Pensée (Immanuel Velikovsky Reconsidered)

Pensée: Immanuel Velikovsky Reconsidered ("IVR") was a special series of ten issues of the magazine Pensée produced to "encourage continuing critical analysis of all questions raised by Velikovsky's work", published between May 1972 and Winter 1974-75 by the Student Academic Freedom Forum, whose president was David N. Talbott, with the assistance and cooperation of Lewis and Clark College, Portland, Oregon. Velikovsky -- "the man whose work was being examined 'objectively'" insinuated himself into the editing of the May 1972 issue, just as he had done earlier for the April 1967 "Velikovsky" issue of Yale Scientific Magazine.

It achieved a circulation of between 10,000 - 20,000, with the first issue reprinted twice totalling 75,000 copies, and resulted in a book, Velikovsky Reconsidered containing selected articles.

History

In the final issue of Pensée IVR, the publisher recalled that the original magazine was:

"Founded in 1966 and soon thereafter allowed to lapse for several years, it was revived in 1970 as an unofficial student magazine distributed on Oregon campuses

University of Oregon campus

The campus of the University of Oregon is located in Eugene, Oregon and includes some 80 buildings and facilities, including athletics facilities such as Hayward Field, which was the site of the 2008 Olympic Track and Field Trials, and McArthur Court, and off-campus sites such as nearby Autzen...

[..] Late in 1971 the editor and publisher, personally familiar with the work of Immanuel Velikovsky

Immanuel Velikovsky

Immanuel Velikovsky was a Russian-born American independent scholar of Jewish origins, best known as the author of a number of controversial books reinterpreting the events of ancient history, in particular the US bestseller Worlds in Collision, published in 1950...

, conceived the idea of finding someone qualified to write a major article describing Velikovsky's theories, their implications, and their reception. Subsequent contact, first, with Velikovsky himself, and then with several persons knowledgeable about his work, led to the May, 1972 issue of Pensée."

Staff

The staff consisted of publisher David N. Talbott

David Talbott

David N. Talbott is an American author and inveterate promoter of neo-Velikovskian ideas. Inspired by Immanuel Velikovsky, he proposes a “Polar Configuration” involving the five planets, Jupiter, Saturn, Venus, Mars, Earth, in order, and its influence on the human mythology.-Biography:Talbott...

and his brother Stephen L. Talbott as editor, and built up to five associate editors: Lewis M. Greenberg, Ralph Juergens, William Mullen, C.J. Ransom, and Lynn E. Rose. Professor of Social Theory, Alfred de Grazia

Alfred de Grazia

Alfred de Grazia, is a political scientist and author. He has defended the catastrophism thesis of Immanuel Velikovsky.-Education:De Grazia attended the University of Chicago, receiving an A.B...

noted that:

"... there came Pensée, a production of the young Talbott brothers, Stephen and David, whose enthusiasm for his [Velikovsky's] work crystallized into a conversion of their small magazine on human rights into a forum on the Velikovsky Affair, at least for ten issues. Stephen Talbott was a brilliant editor and organizer, bent upon opening the world to quantavolutionary ideas, but also to criticism of them. After spectacular successes, Pensée collapsed under a load of debt and overwork. As it was ending, it promised to broaden its interests beyond Velikovsky and to discuss ideas irreconcilable with his. Velikovsky would have no part of this, and several of his Eastern supporters -- with Lewis Greenberg and Warner Sizemore leading -- issued the first number of Kronos

Kronos (journal)

Kronos: A Journal of Interdisciplinary Synthesis published articles on a wide range of subjects as diverse as ancient history, catastrophism and mythology. It ran 44 issues from the Spring of 1975 to the Spring of 1988. The title is an homage to the Greek name for the Roman god Saturn whose...

Conferences

The "Immanuel Velikovsky Reconsidered" period also included sponsoring two three-day symposia which were attended by Dr. Velikovsky. In August 1972, the "Velikovsky Symposium" at Lewis and Clark College (who was also co-sponsor) convened 50 invited scholars, many from the ranks of Velikovsky's supporters, with 200 attendees. In June 1974, "Velikovsky and the Recent History of the Solar System" at McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, convened 38 invited scholars with a generally higher and non-aligned profile than in 1972, including such mainstream scientists as David Morrison (Univ. of Hawaii), James Warwick (Univ. of Colorado), and Derek York (Univ. of Toronto), and registered over 350 attendees.

Contributions

Pensée IVR published contributions from Velikovsky himself, and others in academia and industry, including:

Controversy

A number of magazine and journals refused to accept advertisements for Pensée, including American Scientist

American Scientist

American Scientist is the bimonthly science and technology magazine published since 1913 by Sigma Xi. Each issue includes four to five feature articles written by scientists and engineers. These authors review research in all fields of science...

, Sky and Telescope, and, Scientific American

Scientific American

Scientific American is a popular science magazine. It is notable for its long history of presenting science monthly to an educated but not necessarily scientific public, through its careful attention to the clarity of its text as well as the quality of its specially commissioned color graphics...

whose publishers wrote:

"We have not encountered a single scientist working in any of the many fields, from archaeology to astrophysics, on which Velikovsky touches who finds any interest whatever in anything he has to say. That is why you have not seen any account of Velikovsky in our pages. . . . The controversy seems to be generated wholly by Velikovsky and his sympathizers. They cry "foul" because he is ignored and attempt to make an academic freedom case of it. The controversy is thus quite secondary. As I see it, the threat to academic freedom comes the other way around: by such tactics the Velikovsky party tries to compel interest by scientists in work in which they can find no interest."

However, many magazines and journals did accept advertisements for Pensée, including Science, Science News, and Physics Today.

Demise

At the end of the ten issue Velikovsky feature, the subscribers were informed that "Pensee may not survive the future" in the back of tenth issue while soliciting subscription renewals for up to three years on the inside front cover while the magazine was "seriously encumbered with debts". Publication ceased with the tenth issue and in early 1976 subscribers were informed "Pensée has discontinued publication indefinitely".

Velikovsky himself noted "When Pensée (1972-1974) completed the planned ten issues on the theme 'Velikovsky Reconsidered' I made it clear that I would not continue my cooperation as a regular contributor, not only because of a lack of time, but also because of disagreement with certain aspects of their editorial policy."

Successor

The successor Research Communications Network with Stephen L. Talbott as coordinator, which was "committed to no man and no theory", sent a newsletter to its "more than 16,000 U.S. members" six months later. The Network served as a clearinghouse for developments in and information about catastrophism, with special attention to Robert V. Gentry

Robert V. Gentry

Robert V. Gentry is a nuclear physicist and young earth creationist, known for his claims that radiohalos provide evidence for a young age of the Earth. He is a member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.-Career:...

's radiohalo

Radiohalo

Radiohalos or pleochroic halos are microscopic, spherical shells of discolouration within minerals such as biotite that occur in granite and other igneous rocks. The shells are zones of radiation damage caused by the inclusion of minute radioactive crystals within the host crystal structure...

s and David N. Talbott's "Saturn Thesis", as well as offering a book service through its mailings of newsletters and resources fliers. The Network ceased operations in spring 1978 with a single sheet flier announcing a book close-out sale and an offering of Velikovsky's Ramses II and his Time.

External links

Pensée -- Immanuel Velikovsky Reconsidered - Tables of contents of all ten issues

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