; elimination of the medium's authority as a criterion; primacy of factual convergence. This characterizes a observational science, exactly as defined in the 19th century and still practiced today outside the closed laboratory.

Reproducibility: standard, not mechanical repetition.

A recurring error is to demand from Spiritism the same form of reproducibility as experimental physics. This is epistemologically invalid. Several recognized sciences do not reproduce identical events; they reproduce... patterns under varying conditions. The observed regularity, not mechanical repetition, is the rational criterion.

Kardecian Spiritism meets this criterion. Denying this would also require discarding history, geology, paleontology, and cosmology—fields that infer causes and entities from observable, not directly instrumental, effects.

Metaphysics as the foundation of science, not its opposite.

The attempt to discredit Spiritism by calling it "metaphysics" fails because it ignores a fundamental fact of the history of ideas: Modern science was born metaphysical..

Without the ontological and conceptual assumptions elaborated by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, In particular, within the Monadology, science would not have been organized as it was. Concepts such as substance, identity, causality, law, continuity, and unity are not empirical; they are metaphysicians. Nevertheless, they are indispensable for any scientific practice.

Leibniz introduced:

• fundamental non-extensive units,
• internal causality,
• systematic correlation between phenomena without direct contact.

None of this was empirically observable at the time, but all of this It guided the development of modern mathematics, physics, and logic.. The same applies to Descartes, Newton, and all of classical science. To eliminate metaphysics retrospectively is to rewrite history to suit a contemporary bias.

Kardec and the correct inversion of dogmatic metaphysics

It is important to note: Kardec did not construct a closed metaphysical system and then seek facts to confirm it. He did the opposite. He started from observed phenomena and... extracted only the minimum ontological consequences required by the data.. This is not speculative metaphysics; it is metaphysics derived from observation—just as it occurs in other sciences.

The modern objection to Spiritism is not methodological. It is ontological and cultural. The discomfort lies not in the method, but in the object. Confusing these two things is not science; it is epistemological ideology.

Conclusion

To deny the scientific nature of Kardecian Spiritism requires, for the sake of consistency, denying:

• induction in non-experimental sciences,
• the comparative method,
• reproducibility through convergence,
• inference from indirect data,
• and the historical role of metaphysics in science.

This position is not sustainable. Either one accepts that original Spiritism is a observational science, with clear boundaries and a defined method, or "science" is redefined so narrowly that much of the knowledge recognized today falls along with it.

The problem, therefore, is not with Spiritism itself. It lies in the criteria adopted to judge it.

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Reading Recommendations (Books)

Discover the books we recommend as essential for your understanding of true Spiritism: https://www.geolegadodeallankardec.com.br/livros-recomendados/

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