French Literature Reviews - 2026

A. Koestler, The Roots of Coincidence
Philosophy, Anthropology and Ideas

Arthur Koestler, The Roots of Coincidence

144 p.

EAN 9782251447681

15.00 EUR

Publisher's overview:

This book is an excursion to the frontier between two fundamental domains of research: subatomic quantum physics on the one hand, and parapsychology on the other.
By showing how parapsychology has attained scientific respectability, Koestler reminds us that in the United States electronics were used to experiment on psychokinesis, while in the USSR telepathy was an official research discipline.
Growing increasingly "occult," theoretical physics—cheerfully violating the laws of nature that were once considered sacrosanct—showed a surprising inclination toward "supernatural" concepts such as negative mass, spatial holes, and reversed time. In the fantastical world of quantum physics, the sensible notions of space, time, matter, and causality no longer apply. The greatest physicists of our era—Einstein, Planck, and Heisenberg—were fully aware of the "mystical" nature of the concepts they employed, and several of them attempted a synthesis between physics and parapsychology.
Koestler examines some of these attempts at synthesis to bridge the exact sciences and human intuitions in search of profound realities; he outlines a personal hypothesis regarding this problem, urging all researchers to approach it without prejudice, guarding against both rigid materialism and superstitious credulity.

A Hungarian Jew born in Budapest in 1905, Arthur Koestler studied in Vienna before working as a journalist in Palestine. Upon returning to Europe, he joined the German Communist Party, finding there an answer to the Nazi threat, and was also drawn to the Soviet utopia. He spent a year in the Soviet Union and later fought in the Spanish Civil War. Having broken with the Communist Party by 1938, he relentlessly fought the Stalinist regime, notably through his masterwork, Darkness at Noon. From 1940 onward, he lived in England, where he died by suicide alongside his wife in March 1983. His work as a novelist, philosopher, historian, and essayist earned him worldwide renown.

Arthur Koestler occupies a unique place in twentieth-century literature and intellectual history, moving seamlessly from political journalism and trenchant anti-totalitarian fiction, such as Darkness at Noon, toward broader philosophical inquiries. Best known for his engagement with the crises of European politics and his eventual break with communism, Koestler dedicated much of his later writing to the limits of human reason and the mysteries of consciousness. This background informs his rigorous yet open-minded approach to unconventional scientific hypotheses, bridging the gap between rigorous empirical inquiry and speculative philosophy.

This work serves as a valuable resource for readers interested in the history of science, parapsychology, and the philosophical implications of quantum mechanics. By examining how pioneering physicists like Einstein, Planck, and Heisenberg confronted the mystical dimensions of their own discoveries, Koestler invites researchers and general readers alike to reconsider rigid materialist paradigms. The book addresses enduring questions regarding causality, space, and time, offering a thoughtful framework for those seeking to understand the often overlooked intersections between exact science and human intuition.