Remy Chauvin at Sainte-Croix-aux-Mines

Sainte-Croix-aux-Mines

Sainte-Croix-aux-Mines is a commune in the Haut-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France.-References:*...

, Haut-Rhin

Haut-Rhin

Haut-Rhin is a département of the Alsace region of France, named after the Rhine river. Its name means Upper Rhine. Haut-Rhin is the smaller and less populated of the two departements of Alsace, although is still densely populated compared to the rest of France.-Subdivisions:The department...

, was a biologist

Biologist

A biologist is a scientist devoted to and producing results in biology through the study of life. Typically biologists study organisms and their relationship to their environment. Biologists involved in basic research attempt to discover underlying mechanisms that govern how organisms work...

 and entomologist, and a French

French people

The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...

 Honorary Professor Emeritus at the Sorbonne

Sorbonne

The Sorbonne is an edifice of the Latin Quarter, in Paris, France, which has been the historical house of the former University of Paris...

, PhD

PHD

PHD may refer to:*Ph.D., a doctorate of philosophy*Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*PHD finger, a protein sequence*PHD Mountain Software, an outdoor clothing and equipment company*PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...

, senior research fellow since 1946. Chauvin was also known for defending the rights of animals and for being interested in such topics as parapsychology

Parapsychology

The term parapsychology was coined in or around 1889 by philosopher Max Dessoir, and originates from para meaning "alongside", and psychology. The term was adopted by J.B. Rhine in the 1930s as a replacement for the term psychical research...

, life after death

Life After Death

Life After Death is the second and final studio album by American rapper The Notorious B.I.G., released March 25, 1997 on Bad Boy Records. A double album, it was released posthumously following his death on March 9, 1997 and serves as his final studio album...

, psychics, clairvoyance

Clairvoyance

The term clairvoyance is used to refer to the ability to gain information about an object, person, location or physical event through means other than the known human senses, a form of extra-sensory perception...

 and the phenomenon of UFOs.

Evolution

Chauvin, continuing a tradition defended by French scientists Pierre-Paul Grasse

Pierre-Paul Grassé

Pierre-Paul Grassé, born on November 27, 1895 in Périgueux and died on July 9, 1985, was a French zoologist, author of over 300 publications including the influential 35-volume Traité de Zoologie. He was an expert on termites.- Studies :...

 and Jean Piveteau

Jean Piveteau

Jean Piveteau was a distinguished French vertebrate paleontologist. He was elected to the French Academy of Sciences in 1956 and served as the institute's president in 1973.- External links :** at Google Books...

, was very critical of Darwinism

Darwinism

Darwinism is a set of movements and concepts related to ideas of transmutation of species or of evolution, including some ideas with no connection to the work of Charles Darwin....

 and sociobiology

Sociobiology

Sociobiology is a field of scientific study which is based on the assumption that social behavior has resulted from evolution and attempts to explain and examine social behavior within that context. Often considered a branch of biology and sociology, it also draws from ethology, anthropology,...

 as a specialist in animal behavior. He developed his own evolutionary theory which was mainly developed in three books (God ants, God of the stars: The Biology of the Spirit; Darwinism or the death of a myth)

Chauvin's view of evolution can be seen as directed, goal driven and non-random, he has been described as a non-darwinian evolutionist, a summary of his evolutionary views:

• Neo-Darwinism
  Neo-Darwinism
  Neo-Darwinism is the 'modern synthesis' of Darwinian evolution through natural selection with Mendelian genetics, the latter being a set of primary tenets specifying that evolution involves the transmission of characteristics from parent to child through the mechanism of genetic transfer, rather...
  
   is a set of tautologies (e.g. natural selection predicts the survival of the fittest. But what is the fittest? Whoever survives!).
• Life is characterized by an immense adaptability to changes in extensive environments.
• The narrowness of the adaptation is death (e.g. panda, eating only bamboo, was sentenced to death or long term).
• Alongside a complicated device, you can often find one nearby that simple apparently works as well.
• Evolution looks at goal and not the means that may be very different (e.g. the wing and the flight).
• The medium is selective in only a very small number of cases.
• Evolution is directed. This is an internal program that runs and does not return back. The goal seems to be the highest possible psyche.

Similar to the parapsychologist Helmut Schmidt

Helmut Schmidt (parapsychologist)

Helmut Schmidt is a German-born parapsychologist. In the early 1970s he pioneered research into the effects of human consciousness on machines called random number generators or random event generators at the Rhine Research Center Institute for Parapsychology...

 Chauvin developed some of his views from some of his experiments in Anpsi (animal

Animal

Animals are a major group of multicellular, eukaryotic organisms of the kingdom Animalia or Metazoa. Their body plan eventually becomes fixed as they develop, although some undergo a process of metamorphosis later on in their life. Most animals are motile, meaning they can move spontaneously and...

 psi

Psi (parapsychology)

Psi is a term from parapsychology derived from the Greek, ψ psi, 23rd letter of the Greek alphabet; from the Greek ψυχή psyche, "mind, soul".-Etymology:...

), he did experiments with rats and his results were 58% over the chance level, there was no obvious explanation for the animal's behavior and he concluded that the rats are most likely to have used Extrasensory perception.

Chauvin has been the subject of much criticism from others because it would appeal his views of evolution

Evolution

Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...

, have a vitalist leaning. He was also accused by his critics to strengthen creationism

Creationism

Creationism is the religious beliefthat humanity, life, the Earth, and the universe are the creation of a supernatural being, most often referring to the Abrahamic god. As science developed from the 18th century onwards, various views developed which aimed to reconcile science with the Genesis...

, although Chauvin was not a creationist.

Some proponents of Intelligent Design

Intelligent design

Intelligent design is the proposition that "certain features of the universe and of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause, not an undirected process such as natural selection." It is a form of creationism and a contemporary adaptation of the traditional teleological argument for...

 have discovered the works of Chauvin and claim it openly. William Dembski for example has praised Chauvin's work.

Chauvin wrote a number of books on parapsychology

Parapsychology

The term parapsychology was coined in or around 1889 by philosopher Max Dessoir, and originates from para meaning "alongside", and psychology. The term was adopted by J.B. Rhine in the 1930s as a replacement for the term psychical research...

 similar to the authors Jacques Bergier

Jacques Bergier

Jacques Bergier , was a chemical engineer, member of the French-resistance, spy, journalist and writer...

 and Louis Pauwels

Louis Pauwels

Louis Pauwels was a French journalist and writer.- Biography :Louis Pauwels was a teacher at Athis-Mons from 1939 to 1945 , Louis Pauwels wrote in many monthly literary French magazines as early as 1946 until the...

. Chauvin also did a number of experiments on psychokinesis

Psychokinesis

The term psychokinesis , also referred to as telekinesis with respect to strictly describing movement of matter, sometimes abbreviated PK and TK respectively, is a term...

, after one of the experiments because of the results, Chauvin came to believe that mind can influence matter. Chauvin's experiment involved using an uranium isotope, a Geiger counter

Geiger counter

A Geiger counter, also called a Geiger–Müller counter, is a type of particle detector that measures ionizing radiation. They detect the emission of nuclear radiation: alpha particles, beta particles or gamma rays. A Geiger counter detects radiation by ionization produced in a low-pressure gas in a...

 and several assistants. According to Andrew Tomas

Andrew Tomas

Andrew Tomas was a UFO researcher, Freemason and author. An accountant by trade, Thomas was appointed to the position of official Sydney observer for the Australian Flying Saucer Bureau after meeting AFSB founder, Edgar Jarrold.- Personal :Tomas was born in St...

 who wrote about one of his experiments:

"Chauvin asked the experimenters to focus their thoughts during the first minute on accelerating radioactive disintegration, to concentrate on slowing it down by will power during the second minute and to turn off their thoughts for the third minute. The Geiger counter automatically stopped every minute, so when the results were checked, the participants of the test could hardly believe their eyes - they had actually succeeded in controlling isotopic disintegration by their concerted mental power."

Published works by Chauvin

Most of Chavin's works have been published in French. The translations into English are listed here:

• The life of the insect and physiology, ed. Lechevalier, 1941, repr. 1983
• What you should know about the life of the insect physiology and biology, ed. Lechevalier, 1943
• Treaty of Insect Physiology: the major functions, behavior, environmental physiology, ed. INRA, 1949, repr. 1958
• Five years of operation of the station Bee Research Bures-sur-Yvette, ed. INRA, 1954
• Life and habits of insects, ed. Payot, 1956
• Bee biology. General review until 1956, ed. INRA, vol. 1, 1958
• God of scholars, the experience of God, ed. Mame, 1958
• Social behavior in animals, ed. PUF, 1961
• Animal societies, the gorilla of the bee, ed. Plon, 1963
• Fighting techniques in animals, ed. Hachette, coll. The Adventure of Life, 1965
• Our unknown powers (under the pseudonym Pierre Duval, Jacques + Bergier), ed. Planet (Planet Encyclopedia coll.), 1966, repr. CGR (and revised), 1997
• The world of insects, ed. Hachette, 1967
• Behavior (+ Canestrelli L.), ed. Masson, 1968, ed. PUF, 1968
• The world of ants, ed. Plon, 1969, repr. du Rocher 1994, supplemented
• Science to the strange (under the pseudonym Pierre Duval), ed. Club of Friends of the Book (CAL - al. Library of irrationality and of the great mysteries), 1973
• Attachment (+ Anzieu D.), ed. Oxford University Press, 1974
• Ethology, biological study of animal behavior, ed. PUF, 1975
• Gifted, ed. Stock, 1975 repr. Marabout, 1979
• From the heart, ed. Retz, 1976
• Some things I do not understand, ed. CELT, 1976, repr. Famot, 1982 (revised edition of "Science at the strange")
• The bees and I, ed. Hachette, 1976
• The animal world and its complex behaviors (+ Bernadette Chauvin), ed. Plon, 1977
• The challenges of future war, ed. France-Empire, 1978
• Ants and Men, ed. France-Empire, 1979
• The synod of the faithful, ed. Vernoy, 1979
• Secrets of portolans (maps of the unknown), ed. France-Empire, 1980
• Parapsychology. When the irrational joined Science, ed. Hachette, 1980
• Scholars, for what?, Ed. Payot, 1981
• Plot in our church, ed. du Rocher, 1981 (idem "The Synod of the faithful", less the introduction, plus an afterword and a conclusion)
• The animal model (+ Bernadette Chauvin), ed. Hachette, 1982
• Animal societies, ed. PUF, 1982, repr. Quadriga / PUF, 1999
• Travel Overseas Land, ed. du Rocher, 1983
• The watchmen of the time, ed. du Rocher, 1984
• Animal societies and human societies, 1984, PUF, coll. " What do I know? "No. 696 (note: QSJ with same title and same number, by Paul Chauchard)
• The biology of mind, ed. du Rocher, 1985
• The hive and man, ed. Calmann-Lévy, 1987
• God of the ants, the god of the stars, ed. The Pre Clerics, 1988  
• The direction of life and the genesis of thought, ed. François-Xavier de Guibert, 1989, repr. EYE 1998
• Animals and men, ed. Seghers, 1989
• The animal instinct, ed. Contrasts / The zeitgeist, 1990 (first part of Charles Darwin, 1884)
• A strange passion, a life for insects, ed. The Pre Clerics, 1990
• Psychological function, ed. Robert Laffont, 1991
• The conquerors blind, science threatens us does?, Ed. Robert Laffont, 1992
• The new Golem, ed. du Rocher, 1993
• Live from the afterlife (in collaboration with Father Francis Brown ), ed. Robert Laffont, 1993
• The world of ants, ed. du Rocher, 1994
• God's future, about a man of science, ed. du Rocher, 1995
• Bird World, ed. the Rock 1996
• Darwinism or the end of a myth, al. "The Spirit and Matter", ed. du Rocher, 1997
• Handbook of Psychophysiology, ed. Masson, 1997
• Listening to the beyond (+ father F. Brown), ed. Lebeaud, 1999 (fitness "Live from the Beyond")
• The devil in the font, ed. du Rocher, 1999
• The riddle of the bees, ed. du Rocher, 1999
• The man, monkey and bird, ed. Odile Jacob, 2000
• The paranormal in the Third Millennium, ed. JM Laffont - LPM, 2001
• The ball of bees, Volume 1, ed. of Goral, 2001 (Cartoon, RC scenario, drawings by Patrice Serres
• The return of the magicians, the alarm of a scientist, ed. JMG, 2002
• The ball of bees, Volume 2 "The fragrance of coffee," ed. of Goral, 2002 (planned trilogy)

See also

• Richard Milton
  Richard Milton (author)
  Richard Milton is a British journalist and writer who deals with often highly controversial subjects. Milton, an engineer by training, has published on the topics of popular history, business, scientific controversies and alternative science and has published a novel.-Books:Popular science book...
  
  
• Extrasensory perception
• Telepathy
  Telepathy
  Telepathy , is the induction of mental states from one mind to another. The term was coined in 1882 by the classical scholar Fredric W. H. Myers, a founder of the Society for Psychical Research, and has remained more popular than the more-correct expression thought-transference...
  
  
• Paranormal
  Paranormal
  Paranormal is a general term that designates experiences that lie outside "the range of normal experience or scientific explanation" or that indicates phenomena understood to be outside of science's current ability to explain or measure...
  
  
• Vitalism
  Vitalism
  Vitalism, as defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary, is#a doctrine that the functions of a living organism are due to a vital principle distinct from biochemical reactions...