Joséphin Péladan: Occultism, Catholicism, and Science in the Fin de Siècle

Abstract

Joséphin Péladan considered scientific materialism to be the primary cause of the decadence of French culture. He believed it fostered the democratization and secularization of society and the taste for naturalism in the arts, all of which he abhorred.  With his Rosicrucian philosophy of occult science, formulated in his critical writings and promulgated in his artistic salons, he offered the alternative of a hierarchic and traditional ideology that he hoped would restore French culture to what he believed was its ideal, Catholic, and pre-Republican state.