Editing Orgone

{{Short description|Pseudoscientific concept by Wilhelm Reich}}
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| image1    = Orgone Energy Accumulator (right-angle, closed).JPG
| alt1      = Orgone energy accumulator with the door closed.
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| alt2      = Orgone energy accumulator with the door open.
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{{Pseudomedicine sidebar|fringe}}

'''Orgone''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|ɔːr|ɡ|ou|n}} {{respell|OR|gohn}})<ref>{{cite LPD|3}}</ref> is a [[Pseudoscience|pseudoscientific]]<ref>Multiple citations:
* Kenneth S. Isaacs (psychoanalyst), 1999: "Orgone—a useless fiction with faulty basic premises, thin partial theory, and unsubstantiated application results. It was quickly discredited and cast away."[https://doi.org/10.1023%2FA%3A1021973219022 Isaacs 1999], p.&nbsp;240.
* Bauer 2000, p.&nbsp;159. [[Henry H. Bauer]], 2000: "Reich's personal charisma seems to have misled some number of people into taking his 'science' seriously. His outward behavior was not inconsistent with that of a mainstream scientific investigator. In the light of everyday common sense rather than of deep technical knowledge, his ideas could seem highly defensible. For those who lack familiarity with the real science of matters Reich dealt with, why would orgone be less believable than black holes, a bounded yet infinite universe, or "dark matter"&nbsp;...?"
* Roeckelein 2006, pp.&nbsp;517–518. Jon E. Roeckelein (psychologist), 2006: "The current consensus of scientific opinion is that Reich's orgone theory is basically a psychoanalytic system gone awry, and is an approach that represents something most ludicrous and totally dismissible."
* {{Cite book |title= Elsevier's dictionary of psychological theories |author= Jon E. Roeckelein |publisher= Elsevier |year= 2006 |pages= 493, 517–518 | isbn= 978-0-444-51750-0 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=1Yn6NZgxvssC }}
* {{Cite book |title= Philosophical problems of the internal and external worlds: essays on the philosophy of Adolf Grünbaum| volume= 1 |series= Pittsburgh-Konstanz series in the philosophy and history of science |chapter= Sciences and Pseudosciences. An attempt at a new form of demarcation |author= Robert E. Butts |editor= John Earman |editor-link= John Earman |publisher= University of Pittsburgh Press |year= 1993 |page=163 |isbn= 978-0-8229-3738-8 | url= https://books.google.com/books?id=mT4fwGk3vAYC }}
* {{Cite book |title= Pseudo-science and society in nineteenth-century America |author= Arthur Wrobel |edition= illustrated |publisher= University Press of Kentucky |year= 1987 |isbn=978-0-8131-1632-7 |page= 229 |url= https://books.google.com/books?ei=O48zTI3FN-aJOJmW-IYC }}
* {{cite book |title=Practical Applications of the Philosophy of Science: Thinking about Research |edition=illustrated |first1=Peter |last1=Turan |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |year=2013 |isbn=978-3-319-00452-5 |page=85 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IUy-BAAAQBAJ&pg=PA85}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=IUy-BAAAQBAJ&pg=PA85 Extract of page 85]
* {{cite book |title=The Pseudoscience Wars: Immanuel Velikovsky and the Birth of the Modern Fringe |edition=illustrated |first1=Michael D. |last1=Gordin |publisher=University of Chicago Press |year=2012 |isbn=978-0-226-30442-7 |page=158 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SqOPw9Yq-MEC}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=SqOPw9Yq-MEC&pg=PA158 Extract of page 158]</ref> concept variously described as an [[energy (esotericism)|esoteric energy]] or hypothetical universal [[Energy (esotericism)|life force]]. Originally proposed in the 1930s by [[Wilhelm Reich]],<ref name=blumenfeld /><ref name=about /><ref name="gardner" /> and developed by Reich's student Charles Kelley after Reich's death in 1957, orgone was conceived as the [[negative entropy|anti-entropic]] principle of the universe, a [[creativity|creative]] substratum in all of nature comparable to [[Mesmer]]'s [[animal magnetism]] (1779), to the [[Odic force]] (1845) of [[Carl Reichenbach]] and to [[Henri Bergson]]'s ''[[élan vital]]'' (1907).<ref name="kelley">Charles R. Kelley Ph.D., "What is Orgone Energy?" 1962</ref>  Orgone was seen as a massless, omnipresent substance, similar to [[luminiferous aether]], but more closely associated with living energy than with inert matter. It could allegedly coalesce to [[Self-organization|create organization]] on all scales, from the smallest microscopic units—called "bions" in orgone theory—to macroscopic structures like organisms, clouds, or even galaxies.<ref name=skeptic>{{citation |title= orgone energy |work= [[The Skeptic's Dictionary]] |url= http://skepdic.com/orgone.html }}</ref>

Reich argued that deficits or constrictions in bodily orgone were at the root of many diseases, most prominently [[cancer]], much as deficits or constrictions in the libido could produce [[Neurosis|neuroses]] in [[Freudian theory]]. Reich founded the Orgone Institute ca. 1942<ref>
{{cite book
| last1                 = DeMarco
| first1                = Donald
| last2                 = Wiker
| first2                = Benjamin
| author-link2          = Benjamin Wiker
| title                 = Architects of the Culture of Death
| url                   = https://books.google.com/books?id=IRfC5enFeH8C
| publisher             = Ignatius Press
| publication-date      = 2004
| page                  = 229
| isbn                  = 9781586170165
| access-date            = 2015-01-18
| quote                 = [...] Reich claimed as his great discovery, made in 1939, that at the heart of all matter is a hitherto unknown energy that he called 'orgone'.[...] Three years later he founded the Orgone Institute, where the 'science' of orgonomy would be studied.
| year                = 2004
}}
</ref>
to pursue research into orgone energy after he immigrated to the US in 1939; he used it to publish literature and distribute material relating to the topic for over a decade. Reich designed special "orgone energy accumulators"—devices ostensibly collecting orgone energy from the environment—to enable the study of orgone energy and to be applied medically to improve general health and vitality.<ref name=blumenfeld /> Ultimately, the [[U.S. Food and Drug Administration]] (FDA) obtained a federal injunction barring the interstate distribution of orgone-related materials because Reich and his associates were making false and misleading claims. A judge later ruled to jail Reich and ordered the banning and destruction of all orgone-related materials at the institute after an associate of Reich violated the injunction.<ref name="about"/> Reich denied the assertion that orgone accumulators could improve sexual health by providing [[orgastic potency]].<ref>"The orgone accumulator, as has been clearly stated in the relevant publications (''The Cancer Biopathy'', etc.), cannot provide orgastic potency" from Reich, W. (1950, April) ''Orgone Energy Bulletin'' '''2'''(2).</ref>

The [[National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health]] lists orgone as a type of "putative energy".<ref>
http://nccih.nih.gov/health/backgrounds/energymed.htm "putative energy fields (also called biofields) have defied measurement to date by reproducible methods. Therapies involving putative energy fields are based on the concept that human beings are infused with a subtle form of energy. This proposed vital energy or life force is known under different names in different cultures, such as qi ... prana, etheric energy, fohat, orgone, odic force, mana, and homeopathic resonance".
</ref> After Reich's death, research into the concept of orgone passed to some of his students, such as Kelley, and later to a new generation of scientists in Germany keen to discover an empirical basis for the orgone hypothesis (the first positive results of which were provided in 1989 by Stefan Muschenich).<ref>Müschenich, S. & Gebauer, R.: "Die (Psycho-)Physiologischen Wirkungen des Reich'schen Orgonakkumulators auf den Menschlichen Organismus" ("The [Psycho-]Physiological Effects of the Reich Orgone Accumulator on the Human Organism,") University of Marburg (Germany), Department of Psychology, Master's Degree Dissertation, 1986. Published as: "Der Reichsche Orgonakkumulator. Naturwissenschaftliche Diskussion - Praktische Anwendung - Experimentelle Untersuchung" ("The Reichian Orgone-Accumulator. Scientific Discussion - Practical Use - Experimental Testing"), 1987, published by Nexus Verlag, Frankfurt (Also see the published work: Müschenich, Stefan: Der Gesundheitsbegriff im Werk des Arztes Wilhelm Reich (The Concept of Health in the Works of the physician Wilhelm Reich), Doktorarbeit am Fachbereich Humanmedizin der Philipps-Universität Marburg (M.D. thesis, 1995, University of Marburg (published by Verlag Gorich & Weiershauser, Marburg) 1995.</ref>
There is no empirical support for the concept of orgone in [[medicine]] or the physical sciences,<ref name=isaacs/> and research into the concept concluded with the end of the institute. Founded in 1982, the Institute for Orgonomic Science in New York is dedicated to the continuation of Reich's work; it both publishes a digital journal on it and collects corresponding works.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://orgonomicscience.org/bibliography/|title=Bibliographies|website=The Institute for Orgonomic Science|language=en-US|access-date=2019-10-01}}</ref>

==History==

The concept of orgone belongs to Reich's later work after he immigrated to the US. Reich's early work was based on the [[Freudian]] concept of the [[libido]], though influenced by sociological understandings with which Freud disagreed but which were to some degree followed by other prominent theorists such as [[Herbert Marcuse]] and [[Carl Jung]]. While Freud had focused on a [[solipsistic]] conception of mind in which unconscious and inherently selfish primal drives (primarily the sexual drive, or libido) were suppressed or sublimated by internal representations ([[cathexis|cathexes]]) of parental figures (the [[superego]]), for Reich libido was a life-affirming force repressed by society directly. For example, in one of his better-known analyses, Reich observes a workers' political rally, noting that participants were careful not to violate signs that prohibited walking on the grass; Reich saw this as the state co-opting unconscious responses to parental authority as a means of controlling behavior.<ref>See ''The Mass Psychology of Fascism'' and ''Listen Little Man''<!--cites to follow--></ref> He was expelled from the Institute of Psycho-analysis because of these disagreements over the nature of the libido and his increasingly political stance. He was forced to leave Germany soon after Hitler came to power.<ref>Paul A. Robinson, ''The Sexual Radicals: Reich, Roheim, Marcuse'', Paladin, 1972. Previously published as ''The Sexual Radicals'', London: Maurice Temple Smith, 1970. Originally published as ''The Freudian Left'', New York; London: Harper and Row.</ref>

[[Image:WilhelmReichcloudbuster2.jpg|thumb|Reich with one of his [[cloudbuster]]s, a device which supposedly could influence weather by altering levels of atmospheric orgone.]]

Reich took an increasingly [[Bioenergetics|bioenergetic]] view of libido, perhaps influenced by his tutor [[Paul Kammerer]] and another biologist, [[Otto Heinrich Warburg]].<ref>James Strick, ''[http://www.jackflannel.org/orgonon_2005.html  The Historic Context of Reich's Laboratory Work]'', talk, {{webarchive |url= https://web.archive.org/web/20051223134314/http://www.jackflannel.org/orgonon_2005.html |date=December 23, 2005 }}</ref> In the early 20th century, when [[molecular biology]] was in its infancy, [[developmental biology]] in particular still presented mysteries that made the idea of a [[Vitalism|specific life energy]] respectable, as was articulated by theorists such as [[Hans Driesch]]. As a psycho-analyst, Reich aligned such theories with the Freudian libido, while as a materialist, he believed such a life force must be susceptible to physical experiments.

Reich wrote in his best-known book, ''[[The Function of the Orgasm]]'': "Between 1919 and 1921, I became familiar with Driesch's 'Philosophie des Organischen' and his 'Ordnungslehre'…  Driesch's contention seemed incontestable to me. He argued that, in the sphere of the life function, the whole could be developed from a part, whereas a machine could not be made from a screw…  However, I couldn't quite accept the transcendentalism of the life principle. Seventeen years later I was able to resolve the contradiction on the basis of a formula pertaining to the function of energy. Driesch's theory was always present in my mind when I thought about vitalism. The vague feeling I had about the irrational nature of his assumption turned out to be justified in the end. He landed among the [[Spiritualism (movement)|spiritualists]]."<ref>Quoted in Malgosia Askanas, Ph.D. ''Expose of the Secret and Not-so-secret misery of (An)Orgonomy and Reichianism''</ref>

The concept of orgone resulted from this work in the psycho-physiology of libido. After Reich migrated to the US, he began to speculate about biological development and evolution and then branched into much broader speculations about the nature of the universe.<ref name="kelley" /> This led him to the conception of "bions," self-[[luminescent]] sub-cellular [[vesicle (biology)|vesicles]] that he believed were observable in decaying materials and presumably present universally. Initially, he thought of bions as [[electrodynamic]] or radioactive entities, as had the Russian biologist [[Alexander Gurwitsch]], but later concluded that he had discovered an entirely unknown but measurable force, which he then named "orgone",<ref name="kelley" /> a pseudo-Greek formation probably from ''org-'' "impulse, excitement" as in ''[[orgasm|org-asm]]'', plus ''-one'' as in ''[[ozone]]'' (the Greek neutral participle, virtually {{lang|grc|*ὄργον}}, ''gen''.: {{lang|grc|*ὄργοντος}}).<ref>[[Webster's Dictionary]], [http://www.yourdictionary.com/orgone orgone].</ref>

For Reich, neurosis became a physical manifestation he called "body armor"—deeply seated tensions and inhibitions in the physical body that were not separated from any mental effects that might be observed.<ref>Edward W. L. Smith, ''The Body in Psychotherapy,'' Macfarland, 2000.</ref> He developed a therapeutic approach he called [[vegetotherapy]] that was aimed at opening and releasing this body armor so that free [[instinctive reflex]]es—which he considered a token of psychic well-being—could take over.

==Evaluation==
Orgone was closely associated with sexuality: Reich, following Freud, saw nascent sexuality as the primary energetic force of life. The term itself was chosen to share a root with the word ''[[orgasm]]'', which both Reich and Freud took as a fundamental expression of psychological health. This focus on sexuality, while acceptable in the clinical perspective of Viennese psychoanalytic circles, scandalized the conservative American public even as it appealed to [[countercultural]] figures like [[William S. Burroughs]] and [[Jack Kerouac]].

In some cases, Reich's experimental techniques do not appear to have been very careful or include precautions to remove experimental bias.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.rogermwilcox.com/Reich/orgone_radiation.html|title=ORGONE RADIATION: A Skeptical Scrutiny of the Works and Theories of Wilhelm Reich|website=www.rogermwilcox.com}}</ref> Reich was concerned with experimental verification from other scientists. [[Albert Einstein]] [[Wilhelm Reich#Experiment with Einstein|agreed to participate]], but thought Reich's research lacked scientific detachment and experimental rigor, and concluded that the effect was simply due to the temperature gradient inside the room. "Through these experiments I regard the matter as completely solved," he wrote to Reich on 7 February 1941. Upon further correspondence from Reich, Einstein replied that he could not devote any additional time to the matter and asked that his name not be misused for advertising purposes.

Orgone and its related concepts were quickly denounced in the [[post-World War II]] American press.<ref>Mildred Brady, The New Cult of Sex & Anarchy, article in ''[[The New Republic]]'' printed 1947</ref> Reich and his students were seen as a "cult of sex and anarchy", at least in part because orgone was linked with the title of his book ''The Function of the Orgasm'', and this led to numerous investigations as a communist and denunciation under a wide variety of other pretexts.<ref>Norman D. Livergood, ''America, Awake!'', Dandelion Books (2002), p.263</ref> The psychoanalytical community of the time saw his approach to healing diseases as quackery of the worst sort.<ref>{{cite book | title=Planet Medicine: From Stone Age Shamanism to Post-industrial Healing | author=Richard Grossinger | author-link=Richard Grossinger | edition=revised | publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]] | year=1982 | isbn=0-394-71238-2 | page = 293 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EUw9AAAAIAAJ&q=psychoanalytic+community+quackery+ufo+out+of+context&pg=PA293 }}</ref> In 1954, the US [[Food and Drug Administration]] obtained an injunction to prevent Reich from making medical claims relating to orgone, which prevented him from shipping "orgone devices" across state lines, among other stipulations.<ref name="clifford"/> Reich resisted the order to cease interstate distribution of orgone and was jailed, and the FDA destroyed Reich's books, research materials, and devices at his institute relating to orgone.<ref name=gardner>{{citation |title= [[Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science]]. Popular Science |author= Martin Gardner |author-link= Martin Gardner |edition= 2, revised, abbreviated |publisher= Courier Dover Publications |chapter= Chapter 21: Orgonomy |year= 1957 |isbn= 9780486203942 |page= [https://archive.org/details/fadsfallaciesint00gard/page/253 253] |chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=TwP3SGAUsnkC }}</ref><ref name="clifford">{{cite web|url=http://www.orgone.org/wr-vs-usa/wr40319d.htm|title=Decree of injunction order (March 19, 1954) by Judge Clifford|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717195734/http://www.orgone.org/wr-vs-usa/wr40319d.htm|archive-date=July 17, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | author=Gardner, Martin | title=On the Wild Side |publisher=Prometheus Books}}</ref><ref>Lugg, A. (1987). ''Bunkum, Flim-Flam and Quackery: Pseudoscience as a Philosophical Problem.'' Dialectica, 41(3), 221-230.</ref>

Some [[Psychotherapy|psychotherapists]] and [[psychologists]] practicing various kinds of [[body psychotherapy]] and [[somatic psychology]] have continued to use Reich's proposed emotional-release methods and character-analysis ideas.<ref name=Muschenich>Müschenich, S. & Gebauer, R.: "''Die (Psycho-)Physiologischen Wirkungen des Reich'schen Orgonakkumulators auf den Menschlichen Organismus''" ("The [Psycho-]Physiological Effects of the Reich Orgone Accumulator on the Human Organism,") [[University of Marburg]] (Germany), Department of Psychology, Master's Degree Dissertation, 1986. Published as: "''Der Reichsche Orgonakkumulator. Naturwissenschaftliche Diskussion - Praktische Anwendung - Experimentelle Untersuchung''" ("The Reichian Orgone-Accumulator. Scientific Discussion - Practical Use - Experimental Testing"), 1987, published by Nexus Verlag, [[Frankfurt]]  (Also see the published work: Müschenich, Stefan: ''Der Gesundheitsbegriff im Werk des Arztes Wilhelm Reich'' (''The Concept of Health in the Works of the physician Wilhelm Reich''), Doktorarbeit am Fachbereich Humanmedizin der Philipps-Universität Marburg (M.D. thesis, 1995, [[University of Marburg]] (published by Verlag Gorich & Weiershauser, Marburg) 1995.</ref><ref name=Kavouras>Kavouras, J.: "''Heilen mit Orgonenergie: Die Medizinische Orgonomie'' (''Healing by Orgone Energy: Medical Orgonomy'')," Turm Verlag (publisher), Beitigheim, Germany, 2005; Lassek, Heiko: "''Orgon-Therapie: Heilen mit der Reinen Lebensenergie'' (''Orgone Therapy: Healing by [the] pure Life/Vital energy'')," Scherz Verlag (publisher), 1997, Munchen, Germany; Medeiros, Geraldo: "''Bioenergologia: A ciencia das energias de vida''" (Portuguese: ''Bioenergology: The science of life's energies''), Editora Universalista, Brazil</ref><ref name=DeMeoHandbook>DeMeo, J.: "''The Orgone Accumulator Handbook''," Natural Energy, 1989</ref>

==Film influence==
[[Dušan Makavejev]] opened his 1971 satirical film ''[[W.R.: Mysteries of the Organism]]'' with documentary coverage of Reich and his development of orgone accumulators, combining this with other imagery and a fictional sub-plot in a collage mocking sexual and political authorities.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070715/REVIEWS08/707150301/1023|title=WR -- Mysteries of the Organism :: rogerebert.com :: Great Movies|last=Ebert|first=Roger|date=July 15, 2007|publisher=Chicago Sun-Times|access-date=2011-11-13}}</ref> Scenes include one of only "ten or fifteen orgone boxes left in the country" at that time.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.brightlightsfilm.com/33/makavejev.php|title=Bright Lights Film Journal :: Sweet Movies: Four by Dusan Makavejev|last=Morris|first=Gary|newspaper=Bright Lights Film Journal |date=July 2011|access-date=2011-11-13}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Alexander Gurwitsch]]
* [[Animal magnetism]] of [[Franz Anton Mesmer]]
* [[Energy (spiritual)]]
* [[Energy medicine]]
* [[Fringe science]]
* [[Integratron]]
* [[List of ineffective cancer treatments]]
* [[Odic force]] of [[Carl Reichenbach]]
* [[Rupert Sheldrake]]
* [[Scientific skepticism]]
* [[Thetan]]
* [[Vitalism]]
* [[Vril]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em |refs=

<ref name=blumenfeld>{{citation |title= Tools and techniques for character interpretation: a handbook of psychology for actors, writers, and directors |chapter= Chapter 6. Willian Reich and Character Analysis|series= Limelight Series |author= Robert Blumenfeld |publisher= Hal Leonard Corporation |year= 2006 |pages= 135–137 |isbn= 9780879103262 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=YLxfnPc3lskC }}</ref>

<ref name="about">{{cite news |url=http://inventors.about.com/od/qrstartinventors/a/orgone.htm |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130116071131/http://inventors.about.com/od/qrstartinventors/a/orgone.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=January 16, 2013 |title=Orgone Energy - Wilhelm Reich and the Orgone Accumulator |newspaper=Thoughtco |access-date=2008-09-13}}</ref>

<ref name=isaacs>{{cite journal |journal= [[Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy]] |author= Isaacs, K. |year= 1999 |title= Searching for Science in Psychoanalysis| volume= 29 |issue= 3 | pages= 235–252 |quote= [orgone is] a useless fiction with faulty basic premises, thin partial theory, and unsubstantiated application results. It was quickly discredited and cast away. |doi=10.1023/A:1021973219022|s2cid= 39057986 }}</ref>}}

==External links==
{{wikt}}
{{Commons category|Orgone}}
* [http://www.quackwatch.org/11Ind/reich.html Quackwatch article]

{{Wilhelm Reich}}
{{Pseudoscience}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Body psychotherapy]]
[[Category:Energy (esotericism)]]
[[Category:Orgonomy]]
[[Category:Pseudoscience]]
[[Category:Vitalism]]
[[Category:Sexology]]