Occult science is not bent on toppling, but rather on uplifting Western science to an even nobler position, by using examples from Western science itself to show how it is rooted in the deeper substratum of Occult Science and Philosophy. (Bilimoria 1997, p. 196; Asprem 2013, p. 425)[26]
The Theosophists-scientists
William Crookes (1832-1919), a British chemist and physicist.
Frederic Myers (1843-1901), a British philologist and philosopher.
George Mead (1863-1933), a British historian and religious studies scholar.
Lester Smith (1904-1992), a British chemist.
Alexander Wilder (1823-1908), an American religious studies scholar and philosopher.
William James (1842-1910), an American psychologist and philosopher.
Thomas Edison (1847-1931), an American engineer and inventor.
Robert Ellwood, an American religious studies scholar.
Camille Flammarion (1842-1925), a French astronomer and writer.
Emile Marcault (1878-1968), a French psychologist and philologist.
Charles Johnston (1867-1931), an Irish Sanskrit scholar and orientalist.
Iqbal Taimni (1898-1978), an Indian chemist and philosopher.
Edi Bilimoria, an Indian scientist and engineer.
Julia Shabanova, a Ukrainian philosopher and pedagogue.
The Theosophists-scientists, who were awarded Subba Row medaclass="underline" George Mead (1898), Emile Marcault (1936), Iqbal Taimni (1975), Lester Smith (1976). (Ramanujachary 1993, pp. 54-55)
Criticism of Theosophy
A Russian philosopher Vladimir Solovyov wrote that modern Theosophy is a doctrine not only ''anti-religious'' and ''antiphilosophic'', but also ''anti-scientific.'' (Соловьёв 1911, p. 397) In Nikolai Berdyaev's opinion, modern Theosophy does not represent a synthesis of religion, philosophy, and science, as its adherents say, but there is a ''mixture'' of them, in which there is no real religion, philosophy, and science. (Berdyaev 1972, p. 299)
The ambiguous attitude of the Theosophists towards science was especially abruptly criticized by the servants of the church. In 1912, John Driscoll, an author of The Catholic Encyclopedia, has described attitude of Theosophy to science as follows:
Modern theosophy claims to be a definite science. Its teachings are the product of thought, and its source is consciousness, not any Divine revelation. <…> Judging it as presented by its own exponents, it appears to be a strange mixture of mysticism, charlatanism, and thaumaturgic pretension combined with an eager effort to express its teaching in words which reflect the atmosphere of Christian ethics and modern scientific truths. (Driscoll 1912, pp. 627-628)
A Russian theologian Andrey Kuraev accused the Theosophists of violation of the principles of scientific aethics, arguing they don't react to the opponents' objections, don't bring ''a scientific arguments in support of their position,'' and also put themselves ''beyond all criticism from side of science.'' In support of his words, Kuraev quoted Blavatsky's statement on a need to fight with ''every modern scholar's'' pretension to evaluate ''of ancient Esotericism'', when he is not ''a Mystic'' or ''a Kabalist.'' (Blavatsky 1897, p. 13; Кураев 2000, p. 129) In connection with the special attention of the Theosophists to the theory of evolution, a Russian Orthodox cleric and theologian Dimitry Drujinin wrote that ''Theosophy began to parasitize on the central tendencies of thought and science of its time.'' And also: ''The rough and cheeky Blavatsky's criticism of Darwinism turned into personal insults to scholars.'' According to Drujinin, ''the statements of Theosophy are an absurd nonsense.'' (Дружинин 2012, pp. 79-81)
Lydia Fesenkova, an employee of the Institute of philosophy of the Russian Academy of Sciences, also severely criticized the occult statements of Blavatsky, which described anthropogenesis: ''From the point of view of science, such beliefs are an explicit profanity and don't have the right to exist in the serious literature.'' (Фесенкова 2004, p. 93)
A Russian academician Viacheslav Stepin answering the question on pseudoscience said:
The dominant value of the scientific rationality begins to influence other spheres of culture – and religion, the myth are modernized often under this influence. On the border between them and science arise the parascientific concepts, which are trying to find a place in the field of science. (Стёпин 2000)
26
Speaking of the ancient occult science, mahatma Kuthumi wrote, ''Our laws are as immutable as those of Nature, and they were known to man and eternity before this strutting game cock, modern science, was hatched.'' (Barker 1924, p. 144; French 2000, p. 140) Thus, according to Bilimoria, the fact of the ''expanding Universe was well known'' to occultists else in antiquity, ''only in greater'' detail in comparison with the concept of the ''modern cosmologists.'' (Bilimoria 1997, p. 142)