In the second half of the nineteenth century, when Allan Kardec codified the Spiritist Doctrine, Human Science was awarded with the gigantic task of distinguished scholars, highly developed Spirits, who came to us to change our understanding regarding important phenomena of nature. The scientific method was already published and discussed by philosophers of the importance of Descartes and Bacon. Now, experimentation would establish itself as the best way to produce knowledge.

It is worth to historical review the moment lived by Kardec and select from his texts, the contribution, which the Spiritist Doctrine was bringing to Science, back at that time. With what we know today, we are sure that the scientist of that century had not enough information to understand everything that was being psychically revealed to Allan Kardec. It is also certain that up to now we have no way to understand scientifically the whole work of the Codification. There is information in it that Human Science will take time to confirm and understand. 

The dark ages 

The century of Kardec was definitely leaving the stale of the obscurantism that dominated the Science of the time. Until the late Middle Ages, it was believed that the "Earth's age" did not exceed 4,600 years; the fossils had no connection with our past; that man was created in paradise, which he disrespected eating the forbidden fruit, and even so, still occupied a privileged place among all beings created by God; that life could arise in standing water or in the middle of old clothes; that wood burned by the presence in it of a "phlogiston"; that electricity was considered a fluid that could move obeying to attraction and repulsion forces, as well as the water moves from higher ground to lower; that the light moved through Ether; that matter was composed of substances, some elementary and others complex, which mingled according to affinity laws yet unknown; that some substances called "organic" could only be produced by living organisms; that heavy bodies fell due to their tendency to stay on Earth. 

Beginning of the discoveries  

At the time of Kardec, Science still had not produced its major technological advances. Until 1834, one of the greatest discoveries made ​​by a scientist was the lightning rod, developed by Benjamin Franklin.

However, the fundamental laws that would allow the birth of modern Science had already been discovered:

Galileo was able to prove the heliocentric theory of Copernicus and set out the first laws of motion.

Newton discovered the mathematics of gravity, explained the shuttle tidal, the oscillation of the pendulum, the falling bodies, the orbit of the stars, and fragmented light suggesting its propagation by particles.

Lavoisier began to clarify the chemistry of respiration, and established laws of conservation of matter.

Charles Lyell began the study of stratification of geological areas increasing the age of the Earth in a few thousand years.

Cuvier began the study of paleontology.

In philosophy, Rene Descartes introduced the reflection, analyzed the convenience of doubt, highlighted the importance of rational thought, and separated the study of body and soul.

Vessalius modified drastically the information about the anatomy of the human body, which he dissected like a machine, and parts could be disassembled in the same manner as clocks and windmills.

Mesmer defended the existence of animal magnetism and gave rise to induced or artificial somnambulism.

Galvani was charmed with the electricity in the legs of a frog, and Volta discovered the chemistry that would produce electricity in a rudimentary cell.
 

In England, Francis Bacon, the philosopher, taught about observation of nature and experimentation, gathering the facts, organizing ideas and producing general laws from inductive reasoning.

Enlightened figures 

Interestingly, at the same time Spiritism inspired Kardec in the production of his great spiritual work, Humanity received, by the hand of exceptional scientists, sizeable discoveries in the field of Sciences of matter.

Charles Darwin and Alfred Wallace published their work on the origin and evolution of species.

Richard Virchow, a German pathologist, stated that every living cell comes from another cell.

In England, Faraday taught us more about electricity, and Maxwell added the fundamentals of electricity and magnetism, including light in the electromagnetic phenomena.

In a physiology laboratory in France, Claude Bernard discovered the importance of the stability of the chemical elements of the blood and Louis Pasteur began his research about fermentation, he denied the spontaneous generation, and later began the rabies vaccination.

In 1804, Franz Gall drastically changed the interpretation of the brain giving birth to Phrenology [mentioned by Kardec in the Revue Spirite (Spiritist Magazine)], dated July 1860, page 198, Phrenology and Physiognomy), and in 1864 Paul Broca discovered the area of the brain associated with speech. 

Science Topics in Kardec 

Let us now collect scientific information in two of the Encoding works - The Spirits' Book (1857) and The Genesis (1868). Since then Science has developed for over a century and a half and only now are we beginning to understand the importance of their texts. We will cover only a few topics that we consider instructive. 

The origin of the Universe - At the time of Kardec, Science had no proposal for the origin of the Universe. It was only in 1927 that the Big Bang Theory - the Big Bang - began to be enunciated. A large concentration of energy, emerged out of nowhere, would have caused, for 13 or 15 billion years, the explosion that produced all matter contained in the Universe. A popular effect of this theory is that it suggests a beginning to the world we live in and meets the theological vision of those who believe in the Biblical moment of Creation when "God made the light."

More recently, quantum physics introduced the concept of antimatter and raised the possibility of the existence of other Universes beyond the physical reality in which we live.

In the lessons the Spirits have left us, creation is eternal, it renews itself constantly, and our intellect is unable to grasp any beginning to the Universe - "this substance, from where the sidereal spheres come from, has not disappeared; this power did not die because it still incessantly gives birth to new creations and constantly receives, rebuilt, the principles of worlds that go off the eternal book" (The Genesis, Chapter VI, item 17).         

Elements of the Universe - The Science of today lives a few contradictory dilemmas. It only admits the existence of matter, while its most recent theories propose that what exists is energy and matter is one of its transformations. It does not accept the existence of an immaterial world, but it recognizes the need of the mind for the perception of physical reality. Moreover, it does not know where this energy originates, and it is not even sure what the mind is.

In Philosophy, the substances of the Universe have always been a major concern. Thales of Miletus believed that everything comes from water. Empedocles adopted the four elements that have become part of the Western knowledge for two millennia - earth, water, air, and fire. Aquinas added to them a spiritual substance. Rene Descartes considered two elements - the res cogitans (the thinking thing) and the res extensa (the object, the matter). Espinoza spoke of only one substance, and Leibnitz created the idea of infinite monads, being the Soul the largest of these monads.

The Spiritist Doctrine considers “two elements, or, if you so want, two forces that govern the Universe: the spiritual element and the material element. From the simultaneous action of these two principles, special phenomena are born" (The Genesis, Introduction). It states, "In the entire Universe, there is only one single primitive substance - the universal cosmic fluid." 

Life - Two moments of the last century definitely marked our understanding of life. The conference under the title "What is life?" and delivered by Erwin Schröedinger in February 1943 in Dublin, and the publication of Francis Crick and James Watson's studies regarding the DNA discovery on April 25, 1953 - "the eighth day of creation".

The brilliant physicist, Erwin Schrödinger, proposed that heredity was transmitted by an aperiodic crystal, thus allowing its study by means of radiological methods. Thereafter, Watson and Crick discovered the double helix chemistry, which contains our genes. Schröedinger also suggested that life requires an external power supply to maintain its low entropy, which corresponds to a high organization. The thermodynamics of living beings presupposes order from disorder.

Spiritism teaches that organic matter takes on special properties when the "vital principle" operates in it. The vital principle lies in the universal cosmic fluid, which has the power of "giving rise to the life of the beings and perpetuating it in each globe" (The Genesis, Chapter VI, item 18). The "intelligent principle" will develop in this matter "vitalized" by the vital principle. 

The origin of man - Today's man is classified as a single species called Homo sapiens. He is an inhabitant of Earth for approximately 200,000 years, and he is a result of the evolution of hominids and other species of the genus Homo, the fossil discoveries of which have already surpassed many dozens.

There are two possible explanations for the presence of our species in so many places on Earth. Some consider we had a single origin in the African territory, and others that we may have had our origin in various parts of the globe. Kardec discusses the origin of man in The Genesis, Chapter XI, and suggests that the human body had its origin in various parts of Earth. Considering the human Spirit, it developed both in the planet as it migrated from other worlds of our Universe. 

The origin and evolution of species - Charles Darwin published "The Origin of Species" two years after the first edition of The Spirits' Book. Darwin suggests biological evolution to explain the variety of species, while Kardec presents spiritual evolution as a fundamental principle to justify the purpose of life.

Darwin proved that all living species have a common origin. Man stops being a creature that was born ready in the Garden of Eden, to go along with all other species of the same tree of life, conforming himself to adaptive changes in the course of millennia.

The Higher Spirits, which guided Kardec, clearly explained that the "the Spirit does not receive the divine enlightenment, which gives him, together with his free will and conscience, the notion of his high destiny, without having previously gone through the fatal series of the inferior beings, among which the work of the Spirit's individualization is prepared". (The Genesis, Chapter VI, item 19).   

Innate ideas - This discussion defied the philosophers for millennia. Plato believed that the soul, at birth, already brings knowledge acquired in the world of ideas. In the Myth of the Cave, he suggests that our material life is only the reflection of a pre-existing real world, and the source of all knowledge. His student, Aristotle, attributed learning to experience, and believed that all knowledge comes from the senses. John Locke also saw the mind as a "blank slate." Rene Descartes, however, defended the existence of innate ideas, such as the notion of God, the mathematical ideas, and the eternal truths. 

Currently, this controversy involves mainly biology and neuropsychology. The discovery of genes allowed us a deeper understanding of the extent of our heritage and discussion settled around how our knowledge is learned through experience and how the genes program our behavior. The dilemma gained fame dividing environmentalists and geneticists in the phrase "nature versus nurture" (environment versus heredity, learning versus instinct). Nowadays, nobody doubts the involvement of both genes and the environment stimulation in the production of knowledge.

On the 218-issue of The Spirits' Book, Allan Kardec questions whether the theory of innate ideas would not only be a chimera. Spirits have taught us, "The knowledge acquired in each existence is no longer lost. Freed of matter, the Spirit always has it present. During incarnation, he forgets it partly and temporarily. However, the intuition he maintains of it helps him in his progress. If it were not so, he would have to restart constantly". (Continued on the next edition.)